How do Americans feel about UK spelling?

[Falcao]

Originally Posted by Joebill

I was told that Comanche and Cherokee are among the hardest for a non-speaker to learn.

And... are they really hard?

[Joebill]

No idea. I haven't had a chance to buy materials in an attempt to learn.

[MacEachaidh]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

That's true. Many who should know better think that what British MPs call out in support of a speaker is "Here, here!" when it's really "Hear, hear!".

In fairness, for someone who doesn't understand the derivation, "Hear! Hear!" doesn't immediately sound like a likely thing for someone to be calling out. (I suppose "Here! Here!" doesn't either, but it's a more familiar word to be used as a stand-alone.)

It's like that perennial chuckler "for all intensive purposes ...", and so many other mis-heardisms -- none of which come to mind right now!

[Falcao]

Originally Posted by MacEachaidh

and so many other mis-heardisms -- none of which come to mind right now!

I have two recent mis-heardisms from my excursions north of the border:

At the bank:
Employee: something, something, a loan? [I heard alone]
Me: No, I came with my wife.
Employee: ... WHAT?

At a convenience store:
Man: The microwave is noisy [I hear no easy]
Me: Why not? Just put the time and press "start"
Man: ... WHAT?

I love the expression of their faces!

[crich70]

And there are the words that are spelled the same but are pronounced differently as well. I assume that's what you mean. Wound and wound and polish and Polish for example. You polish the silver but some one from Poland is Polish. Or someone has a wound but someone has wound the clock. Sometimes the only clue to which is meant is the context of the sentence.

Originally Posted by Falcao

I learnt to read English just armed with a Spanish-English dictionary. After this, I learnt to write in English, at least to a reasonable level, writing in forums like this. But spoken English, well, that's a different animal. Sometimes I wonder how English speakers can communicate with each other with so many words that sound almost the same.

[Freeshadow]

and the evergreen of "babelfish translated" instructions: "key"
I have no clue why but it mostly ends up with key as in key for a lock and not as the one to be pressed.

[Falcao]

Originally Posted by crich70

And there are the words that are spelled the same but are pronounced differently as well. I assume that's what you mean.

Yes, and we have the words that uses sounds which are not found in Spanish (my case).

For example, I know that "cheat", "shit", and "sheet" are pronounced somewhat different. But we don't have short- and long-vowels (just vowels). Moreover, there are no difference between "ch" and "sh". The result is that I avoid words like "cheat" or "cheating" by fear of mis-pronouncing them.

[sbtx99]

Originally Posted by Luke King

Yes, but I wonder how common it has been for Americans to see variant spellings before the advent of ebooks. I would imagine, as the US is such a large market, that print books have always appeared in American English regardless of where they were written.

I don't know about other genres, but long-time romance readers are familiar with alternate spelling and phrases. Back in the day when Harlequin rejected Nora Roberts, because they already had their token American writer, virtually all of the books published by Harlequin for sale in America used British words, spelling and slang. Even books that were supposedly set in America. There's still a mixture in the Harlequin books sold in America today, depending on the imprint, author, and locale. So for me, it would be strange to read a book set in England that was written in American-style English.

I've read books by a couple Australian authors who write for imprints made up of mostly American writers. I suspect they "Americanize" those books even though they're set in Australia. And I wish they wouldn't do that; I'd rather the books retain their local flavor.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Falcao

Yes, and we have the words that uses sounds which are not found in Spanish (my case).

For example, I know that "cheat", "shit", and "sheet" are pronounced somewhat different. But we don't have short- and long-vowels (just vowels). Moreover, there are no difference between "ch" and "sh". The result is that I avoid words like "cheat" or "cheating" by fear of mis-pronouncing them.

That's also true elsewhere. Eg, in British English, the words "Mary", "Marry", and "Merry" have three distinct and separate vowel sounds. In many dialects of American English, two, or even all three of them are pronounced exactly the same.

[MacEachaidh]

Originally Posted by HarryT

That's also true elsewhere. Eg, in British English, the words "Mary", "Marry", and "Merry" have three distinct and separate vowel sounds. In many dialects of American English, two, or even all three of them are pronounced exactly the same.

Hmmm, I think I'd rather face the confusion over saying "Merry Mary, marry me!" to an American, than ask the hotel staff to take care of the sh*ts on my bed!

[Joebill]

There is also to, too, and two.

Sounds the same to me.

[crich70]

And of course there, they're and their. Not to mention You're and your. I remember a sign outside an office at a place I used to work(cleaning crew) that used the wrong form of the word your. I can't recall what the message was (it was over 10 yrs ago) but it always irked me to see the mis-wording of the sentence.

Originally Posted by Joebill

There is also to, too, and two.

Sounds the same to me.

[basilsands]

A couple of years ago I watched a movie that had a scene that illustrated just this type of thing but via conversation. "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels" had a great scene in which a bartender in East London was talking with one of the main characters and his slang was so hard to understand the movie had translation subtitles in the scene. The funny part was that the characters were actually reading the subtitles to understand the guy.

If we try too hard to create a full sense of local dialect readers may need subtitles to understand our writing.

[Lady Fitzgerald]

Originally Posted by basilsands

If we try too hard to create a full sense of local dialect readers may need subtitles to understand our writing.

I work at Renaissance Festivals and have to tone down the Early Modern English spoken during the period so people can understand me. I portray a disenfranchised, Irish noblewoman and have to really limit my use of Irish Gaelic (or define it) or I will not be understood by most people.

[Bilbo1967]

Originally Posted by crich70

And of course there, they're and their. Not to mention You're and your. I remember a sign outside an office at a place I used to work(cleaning crew) that used the wrong form of the word your. I can't recall what the message was (it was over 10 yrs ago) but it always irked me to see the mis-wording of the sentence.

As well as the more common 'your' and 'you're', there's also 'yaw' and 'yore', just to make it even more potentially confusing.

BTW, words which sound the same, but have different spellings are called homophones. Words which are spelt the same, but have different meanings are called homographs.