How do Americans feel about UK spelling?

[SeaBookGuy]

Then there's the jolly American fellow, who introduces himself in Britain with, "Hi, I'm Randy!" (short for Randall, Americans use "horny" instead).

As for the spelling issues, the only (momentarily) flummoxing one for me when I hit it is "gaol" for "jail".

[timfrost]

Originally Posted by James_Wilde

I've been abroad so long I've obviously missed something, Tim. Since when did single quotes replace double quotes for direct speech? I use double quotes for both direct speech and citations, as in the messages above, and have done since schooldays. Admittedly schooldays were 48-61 years ago...

James, I think single quotes in the UK came in with the paperback. Around 60 years ago. That said, I was taught double quotes at school like you. Along with lots of other strange punctuations like 'Oxford-street'.

Lynne Truss wrote a great book on it all called 'Eats, Shoots and Leaves'.

Tim

[James_Wilde]

Originally Posted by timfrost

James, I think single quotes in the UK came in with the paperback. Around 60 years ago. That said, I was taught double quotes at school like you. Along with lots of other strange punctuations like 'Oxford-street'.

Never seen Oxford-street, but I remembered after my post that we used to call quotation marks sixty-sixes and ninety-nines, so that we would remember which came first. Thus:

66Hello,99 he said.

Originally Posted by timfrost

Lynne Truss wrote a great book on it all called 'Eats, Shoots and Leaves'.

There was a good joke in Playboy on that theme.

[crich70]

Interesting. I never thought of that, and don't recall any teacher pointing that out to me when I was a kid either. I think part of the changes in puncutation now days is due to the net. It used to be standard to have two spaces between the end of one sentence and the start of the next (if I remember right) and now it's just one space. People are just so used to typing it that way in emails etc. now days.

Originally Posted by James_Wilde

Never seen Oxford-street, but I remembered after my post that we used to call quotation marks sixty-sixes and ninety-nines, so that we would remember which came first. Thus:

66Hello,99 he said.


There was a good joke in Playboy on that theme.

[Fbone]

Originally Posted by MacEachaidh

The Chicago Manual caused a bit of a stir with its most recent edition by reversing this position and siding with the Brit publications. Whether publications et al will change their habits to match remains to be seen.

And students will find that they have to use whatever Style Guide their school, university and/or professor says to use. There are around 6 different guides. I had one professor require CMS and another MLA. Not sure what are the differences.

Originally Posted by timfrost

Eg, a British reader would have no problem with "Can I bum a fag off you, mate?" but I don't think that works for a US reader.

-Tim

Probably wouldnt work for schools. They may ban it.

[James_Wilde]

Originally Posted by crich70

It used to be standard to have two spaces between the end of one sentence and the start of the next (if I remember right) and now it's just one space. People are just so used to typing it that way in emails etc. now days.

a

I do that all the time, and get hell from my wife when I do it. And she gets hell from me if she corrects or amends something I've written and only puts one space. I also put two after a colon. But then I remember typewriters.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by James_Wilde

a

I do that all the time, and get hell from my wife when I do it. And she gets hell from me if she corrects or amends something I've written and only puts one space. I also put two after a colon. But then I remember typewriters.

Two spaces is correct if you're using a typewriter. It's not correct for anything in a non-monospaced font.

[timfrost]

I don't think any US or Canadian reader would be put off by UK spelling - unless they dislike the whole idea of British-ness. I had an unflattering review on Barnes and Noble where the reviewer finished off by complaining that he 'definitely felt the British influence' in the novel. Well, I guess he would, as it was written by a Brit.

On the plus side several of my US readers said they like what they call my 'quirky' Britishness and sense of humo(u)r.

Here are some words I've learned to be careful with. Any others anyone?

US <> UK

Fanny = Bum
Vagina = Fanny
Gas = Petrol
Propane = Gas
Fag = Gay
Cigarette = Fag
Ass = Arse
Donkey = Ass

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by timfrost

Here are some words I've learned to be careful with. Any others anyone?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...an_English:_A–

[MacEachaidh]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Two spaces is correct if you're using a typewriter. It's not correct for anything in a non-monospaced font.

I would disagree there. Personally I think a two-space space is just as valid in proportional fonts, from perspectives of both design choice and facilitating parsing. I prefer it, and there are valid reasons to use it beyond the thought that it's what typists used to be taught.

It's not "incorrect", just not the default practice of (at first) coding and thence HTML, which has become ubiquitous and as a consequence imposed its own parsing behaviours onto the language at large.

[basilsands]

Originally Posted by timfrost

Here are some words I've learned to be careful with. Any others anyone?

US <> UK

Fanny = Bum
Vagina = Fanny
Gas = Petrol
Propane = Gas
Fag = Gay
Cigarette = Fag
Ass = Arse
Donkey = Ass

Here's one that'll get you mocked, and possibly smacked in the US

Walk around the cubicles in an office and ask if anyone has a rubber they can loan you.

UK <>US
Rubber = Eraser
Condom = Rubber

[basilsands]

Having grown up in rural towns in Alaska and Ohio where PBS was often the only TV station, and they mostly played old BBC & CBC reruns I think I have a fairly mixed up sense of English. So I have learned to use the spelling appropriate to the character. My UK or Canadian characters speak with an extra "u" and an "s" where an American would be putting a "z", which of course the American would call a "zee" as opposed to a "zed". And in lieu of "F-bombs" I prefer my characters tell folks to "Sod-Off."

Of course the Americans would be very pissed if the British showed up to the scene pissed. Whereas the Brit would recommend the Yank simply get pissed with him instead of being pissed at him.

I am American through and through.... yet I do put milk in my tea.

[James_Wilde]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Two spaces is correct if you're using a typewriter. It's not correct for anything in a non-monospaced font.

Thanks for that tip, Ernest. I have Courier 12pt as my working font, but have to admit that I convert to Times New Roman when it comes to converting to epub. Maybe I'll have to reprogram my typing.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by James_Wilde

Thanks for that tip, Ernest.

Umm... Paul. Ernest Bramah has been dead for the past 68 years or so.

[orwell2k]

Originally Posted by MacEachaidh

I would disagree there. Personally I think a two-space space is just as valid in proportional fonts, from perspectives of both design choice and facilitating parsing. I prefer it, and there are valid reasons to use it beyond the thought that it's what typists used to be taught.

It's not "incorrect", just not the default practice of (at first) coding and thence HTML, which has become ubiquitous and as a consequence imposed its own parsing behaviours onto the language at large.

I agree - I always use two spaces after end of sentence regardless of font. Of course, programs like good ol' MS Word always try to 'correct' it back to a single space, especially when cutting/pasting, so I need to pay attention. But I find the paras more readable with the sentences spaced this way.

I was in the service for 11 years and they can get tedious with their writing standards, but on the whole I found most of their 'rules' worthwhile and I still apply them today. So I use two spaces after end of sentence, two spaces after a colon (, and single spaces after other punctuation (semi-colon (, comma, etc.).

As I said in an earlier post, I have adopted the 'single-quote standard' for writing, using single-quotes for speech and so on, with double-quotes for speech-within-speech, etc. I just find it nicer to read, more subtle, although it was surprising when I first saw it used in novels - I now find the use of double-quotes throughout a little too blaring. Personal taste, of course.