Spelling: English (UK) versus English (US)

[Purple Lady]

Originally Posted by HarryT

That's interesting. Many past participles in British English are normally spelt with a "-t" ending rather than "-ed". Common ones, off the top of my head, include spelt, smelt, slept, burnt, swept, leapt, dreamt, and innumerable others besides. Would you spell none of these with a "-t" ending?

Some yes others no. I was going to say yes to smelt because to me it means " to melt or fuse (as ore) often with an accompanying chemical change usually to separate the metal" or as a noun it is a fish. I guess you meant smelled?

slept - yes
burnt - usually burned, but I've seen both depending on usage
swept - yes
leapt - leaped, but I have seen leapt
dreamt - dreamed, but I have seen dreamt

[Bookworm_Girl]

Originally Posted by Purple Lady

Some yes others no. I was going to say yes to smelt because to me it means " to melt or fuse (as ore) often with an accompanying chemical change usually to separate the metal" or as a noun it is a fish. I guess you meant smelled?
slept - yes
burnt - usually burned, but I've seen both depending on usage
swept - yes
leapt - leaped, but I have seen leapt
dreamt - dreamed, but I have seen dreamt

Yes, that's my usage too, including the alternative definition of smelt. I don't recall ever coming across spelt before. I also didn't know the British spelling of skeptic was with a "c". Although the UK Skeptic website has an interesting explanation of why they spell it with a k.

Americans have a hard time interpreting rhyming slang. Seppo is one I haven't heard. The phrase that I hear most frequently is porky pies for lies.

[DMB]

"leapt" and "dreamt" are pronounced differently from "leaped" and "dreamed", as if they were "lept" and "dremt".

Very famous opening line of a novel:

Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again

[DMB]

Wikipedia has a nice article on rhyming slang. Although some words from it are adopted by ordinary everyday English, most of it is as mysterious to us as it is to Americans. You have to be a Cockney or know Cockneys well to understand it.

[Graham Coulson]

Originally Posted by Bookworm_Girl

Americans have a hard time interpreting rhyming slang. Seppo is one I haven't heard. The phrase that I hear most frequently is porky pies for lies.

... and Apples and Pears for Stairs, and Trouble and Strife for Wife and lots more that I can let you have, if you'd like... some quite amusing.

[pdurrant]

[QUOTE=Bookworm_Girl;1742177 The phrase that I hear most frequently is porky pies for lies.[/QUOTE]

Except that when used properly, you mostly only use the first word of the rhyming slang.

As in the famous phrase "I don't want none of that mischief on my eels!"

[Bookworm_Girl]

I am currently reading a modern fiction book set in England and written by an English author. I am pleased that the edition that I purchased in America did not edit out British spellings and expressions.

I recently read a book that was about Americans but written by an English author. I was annoyed because some of the characters used British words and had British traits, and sometimes you thought that character would never say or do that in America!

I guess what I'm saying is that consistency to character and culture is important to me. I don't mind reading English spellings in books published in America, especially if it is relevant to the narrative.

[OtterBooks]

Translations are one thing, but if I'm reading a British author I want to read it the way he wrote it. If it contains colloquialisms, language differences, or cultural references I don't get, then I learn about those things.

[Bilbo1967]

Originally Posted by Bookworm_Girl

I am currently reading a modern fiction book set in England and written by an English author. I am pleased that the edition that I purchased in America did not edit out British spellings and expressions.

I recently read a book that was about Americans but written by an English author. I was annoyed because some of the characters used British words and had British traits, and sometimes you thought that character would never say or do that in America!

I guess what I'm saying is that consistency to character and culture is important to me. I don't mind reading English spellings in books published in America, especially if it is relevant to the narrative.

I agree with that. Of course, I usually notice it the other way round. As in the example of a US author setting scenes in the UK and talking about 'blocks' (as in, 'He walked the two blocks to the police station').

[Purple Lady]

Originally Posted by Bookworm_Girl

I guess what I'm saying is that consistency to character and culture is important to me. I don't mind reading English spellings in books published in America, especially if it is relevant to the narrative.

I don't mind the UK spellings either, but it can get confusing when the words have completely different meanings.

[mrbanana]

Originally Posted by Bilbo1967

I agree with that. Of course, I usually notice it the other way round. As in the example of a US author setting scenes in the UK and talking about 'blocks' (as in, 'He walked the two blocks to the police station').

The worst example I can think of is in the opening few pages of Sandstorm by James Rollins, where the author talks about a lightning strike hitting overhead power cables in Bloomsbury, causing the British Museum to go dark.

In Britain we prefer to bury our cables underground, and then spend the rest of the year digging the roads up for minor repairs, resurfacing the roads, and then digging them up again almost before the tarmac has a chance to dry.

The one thing I miss now that I have a Kindle is the pleasure I used to get from hurling a badly written book across the room as far and as hard as I could. I find hitting 'delete' doesn't have quite the same cathartic release for me.

[Bilbo1967]

Originally Posted by mrbanana

The one thing I miss now that I have a Kindle is the pleasure I used to get from hurling a badly written book across the room as far and as hard as I could. I find hitting 'delete' doesn't have quite the same cathartic release for me.

Indeed!

[DMB]

I think it's extraordinarily difficult for American authors to write British or for British authors to write American and do so with total conviction. But there are, of course, exceptions where people have lived in the other country for a long time.

While I am quite happy with reading American writing I do have trouble understanding some spoken American dialects. I was recently watching a DVD of series 1 of The Wire. I thought it was exceptionally good, but at the beginning I could barely understand anything the black characters were saying. My daughter suggested switching subtitles on, and it made all the difference. |It would not have occurred to me that I might need subtitles for something in English. I understand, however, that Americans often need subtitles for films from England.

[cfrizz]

LOL! That's the truth, the accents can really make it hard to understand. I was watching a movie that took place in Wales I think, and I could only make out maybe every third word. I finally gave up & switched channels.

[mrbanana]

The only American shows that give me trouble are:
The Wire (Baltimore)
Treme (New Orleans)
Justified (Eastern Kentucky)

But I guess it's down to familiarity. It usually takes a couple of episodes to tune into them. Having said that, my mother now insists on subtitles for all American shows or she won't watch them. Curiously, she has no trouble understanding Kyra Sedgewick's fake southern accent in The Closer. I happen to think the way they talk in The Wire and Treme is wonderful, almost poetic at times.

Last week I tried to watch a British movie, Attack the Block, and to be honest, I couldn't understand a word they said. The accents in Treme are crystal clear compared to the way they talk in that movie.