Brittish or American Spellings?

[Bobtheduck]

I think this will only really apply to Americans... I doubt Brits ever spell things the American way...

Do you prefer brittish or american spellings of words? I usually use American spellings (given I'm American, and all) but I sometimes use brittish spellings...

I prefer Doughnuts to Donuts... I'm not sure if this is a brittish/american thing, though... Do they even call them doughnuts in the UK? Do they even HAVE doughnuts in the UK?

I tend to prefer Colour to Color now, but I use them interchangeably... It's just a matter of what my fingers decide to type... haha. I think it comes from books I've read... I've read it as colour more than Color now... My brain is just confused...

I know there are more words, but I can't think of them right now...

According to the grammer thing I read, if you're inconsistant with your spellings (sometimes brittish, sometimes american) it's an affectation... In other words, you're only using brittish spellings to seem higher class...

[Radical Dreamer]

I pretty much stick with the American spellings. Why? Because I'm not British, I'm American. XD I'm used to spelling things the way I've grown up spelling them. *shrugs*

[ShiroiHikari]

I spelled "realize" as "realise" on accident today. But other than that, I always use American spellings because...well, I'm American. Yeah.

[PigtailsJazz]

I totally prefer British spellings...but could I ever pull it off? That, indeed, is the ultimate question...

I have British heritage, if that counts for anything...

[Nate]

British spellings are weird to me, just like American spellings are weird to them. So since they're weird to me, I don't use 'em.

[Neko Niisan]

Well being british I spell things the british way although thanks to my upbringing on the mission field I'll often use American names for things...

Kinda like calling a mobile phone a cell phone and what not.

But yeh... I don't really understand why things are spelt differently in the first place.

[Tigerchu]

Realize isn't the American spelling?

[Nate]

No, realize is the American spelling, realise is British (same with apologize/apologise).

[Sammy Boy]

Well I use Australian spelling whenever I can, not that I really know what that is 100% of the time, being from a non-English speaking background.

I wouldn't know if Australian spelling is the same as British or not. I would guess the two are similar but perhaps not exactly the same.

[Warrior4Christ]

I prefer the British spellings (surprise, surprise!). But sometimes (particularly in computer science) there's tension between the two spellings, as programming languages all have 'color' and textbooks mostly have 'color' and 'realize' too. (even one of my lecturers who wrote a textbook made the spellings American because all the other textbooks in the field are). So I don't know weather to call variable names 'color' to be consistent with other places in the language or use the 'proper' (:P) spelling of 'colour'...

There are even some official uses of American spelling here, like 'Australian Labor Party', and 'Victor Harbor'. And 'Donut King' (Australian doughnut store) is spelt that way too.

[FarmGirl]

Well, it used to be straight American spelling... until I read this massive collection of Sherlock Holmes stories as they were originally printed. Ever since, about two years now, I've had trouble remembering the application of the letter Z.
So, American dominates, but British is close behind.

[blkmage]

I think we use British spellings here. Not sure though, because everyone keeps saying it's Canadian spelling.

[K. Ayato]

I sometimes use "grey" instead of "gray".

[Calypsa]

I really like the british way of spelling -- It often seems 'prettier', in cases like 'colour' and such. However, being American, I'm in the habit spelling my words in the American way. Plus, if I try to spell any other way, everyone tends to think I'm mispelling everything.

[Bobtheduck]

I sometimes use "grey" instead of "gray".

I always said grey until I was told it was a proper noun, and grey is the color...

[mitsuki lover]

It was one of my political heroes,Theodore Roosevelt,who made a lot of the changes in American spelling.It was part of his trying to make spelling
simpler for the average American.
Before Teddy changed things American and British spelling weren't that different.

[Nate]

So in other words, people in this country were too dumb to spell correctly? XD;; This doesn't instill a whole lot of confidence in me about our country.

[Mithrandir]

I have British heritage, if that counts for anything...

Bad teeth, typically.

[Tenshi no Ai]

I think we use British spellings here. Not sure though, because everyone keeps saying it's Canadian spelling.

It is Canadian spelling since we're from Canada^^

One word I recently learned was different than our backwards neighbours below us, was that you guys say "checking" instead of "chequing" for like money accounts. To me, that is just SO weird and looks like a bad typo^^ I mean, you write out "cheques" NOT "checks"! :/

[Nate]

Actually, we do write out checks. XD For a long time, I wondered why the guy who wrote "For Better or For Worse" kept spelling it "cheque." I was like, "He spelled it wrong, it's check." Then I found out he was Canadian, and I was like, "Oooooh."

[b0redx3]

when i was younger, i learned "british english" because where i lived was part of the British colony. anyway, when i came here, i got used to the "american english." however, sometimes i do spell in "british english."

oh btw, i spell donut, donut. never have i used or seen it spelled doughnut in NY. well it's rare. /shrugs/ maybe i'm too used to dunkin' donut?

[Cognitive Gear]

The following is taken and edited (for profanities) from a british coimedian:

Now, I just want to talk quickly
about language, then we can all go.

Yeah, they say Britain and Americaare two countries
separated by the Atlantic Ocean.

And it's true.

No, they say two countries separated by a common language.That's the line.
It's an Oscar Wilde line, I think.


And we do; pronounce things differently.

Like you say caterpillar
and we say caterpillar.

And, er...


You say a-LU-minum.
We say alu-MlN-ium.

You say cen-TRl-fugal.
We say centri-FU-gal.

You say leisure.
We say "lizuriay".

You say bay-sil. We say bah-sil.

You say 'erbs', and we say 'herbs', because there's a freakin' 'H' in it!

But you spell through T-H-R-U,
and I'm with you on that...
cos we spell it "thruff". And that's trying to cheat
at Scrabble.

"How can we get that 'u' sound?"
"A U will work."
"An O as well?"
"We don't need it."
"No, I think an O in."
"OK."
"And a G as well."
"What?"
"Yes, a G would be good. We need a silent G in the background; in case of any accidents or something."
"All right."
"And an H as well."
"...Now Hang on."
"An H in case some herbs come along.

[Radical Dreamer]

ROFL, You win, Iki. That conversation was totally from Late Night with Conan O'Brien. XD

[SnoringFrog]

I'll use either one if it's one of the words with a 'u' in the British spelling (such as colour and amour), but normally the American spelling. But if it's something like realize/realise, I have to go American, I don't like the 's' there.

[FaerieChica]

I spell random things not the American way. I spell fairy "faerie", and shop "shoppe". I can't stand the "S's" rather than "Z's". BTW, I spell it donut too.

[Bobtheduck]

I spell random things not the American way. I spell fairy "faerie", and shop "shoppe". I can't stand the "S's" rather than "Z's". BTW, I spell it donut too.

I was told by a fairy fan that fairy and faerie are two completely different concepts... Two entirely differant mythical creatures...

You spell it "shoppe" Is that brittish, or just "Ye Olde Englishe" stuff?

[Oh Serenity]

I use many British spellings; always have, too.

When ever I use HTML, I always end up typing 'centre' instead of 'center'...and it doesn't work, obviously. ::fails::

That's the only negative to it, really.

[Heart of Sword]

I'm American, so I use American spellings, *BUT* I use certain British words... when I get aggravated, I say "bloody" ... XD (I'm sorry if this offends anyone...I wouldn't say it in Britain if I ever went there, but it's not a swear in America)

[RubyJewelStone]

I seem to jump back and forth a bit.
I always seem to get "theater" wrong since I always spell it "theatre."
However, I never saw "tyre" until a few years ago.
I force myself to drop the "u" when spelling "color."
And I never realized that there were different spellings for "realise" (they both look familiar to me)

It probably because even though I'm American my parents were from islands that used to be under British rule.

[Radical Dreamer]

I always seem to get "theater" wrong since I always spell it "theatre."

Oh, now that spelling, I do use. Actually, I use "theatre" when talking about the stage, and "theater" when talking about a movie theater. I thought that was the way it was always done. xD;