Check Mate
Last Sunday there was an enlightening programme on ITV called The Adventure of English, presented by Melvyn Bragg. For me it shed light on something I've failed to understand for a long time now - American English. For this we can blame/thank one man, called Noah Webster, and his book the "blue-backed speller". Webster wanted to make English easier. Hence the Americans write color, whereas we've always used colour. Lots of words have different spellings across the Atlantic. But it's not as bad as it could have been - words like "tung" and "wimmen" didn't take too well.
I had always thought these differences were the Americans being "difficult". Now I see why they came about I am a lot more accepting. The Pilgrim Fathers set out to create a new world, why not take the chance to improve on the langauge they took with them, leaving behind the "old world" lingo. You've got to admit American spelling makes more sense. Not only that but the way they use the language. Whereas the UK has a huge difference in regional dialects, the American pronunciation varies little in comparison. All the Americans I've ever spoken to have commented on my accent and how hard it can be to understand.
Anyway, getting to the point, today is a special day for me as the first cheque arrived that's made payable to Rockall Design ltd. When I say cheque I suppose I should say check, as it came from the US. Something I try and do when conversing with American clients is refrain from using my own language and switch to theirs instead. It's just easier. Hence I would request they send a check and not a cheque. There's a whole load of other words to avoid...
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Fascinating subject. But spelling simplification is not an unmixed blessing. For example, no one over here can quite remember how to spell "canceled" - it was "simplified" to that spelling from the more obvious "cancelled". English is hard enough to spell without adding even more exceptions to the rules!
I also liked the list of words that don't exist or have different meanings on one side or the other of the pond. But there were some strange inclusions. For example, just about everyone in the US these days knows what a scone is. And while we do use the word "period" to refer to the punctuation mark known is a "full stop" in the UK, it's most certainly also used to refer to menstration here too.
Great subject.
Sean
An interesting aside is the growing influence that the internet, as well as business, has had on language. Ideas tranlate and transition more quickly accross the globe, so new words like email, website, IM (not I'm), etc. have almost universal understanding, spelling and acceptance.
The business climate, and to some extent the political climent of the current era, have slowly built up an acceptance of morphological lexicons, so now alternate spellings as well as alternate meanings of traditional words are used and promoted. Makes it easier to promote a product or platform without liability if you craft a key phrase of your own and then self define it to exlude those things you don't want to be responsible for. ;-)
Living in Canadian is sort of a weird mix of the two versions of English. When you are being taught spelling in school you are given the British forms most of the time, however our daily language is more American than British. Canadian culture definately mixes the two as most Canadians would understand British English without much difficulty other than some of the slang that doesn't really get recorded anywhere.
On a somewhat interesting side note, all the Harry Porter books are actually "translated" for release in the United States but Canada gets the British version.
Cory.
Mostly interesting for germans: German words in the english language: {Link}
and the use of english words in german where you should use german words instead: {Link}
"Rockall Design Ltd." sounds good and I assume you do use "Rockall" (I think you named one of your servers the same earlier in the year) for that.
Congratulations and good luck!
I disagree - I find American spelling a shame. You lose the connection to the original word, and cannot readily see "families" of words. "Centre", for instance, comes from the latin centrum, and thus can be linked to -centric words. "Center" is a poor substitute.
I find also that regional American accents can be taxing - ever heard a Texan speak?
As an argument against "the spelling makes more sense", here is a small joke from Mark Twain which I love:
A Plan for the Improvement of English Spelling
by Mark Twain
For example, in Year 1 that useless letter "c" would be dropped to be replased either by "k" or "s," and likewise "x" would no longer be part of the alphabet. The only kase in which "c" would be retained would be the "ch" formation, which will be dealt with later. Year 2 might reform "w" spelling, so that "which" and "one" would take the same konsonant, wile Year 3 might well abolish "y" replasing it with "i" and Iear 4 might fiks the "g/j" anomali wonse and for all.
Jenerally, then, the improvement would kontinue iear bai iear with Iear 5 doing awai with useless double konsonants, and Iears 6-12 or so modifaiing vowlz and the rimeining voist and unvoist konsonants. Bai Iear 15 or sou, it wud fainali bi posibl tu meik ius ov thi ridandant letez "c," "y" and "x"--bai now jast a memori in the maindz ov ould doderez--tu riplais "ch," "sh," and "th" rispektivli.
Fainali, xen, aafte sam 20 iers ov orxogrefkl riform, wi wud hev a lojikl, kohirnt speling in ius xrewawt xe Ingliy-spiking werld.
Nobody has had trouble understanding my Teesside accent since I've been in the US, but there are a couple of accents I have trouble with here. The stronger southern drawls and the Boston accent.
It's not the spelling that drives me nuts, but blatant incorrect use of some words:
Alternate instead of alternative (ahem)
To leverage our investment (grr)
Commonality (argh)
Key learnings (shoot me now)
However, I can say without doubt that the standard of English used in business here is no better or worse than it was where I last worked in the UK. I would love to know why people find apostrophes so difficult to get the hang of.
mt69clp - Not only does English contain German words but it began as a German langauge. From the synopsis of the book that comes with the TV series:
"the remarkable story of the English language: from its beginnings as a minor guttural Germanic dialect to its position today as a truly established global language"
Jim. The apostrophe - something I am self-declared expert in the use of. I love to tell people not to use FAQ's on their websites...
I am unfamiliar with the range in dialects and accents within the U.K., however here in America, regional accents and dialects vary greatly not only between regions but within them.
I spent the first half of my childhood in a mid-sized city in Virginia. When I was nine I moved to a very small, rural county only 60 miles west of that city. I couldn't understand anyone. It took months of my being in school before I could fluently understand everyone there. Having been in the Pacific Northwest for nearly a decade now, when I go home, I've found I have difficulty understanding people there again.
I think that generally the pronunciation of words in the "American" accent is based on a normalized accent which, itself is based on the mid-west region's accent.
As for check vs. cheque -- you could always just say "send me the money" as money is universal ;-)
Looks like I got my message mixed up a little. The idea of this "new world" was that, by teaching kids the "corect" prounciation of words, they would escape the way accents were seen in the "old world" (i.e. Great Britain) to suggest a social grade - where "recieved pronunciation" such as BBC English was prefered over any Northern "tung".
Looks like it didn't work too well in the end...
Jim L. - that's what I meant by Business wanting to modify words. They take words, use them incorrectly, and call them 'buzzwords' or 'new initiatives' (hehe!).
I'm fortunate enough to have been raised in the Mid West. Wherever I go, to the people that live there, I sound like the evening news. :-) If only everyone tried to sound like the evening news, we'd all speak with the same dialect and use sensational sentence fragments comprised of suspect facts! "What the government may be hiding from you -- tonight at eleven." "How you can save hundreds, when we return."
x-P
Congrats on the 1st cheque, Jake. Make sure most of it is spent on liquor to mark to occasion!
On the subject of language, a really good read is Bill Bryson's "Made in America". Oh, and as far as silly Americanisms go, how about "Al-oo-min-um" or "Sug-jest-shun"...
Fascinating.
The client I am currently working at is drawing up an email to assist their employees with the use of Instant Message slang. I'd like to throw this out on to the table.
When referring to the act of diving from a object, is it correct to say "dived" or "dove"? Webster's says "dived" is the appropriate usage in the UK and Australia, "dove" is acceptable in the USA (I'm Canadian). Just curious to know what people think.
I'm from Australia, and I after reading this article I am surprised to find that we are an interesting mix of both British English and American English - probably much the same as the Canadians. I too used to be annoyed by the spelling differences, but to be honest, I generally only get annoyed when Australian spell in the American format, when the intended audience is Australia, or when Americans refuse to acknowledge any other spelling. I lived in America for a while, and learned to adjust my spelling, dates, vocabulary to suit that of the Americans, but Americans will not repay the same courtesy here (or in their software!). I also get more annoyed by the horrible abbreviations that are creeping into common useage through proliferation on sms, emails etc (eg thx for thanks, gr8 etc) - they drive me absolutely nuts - especially when there is no reason for it (such as television commercials)
It's as though spelling, grammer and pronunciation are no longer valued.
Basically, it drives the Asians nuts too. Now you know why most asians are bad spellers or speak improper English. Too many spellings and pronounciations!
Anyhow, I still have trouble with pronouncing "Esplande"
Should it be "s-plar-nade" or "s-pla-nard"??
Isn't it the case that German almost made it as the official language of the US? What a difference that would have made.
However I've never been in England or United States, my English is really, American English, even I work here in Turkey in an English company.
TV series, movies, shortly American imperialism is one of the reasons. The other reason is American English is lot more understandable.
And something funny: Period is used as the same meaning as American English here in Turkey. An English cannot get the meaning where a Turk does. Funny world isn't it?
And I wonder where soccer word comes from? It is a substitute well for the word football where Americans had given the name for a game that has nothing to do with the foot at all. But where does soccer come from?
Jamie. "Dove"? Doesn't sound right to me.
Laurette. I could write a whole blog about the gr8 change in the way we communicate, and probably will.
Serdar. Period has the same meaning in England as well. The name soccer comes from its proper name - AsSOCiAtion Football. I think.
Jerry, I'll have to stop posting this unrelated garbage here and actually email you, but did you see the part in Bruce Almighty where the smarmy newscaster says "Your children are in mortal danger! More at eleven.". I nearly threw up from laughing. Why can't the news just be honest?
Its a gr8 film, btw ;)
Jake, does it annoy you when the topic drifts all over the place, or do you find it all to be part of life's rich tapestry?
yawn......
To say the fact, I dont understand all this insults that people throughs to jerry.WHY is he treated this way?