Spelling and Americanisms

[43021HST]

I think RUK has a grammar and spelling thread every couple of weeks, anyway I'm currently studying AS Sociology and I have to write a lot of essays about socialisation.
But do you write it like the above or with a 'z' like socialization, I believe thats the american way of doing things but my spell checker thinks otherwise. I also have problems with other similar words with 'lisation' on the end despite setting my spell checker to 'UK'.

I cant stand using Americanisms like, Movies,(why does everyone in the UK say movies not films?) sneakers and chips. Thank goodness we havnt adopted using the term sweater yet.
Americanisms is just one sign of US globalisation which I try to reject as much as I can.
I know language flows but should it flow in the direction of US globalisation?

 

[SS4]

American globalisation has preserved an overwhelming majority of the English language though. Sure a lift may be an elevator but a chair is still a chair, a train is still a train.

It doesn't bother me all that much since the terms are broadly compatible. As for socialisation I spell it with an S since Firefox's spell checker says it's right, realise is a trickier one IMO.

I've heard lots of people say chips though

 

[EM2]

My 87-year-old Nan has used the word sweater for as long as I can remember. I am 42.

 

[Wyvern]

You sound like a French person.

Actually the replacement of s with z is an international thing.

I hate it. I find the z almost painful.

There's also a campaign to replace æ and œ with e as in gynecology and encyclopaedia. The Encyclopedia Britannica had both spellings on its home page last time I looked.

 

[SS4]

There's also a campaign to replace æ and œ with e as in gynecology and encyclopaedia. The Encyclopedia Britannica had both spellings on its home page last time I looked.

That could simply be because it's easier to type on a standard English keyboard?

 

[OxtedL]

Don't you mean "Americanizms"?

/Leaves immediately/

 

[AlterEgo]

There's also a campaign to replace æ and œ with e as in gynecology and encyclopaedia. The Encyclopedia Britannica had both spellings on its home page last time I looked.

Very few people use ligatures any more. I certainly don't.

 

[Minilad]

I find a lot of people rush to blame the Americans for everything. A quite common one is the word Soccer. Many of the historically challenged amongst us assume Soccer is a word invented by Americans to differentiate between our Football and theirs. In fact the word Soccer was being used in this country as a version of football as far back as the late 1800s.
Rugby was shortened to Rugger and Association Football was shortened to Soccer.
Still, never let the facts get in the way of a good stereotypical rant eh

 

[Wyvern]

http://www.slinkycity.com/euro-english.html

The EU announces changes to the spellings of common English words...

European Union commissioners have announced that agreement has been reached to adopt English as the preferred language for European communications, rather than German, which was the other possibility.

As part of the negotiations, Her Majesty''s Government conceded that English spelling had some room for improvement and has accepted a five year phase plan for what will be known as EuroEnglish (Euro for short).


In the first year, "s" will be used instead of the soft "c". Sertainly, sivill servants will resieve this news with joy. Also the hard "c" will be replaced with "k". Not only will this klear up konfusion, but typwriters kan have one less letter.

There will be growing publik enthusiasm in the sekond year, when the troublesome "ph" will be replaced by "f". This will make words like "fotograf" 20 per sent shorter.

In the third year, publik akseptanse of the new spelling kan be expekted to reach the stage where more komplikated changes are possible. Government will enkorage the removal of double letters, which have always ben a deterent to akurate speling.

Also, al wil agre that the horible mes of silent "e"''s in the languag is disgrasful, and they would go.

By the fourth year, peopl wil be reseptiv to steps such as replasing "th" by "z" and "w" by "v". During ze fifz year, ze unesesary "o" kan be dropd from vords kontaining "ou" and similar changes vud of kors be aplid to ozer kombinations of leters.

After zis fifz yer, ve vil hav a reli sensibl riten styl. Zer vil be no mor trubls or difikultis and evrivon vil find it ezi tu understand ech ozer. Ze drem vil finali kum tru.

 

[ralphchadkirk]

I'm sure I read somewhere that American english is actually more accurate to the source than British english.

 

[tony_mac]

I'm sure I read somewhere that American english is actually more accurate to the source than British english.

In this case, the 'z' is the traditional form, and comes from the Greek.

The 's' seems to have become popular due to French influence, but has never been widely adopted by book publishers.

The OED has this to say

there is no reason why in English the special French spelling should be followed, in opposition to that which is at once etymological and phonetic

It gives examples from 16th and 17th century books using
"ized" (or "iz'd")

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

I have never liked the American way of altering certain English words ending "-our" to their version of "-or". Two example below:-

Colour = Color.... (Film : The Color Purple)

Harbour = Harbor.... (Film : Pearl Harbor)

 

[Badger]

Movies,(why does everyone in the UK say movies not films?)

I'd rather go "to the pictures".

 

[DaveNewcastle]

There may be some truth in the suggestion that the development and marketing of commercial software by UK Companies failed to reach the degree of viability which in turn allowed US products to take the dominant market share and thereby leading to the tendency of spell-checkers to show a US bias - that's as far a I could accept that there is much American influence.

I think any attempt to identify the culprit in the erosion of English is doomed, as there never seems to have been any robust English language, oral or written. Where are the origins of 'Railway', 'train', station', 'route', freight', 'passenger'? They're not English (and certainly not American!).

We've got no grounds to claim that we've suffered any loss if we hadn't our own language to loose in the first place.

As for spelling, there's much to be said for standardisation to aid comprehension, but even that standardisation was being bitterly resisted when printing presses were being introduced, replacing noisy libraries full of scribes each copying texts with their own take on how words should be written.
We should accept change rather than resist it, which is different from celebrating our heritage by enjoying texts from the past. By sharing our enthusiasm for historic works, we're more likely to retain some archaic features than we are by imposing standards and regulations.

Now, moving on to my pet spelling hates . . . . .

 

[tony_mac]

if we hadn't our own language to loose in the first place.

Now, moving on to my pet spelling hates . . . . .

You found one of mine!

 

[DaveNewcastle]

Ooops!
I'm ashamed.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

We've got no grounds to claim that we've suffered any loss if we hadn't our own language to loose in the first place.

Now, moving on to my pet spelling hates . . . . .

Dave, do I receive a bonus point for seeing "loose" rather than "lose" in the quote above?......Drat,beaten to it!!

 

[MidnightFlyer]

To be fair to the Americans, their version of English is a lot more logical than ours, take '-or' and '-our' as examples, the former makes a lot more sense.

 

[Schnellzug]

And there i was, sitting in my sneakers watching a movie, eating chips.

 

[Oswyntail]

I have never liked the American way of altering certain English words ending "-our" to their version of "-or". Two example below:-

Colour = Color.... (Film : The Color Purple)

Harbour = Harbor.... (Film : Pearl Harbor)

IIRC the "u" is another French affectation, I'm afraid.

But spelling "Tyre" as "tire" is just silly!

 

[Schnellzug]

We haven't taken to using the word Sweater yet?

I have never liked the American way of altering certain English words ending "-our" to their version of "-or". Two example below:-

Colour = Color.... (Film : The Color Purple)

Harbour = Harbor.... (Film : Pearl Harbor)

I think that was, no, not Johnson, the American chap, Webster, who decided that it would save everyone's time and ink if they cut out superfluous letters. I wish he'd decided to cut out some of the superfluous letters in the word superfluous, incidentally, it takes an inordinate amount of time to type.

 

[Badger]

To be fair to the Americans, their version of English is a lot more logical than ours, take '-or' and '-our' as examples, the former makes a lot more sense.

Not really. The -our has a different pronounciation than -or, it's very subtle, but it justifies the addition of a U.

Parkour for example is pronounced differently to "park or" or "parker"; it's somewhere inbetween the two.

 

[GB]

But spelling "Tyre" as "tire" is just silly!

I agree, the two have different meanings so it only right they are spelled differently.

Just be grateful we don't pronounce words the same as they do!
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

I think any attempt to identify the culprit in the erosion of English is doomed, as there never seems to have been any robust English language, oral or written. Where are the origins of 'Railway', 'train', station', 'route', freight', 'passenger'? They're not English (and certainly not American!).

"Route" at a guess is French, just as enroute is.

 

[Schnellzug]

I think any attempt to identify the culprit in the erosion of English is doomed, as there never seems to have been any robust English language, oral or written. Where are the origins of 'Railway', 'train', station', 'route', freight', 'passenger'? They're not English (and certainly not American!).
.

Surely "railway" is of English origin? A Way on Rails, unless Rail and Way are of Latin derivation or whatever, whether they are I've no idea.

 

[DaveNewcastle]

Surely "railway" is of English origin? A Way on Rails, unless Rail and Way are of Latin derivation or whatever, whether they are I've no idea.

No, but my point was that there are very few words in English which have not been brought from elsewhere, just as the OP was concerned that American words being introduced now.

But to respond to your question, 'Rail' has clearly been acquired from the French 'raille' though I'll agree with you that that is presumably derived from the latin 'regula' for a straight length of timber.

'Way' is common in northern European languages as 'weg', 'wei' etc. so probably was brought here by those persuasive Nordic visitors, though again you are right supposing that too is probably from the latin 'via'.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

IIRC the "u" is another French affectation, I'm afraid.

Anything to do with the after-effects of the Norman Conquest ?

 

[MidnightFlyer]

I suspect so, as was 'qu-'...

 

[Ivo]

What about this one...

DOUGHNUTS!

I agree mostly, but I would be surprised if it caused problems. We should all be used Americanization (pun intended); why, even the code in this very post on this very forum has one in it - "COLOR".

 

[Eagle]

Spellings with "-ize" are always valid in British English. Ever looked at the Oxford English Dictionary? They prefer "-ize". All British scientific journals insist on "-ize" spellings, and they're the only ones I use.



Spellings in "-lyze", however, are American only.

 

[Old Timer]

I hate this creeping use of the phrase "Train Station" Arrrrrgggghhh.

Even numpties at the TOCs are now using this awful phrase.