NationStates Jolt Archive

As the days go by that I see people on here fussing over how "Favorite" is spelled "Favourite" and how "Favourite" is spell "Favorite" and "Color" is spelled "Colour" and "Colour" is spelled "Color" -- I ponder the idea of pissing on a book about grammar, then setting it on fire with some lighter fuel; then writing a book on international grammar and becoming rich. The wrong is right and the right is wrong, depending on your nationality, you see.

With such a boring night on the forum, I thought I'd spice up the flavo(u)r around here.

Which is the correct spelling? With the "u" or without? To be, or not to be..

I feel that the words just look way better with the "u".

Who cares, it seems like a rather petty thing to squabble over. I mean as you said it is entirely dependent on ones nationality so why would one necesarily be better than the other.

Who cares, it seems like a rather petty thing to squabble over. I mean as you said it is entirely dependent on ones nationality so why would one necesarily be better than the other.

Elitism, darling.

Elitism, darling.

Yeah, thats what I'm saying it is just elitism so who cares?
edit:heh, Ziliam is getting pushed further and further down the thread. :)

yo prefiero favorita y color :)

Yeah, thats what I'm saying it is just elitism so who cares?

The sexy elitists.

As the days go by that I see people on here fussing over how "Favorite" is spelled "Favourite" and how "Favourite" is spell "Favorite" and "Color" is spelled "Colour" and "Colour" is spelled "Color" -- I ponder the idea of pissing on a book about grammar, then setting it on fire with some lighter fuel; then writing a book on international grammar and becoming rich. The wrong is right and the right is wrong, depending on your nationality, you see.

With such a boring night on the forum, I thought I'd spice up the flavo(u)r around here.

Which is the correct spelling? With the "u" or without? To be, or not to be..

I feel that the words just look way better with the "u".

I spell eagles Iggs.

speaking of, I'll be in Philly this weekend! Woo HOOO! *parties*

Yeah, thats what I'm saying it is just elitism so who cares?

I care, and because I care, it proves that I am better than you. ;)

I speak standard English, not colonial English or some sort of pidgin, thus I spell it "favourite" and "colour" and "standardise" and "spelt" and so on and so forth.

The sexy elitists.

Oooh baby ;)

Always the elitist. ;)

To be honest, being elitist vis-à-vis the colonies or overseas territories is not an arduous task.

I speak standard English, not colonial English or some sort of pidgin, thus I spell it "favourite" and "colour" and "standardise" and so on and so forth.

Always the elitist. ;)

Oooh baby ;)

DUB C!!! I haven't seen ya in like...ages! :)

armor or armour
how many dam ways do we need to spell words

Yes, darling, thats why you need to be a sexy elitist.

That would be pearls before swine on this forum.

To be honest, being elitist vis-à-vis the colonies or overseas territories is not an arduous task.

Yes, darling, thats why you need to be a sexy elitist.


Always the elitist. ;)



DUB C!!! I haven't seen ya in like...ages! :)
I know zil!! How've you been?

I like to cut down on unnecessary letters as much as possible, so without the u.

I know zil!! How've you been?

Wonderful, sad, confused, happy, depressed, and frustrated all in one! :D

and how are you?

You quote the bible now? I am impressed ;)

That was not a quote, that was a paraphrase.

That would be pearls before swine on this forum.

You paraphrase a quote from the bible now? I am impressed ;)

That would be pearls before swine on this forum.

That is an expression I have never quite been able to grasp, so I'm going to presume that the obviousness of your sexiness is so glaring as to make the caveat absurd. A point which I certainly won't try to counter.

Wonderful, sad, confused, happy, depressed, and frustrated all in one! :D

and how are you?

About the same, my friend. Lately, a lot of sad, confused, depressed, and frustrated. But I talked to my baby sister, and read some more of God's First Words from LG's thread, and I'm in a vastly improved mood.

That would be pearls before swine on this forum.

Or giving jam to pigs.

That is an expression I have never quite been able to grasp, so I'm going to presume that the obviousness of your sexiness is so glaring as to make the caveat absurd. A point which I certainly won't try to counter.

Wisely so, seeing as the point is your own invention.

That was not a quote, that was a paraphrase.

You paraphrase a quote from the bible now? I am impressed ;)

Better?:rolleyes:

Better?:rolleyes:

Failure corrected is not a failure effaced.

Wisely so, seeing as the point is your own invention.

I can and have carried out arguements with myself. But they are never quite as fun, since I know from the outset I must lose.

But isn't it good to forget and forgive?

Vergeben ist leichter als vergessen.

Failure corrected is not a failure effaced.

But isn't it good to forget and forgive?

But isn't it good to forget and forgive?

"Forgive, sounds good. Forget, I'm not sure I could."

Screw that, I just describe the noun as "doubleplusgood"
e.g. Brittannius think nationalism=doubleplusgood socialism=ungood

Elitism, darling.

I make a point about using the Oxford, not the Webster.;)

Vergeben ist leichter als vergessen.

Vergebe deine Feinde, aber vergesse ihre Namen nicht!

Being educated in England, being English, that makes sense of course. I use the U....and I think that being as we were here first...the U is the correct spelling and the sans U is a corruption.

I am from the US so i might show a slight bias. My area of knowledge isn't technical grammar or historical grammar (i prefer politics, law and history seeing i am a lawyer with political ambitions). But i do recall reading somewhere that english professors at a University...in Australia or New Zealand i think it was. And they came to the conclusion that the "u" isn't techniclly required. They said that the pronunciation/context/meaning etc wasn't changed by spelling it without a "u". Contary to popular belief most letters, even silent letters have a job in our language. And the "u" doesn't in ~our/~or words. BUT English people and Australians and everyone outside of the US won't be changing their minds about us being wrong at everything we do that is different to the other "colonies" and the "mother country".

I am from the US so i might show a slight bias. [..]BUT English people and Australians and everyone outside of the US won't be changing their minds about us being wrong at everything we do that is different to the other "colonies" and the "mother country".

But the way you guys pronounce "buoy" is just silly... I mean come on. ;)

Isn't this effictively an "Are you American?" Poll.

Or do other countries use the US spelling?

"Forgive, sounds good. Forget, I'm not sure I could."

Dixie Chicks?

Weren't you just on the side of classiness and elitism?

And it's 'colour' with a u. It looks bizarre without one.

Isn't this effictively an "Are you American?" Poll.

Or do other countries use the US spelling?Not sure, but I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if John Howard made US spelling mandatory (and added misunderestimated to the dictionary).

I'm English, so I use English English. The way it's supposed to be.

I first learned the spelling with "u"s, but during my year in the States my pronunciation and spelling have changed and stayed that way.

I use British spelling. It looks much better in my opinion. I sometimes stumble across Americanised words without the "u" or using "z" in place of "z" (Americanized, Civilization, etc.) as my brain interprets them as spelt wrongly.

Some of the American alterations I just can't see the point of - why the hell is "skeptical" an improvement on "sceptical", for crying out - actually now I mention it, it IS better, there's no ambiguity over the initial consonant sound which could be soft in the British spelling.
So, in fact, I can see the point of many of the alterations, including this one, which is clearly a more logical way of spelling the word.
As for elitism... people who think this kind of shit matters will NEVER be part of the elite.

Spelling with the u is the correct way, so I tend to use it. Except when jolt insists, stupid tags. .

Jingoistic Americans could look upon getting rid of the "u" as removing the French influence.
It'd be bloody stupid, but I did just say "jingoistic Americans".

Isn't this effictively an "Are you American?" Poll.

Or do other countries use the US spelling?

We do. 'Color' has always been spelled that way, ever since we learned that term. In some quirk, I have an increased risk of mispronouncing (I know of others who do too) the word if they are spelled with the -our.

Jingoistic Americans could look upon getting rid of the "u" as removing the French influence.
It'd be bloody stupid, but I did just say "jingoistic Americans".

Uh, what? The spelling changes resulted shortly after the American Revolution, as a result of a nationalist desire to distinguish us from the British, it had nothing to do with the French. It continues because that is the proper way of spelling in American English.

I am reading a book where the author spells apologize with an s......it drives me insane!!!!!!!!

I keep wanting to fix it.

So, I guess I can understand other people's annoyance with my spelling of favorite.

I won't change though, and I refuse to write in the book. :p

Original, British spelling. If the US wants to create its own language, fair enough, but taking our language and messing it up I'm not so keen on.

Uh, what? The spelling changes resulted shortly after the American Revolution, as a result of a nationalist desire to distinguish us from the British, it had nothing to do with the French. It continues because that is the proper way of spelling in American English.

I'm not sure why I said that, some rogue neuron firing at the back of my brain or something.

We do. 'Color' has always been spelled that way, ever since we learned that term. In some quirk, I have an increased risk of mispronouncing (I know of others who do too) the word if they are spelled with the -our.

Yet you apparently don't think mispronouncing should be spelt "mispronownsing"? Odd. ;)

Being educated in England, being English, that makes sense of course. I use the U....and I think that being as we were here first...the U is the correct spelling and the sans U is a corruption.So being older makes something correct? In that case, all of us are wrong, and this is correct:
"Whan Zephirus eek with his swete breeth,
Inspired hath in every holt and heeth
The tendre croppes, and the yonge sonne
Hath in the Ram his halfe cours yronne,
And smale foweles maken melodye,
That slepen al the nyght with open eye,
(So priketh hem Nature in hir corages);
Thanne longen folk to goon on pilgrimages."

And if you want to get more technical, every language spoken today is incorrect.

Jingoistic Americans could look upon getting rid of the "u" as removing the French influence.
It'd be bloody stupid, but I did just say "jingoistic Americans".
It was changed to get rid of British systems...it has never been interpreted by anyone to involve the French. If someone was dumb enough to believe it was getting rid of French influence, they would most likely not realize English has a French influence.

Original, British spelling. If the US wants to create its own language, fair enough, but taking our language and messing it up I'm not so keen on.So you own the language? Interesting, considering 37 places use it as the primary language, with 31 other places listing it as an official language

Don't forget, you messed up a Germanic language, and French.

Without the U, although it seems to be a pretty damn petty thing to bicker about. Why can't we all just get along, u's and no u's, living in harmony.

I have a dream...

Meh, we learned British spelling in school but later on most of what I read was American English - so today my spelling is truly Canadian. :p

I mix up BE and AE spellings without really noticing. I often write "colour" and I practically always write "favourite". "Neighbors", however, has to go without a u most of the time.

What I simply cannot stand are British "s" instead of American "z" - "idealise" or "Americanise" looks soooooo wrong.

Favorite.

We won the war, we get to pick.

spelled
SPELT!

ARGH!

And 'favourite' is much nicer to look at. Plus it gets extra points for not being part of a language which was made easier for thicko farmers.

So you own the language? Interesting, considering 37 places use it as the primary language, with 31 other places listing it as an official language
Do they use the silly American version though? Besides, it's called "English" for a reason. If people don't want to speak/write like the people of England, no-one's forcing them, but they shouldn't make false claims.

Don't forget, you messed up a Germanic language, and French.
No, the French messed up a Germanic language. Well, the Normans, anyway.

I like letters, so the more the better. "U"s for all!

Dixie Chicks?
Weren't you just on the side of classiness and elitism?

1.) What ever gave you that idea?
2.) There's nothing unclassy about the Dixie Chicks, if you ignore the country crap and just focus on the pop.

I say keep the "u"

actually whatever version you're using written english is fucked up...why can't we have cleaned up version that corrects the spelling, how many centuries has it been since it was updated?....I think Norway overhauled it's written version to reflect the way people spoke around 1900, why is that so difficult for engish speakers to do the same?...

why do we spell Knife with a silent K? when is the last time you heard someone pronounce the B in plumber?.....stupid language.....

I spell them with U's, which gets me in trouble since it's not "correct" here in the US.

actually whatever version you're using written english is fucked up...why can't we have cleaned up version that corrects the spelling, how many centuries has it been since it was updated?....I think Norway overhauled it's written version to reflect the way people spoke around 1900, why is that so difficult for engish speakers to do the same?...

why do we spell Knife with a silent K? when is the last time you heard someone pronounce the B in plumber?.....stupid language.....

You don't need to pronounce the "b", but if you take it away then you need to add a second "m" to keep the right spelling for the pronunciation of the word.

I'm American, and I like the "u." I also like the "s" instead of the "z" as in realise.

Origin: 1575–85; < MF < It favorito, ptp. of favorire to favor.

I follow the etymology, therefore color and favorite, metre and centre. On the -ise/-ize words, I do whatever I feel like at the time or what looks better to me. I haven't looked up the etymology of them, but I'm quite certain they are mostly French and therefore -ise.

Case closed. (It's also a compromise.)

With a "u" because that's what I was taught.

Being educated in England, being English, that makes sense of course. I use the U....and I think that being as we were here first...the U is the correct spelling and the sans U is a corruption.

Not so. American and British English diverged before either was standardised, but existing corpi show that the sans-u spelling was more common in Britain. But as the dictionaries were being written, a 'u' was inserted to make the words seem more French, and the sans-u spellings came to be seen as common.

"Whan Zephirus eek with his swete breeth,
Inspired hath in every holt and heeth
The tendre croppes, and the yonge sonne
Hath in the Ram his halfe cours yronne,
And smale foweles maken melodye,
That slepen al the nyght with open eye,
(So priketh hem Nature in hir corages);
Thanne longen folk to goon on pilgrimages."

I like that. Goons on pilgrimages. I say all English speaking countries return to, what is that Middle English?

I'm an American but I've read too many British authors and I tend to just mix and match, unless I'm writing something at work, where I make sure I use correct American.

It is more important to write something then to spell it correctly. Most English speakers know colour and color, centre and center, favorite and favourite are the same. Good spelling is no indication of intelligence rather of indoctrination. ;)

A better question that ou or o would be er or re?
Technically all the British variations came before the American, though American English has become more dominant in non-English countries than British English. This also raises the point: In the future, which version of English will rule of which other version of English? Or will both English versions be replaced by a new more sensible language? Perhaps language itself may start a war. Who is to say?


I prefer to use incrimental amounts with er, since it makes sense to me:
big bigger biggest
fast faster fastest

But I also enjoy writing non-incrimental er words with an re. Sometimes I even add an E when it isn't necessary. I love to screw with word spelling just to annoy everyone possible.

I would wear the armoure, but it's olde and smelly!
[Old always gets turned to Olde when you're being sarcastic. It's law]

Ouy. Yuou peuople wuill fighut ouvre anuythiung.

Troo

Isn't this effictively an "Are you American?" Poll.

Or do other countries use the US spelling?Non-native English writers are quite split (though US spelling seems more common, and often seems to be seen as the "international" one), and some use a mix. I mostly use the US spelling, as it is more logical and convenient, though I sometimes mix in a few words (goes not for the ones with extra 'u's) with British spelling.

As long as I can read it then who the fudge factory cares?

unles fo corse itz sumething lik dis.

What I simply cannot stand are British "s" instead of American "z" - "idealise" or "Americanise" looks soooooo wrong.

They do not. Bleh! The z looks terrible. See for example realization and socializing. :mad:

actually whatever version you're using written english is fucked up...why can't we have cleaned up version that corrects the spelling, how many centuries has it been since it was updated?....I think Norway overhauled it's written version to reflect the way people spoke around 1900, why is that so difficult for engish speakers to do the same?...

why do we spell Knife with a silent K? when is the last time you heard someone pronounce the B in plumber?.....stupid language.....

There's a reason for the b in plumber. Plumbers used to use lead on the end of a piece of string to mark a vertical line. Plumbum is the latin for lead(hence leads symbol being Pb) and we couldn't very well call them plumbummers, now could we?

...and we couldn't very well call them plumbummers, now could we?

No we couldn't... :p

*dashes to the local plumbummers union*

They do not. Bleh! The z looks terrible. See for example realization and socializing. :mad:It's beautiful! :fluffle:

It's beautiful! :fluffle:

Terrible!

Awful!

Hideou...

Oh, meh. :fluffle:

Terrible!

Awful!

Hideou...

Oh, meh. :fluffle:
Hee. Aww.