Color or Colour? Favorite or Favourite? Meter or Metre?

Posted on August 7, 2007
Filed Under General Thoughts, Silly Me, Personal |

I find it the spell check feature really annoying sometimes when I’m writing something in Microsoft Word, an American product. Let me elaborate.

When I started studying in English I first went to an international school following the British system which meant I got used to British spelling. Later on, I changed to one following the American system. The number of American teachers there was quite significant and every time they’d correct my supposedly “wrong” British spelling. Eventually I began listening to them. After that I changed back to a school following the British system and I had to readopt British spelling again. It was horrible. Needless to say, I stayed and graduated high school with a British GCE O’Level certificate.

Now a few years later, I’m still traumatized by my terrifying spelling experiences. I still get nightmares thanks to Microsoft Word and Firefox. I am torn between two spelling types even though I study in a university with an American curriculum. You can witness my spelling crisis manifesting itself in my previous posts:

American spelling - Color:

A chameleon changes its color very efficiently and effectively everytime it is in a different environment

British spelling - Colour:

Check the Star of David in the famous reggae colours of red, yellow and green

Which spelling should I stick to? Which one should I dump aside?

I think I prefer American English. British English is evil! The words are usually longer and include more letters, hence extra ink is wasted. Worse still, more trees have to be cut down which is obviously bad for the environment. Bleh, I pick American spelling.

UK sucks. USA rules! Yaaaay! ;)

Comments

31 Responses to “Color or Colour? Favorite or Favourite? Meter or Metre?”

  1. Black Kush on August 7th, 2007 3:49 pm

    The British say the language spoken in the USA is not English. It is American! So you should expect different spellings.

  2. Roman Kalik on August 7th, 2007 4:03 pm

    Heh, I have the same dilemma myself. I was taught British English, but as most of the books I read use the American spelling I am often more confused than not regarding what spelling to use.

    In any case, man, just set up the dictionaries you want for Firefox, pick the English variant for Windows, and call it a day. :)

  3. Nomad on August 7th, 2007 4:14 pm

    the origin of that ? hehe, I would say America was settled by poor educated people :lol:

    euh for me it’s too late to make any progress, because of ma native lazyness, and I can’t think in english nether american :lol:

  4. Roman Kalik on August 7th, 2007 4:15 pm

    BK, the British mostly say that because they believe that they have a monopoly on the language.

    Every post-colonial state that kept English as its main language has its own variant, be the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand etc.

    And trust me, the Australians are far more incomprehensible than the Americans. ;-)

  5. Roman Kalik on August 7th, 2007 4:19 pm

    Don’t say that, Nomad, you’re making wonderful progress. I didn’t understand a word you said a year ago.

  6. Don Cox on August 7th, 2007 5:13 pm

    We all have this problem with the different spellings, but really it doesn’t matter which you use.

    English spelling shows two things: roughly how the word is pronounced, and how it originated. In the case of “colo(u)r” - this was originally a Latin word, spelled without the U, but it reached Britain with the Normans, like many other French words. French had already in 1066 changed a great deal from Latin, and both the spelling and pronunciation of “couleur” are different from the Latin.

    Many other English words were constructed from Latin and Greek by learned people who needed technical terms: camera, perspective, injection, inoculation, election, etc etc.

    I think it is nice to see the history of the language in its spelling.

  7. Nomad on August 7th, 2007 5:14 pm

    thanks Roman, hehe, I like to practice mental sport ; it prevents me from becoming senile before the requierred age :lol: but I use sometimes an english dictionnary, not always accurate when it comes to american language ; I rely then on the context of the sentence to find out the signification of a new word

  8. nominally challenged on August 7th, 2007 5:48 pm

    Oy, RK! You commin the raw prawn? Waddya mean Ozzies are hard to understand? We speak fair dinkum English. It’s at least as good as the Poms’, but without any of their arty-farty accents and stuff, and outshines the yanks’ piss-poor excuse for a language like a row of flossed bums on a Queensland beach in February. Pull the other one, mate, it’s got bells on.

    Seriously, though, I agree with Drima that English is a confusing language. I am almost always required to write US English these days and believe me, the differences don’t stop at spelling.

    FWIW, though, standard Australian English (of which the above is NOT an example) is essentially the same as UK English. In terms of spelling, so are the versions taught everywhere (AU, NZ, CA, etc.) except for the US and its dependencies. This is primarily because the US was the only ‘colony’ (as such) to rebel against “Mother England”, while the others were all good little kiddies who drank their tea with milk rather than dumping it unceremoniously in the harbor (or harbour).

  9. The Raccoon on August 7th, 2007 6:29 pm

    Hehe… switch to French, Drima. Trees will die by the acre and ink will vanish like water in the Sahara.

    Nomad - yes, I know (in response to your future response to my response):)

  10. Craig on August 7th, 2007 6:30 pm

    It’s not as complicated as you guys make out. In almost all cases where the American and British spelling is different, it’s because the American version was modernized, and the British kept the old spelling.

    colour
    armour

    There is no “u” sound in those words, therefore the “u” was dropped.

    civilisation

    There is no “s” sound in that word. In the US the “s” is a “z”, as it is pronounced.

    The English language has changed vowel sounds many, many times since it was the Anglo-Saxon dialect of German. Even the names “England” and “English” bear little resemblance to the words they were based on from 1500 years ago. In the case of “English” - there was no “sh” suffix in the original Anglo-Saxon, for any word. Then it was added as “sch” first, and then later it became “sh”, which it remains.

    There are still many words that use an old and obsolete spelling in all versions of English.

    for example, “though”.

    My name has an extra “u” in it dating back to the old English spelling. Almost everyone else in the US with the same name, has dropped the “u” from it. Many people in Australia and England have the same name, and it seems most of them spell it the way my family does. I kind of wish we had also dropped the “u” from it, because it isn’t pronounced the way it’s spelled, and constantly correcting people’s pronunciation of my name is a little tedious :)

    Nomad,

    the origin of that ? hehe, I would say America was settled by poor educated people :lol:

    Your opinions about Americans are well known. As are your denials that you are an anti-American bigot.

    I recall a lot of e-mails you sent me where you savaged the English as well, however. Maybe it’s just Anglo-Saxons you don’t like? Shall I publish the e-mails about the English that you sent me? Turnabout is fair play, right?

  11. Bec on August 7th, 2007 6:31 pm

    “believe me, the differences don’t stop at spelling.”
    I’ve only just discovered that all this time we’ve been reading Harry Potter translated into American English. Now I’m curious to see the difference (truck/lorry, etc?)
    I barely register the difference between words like color/colour or favor/favour. The number of ‘l’s’ sometimes confuses me, though.
    Differences in English and American spellings

    And Nomad, your mastery of English is impressive! You’re becoming quite professorial in your expression. :)

  12. Black Kush on August 7th, 2007 7:20 pm

    I had an American missionary in high teaching us English. He had a hard time preparing us for the British GCE! However, he got used to the British spelling that, when he wrote home, his family said he was writing in broken English!

    I guess in the end in depends which spelling you use. The thing is just to be consistent in using one spelling, American or British.

  13. Nomad on August 7th, 2007 9:03 pm

    Thank you Bec, I do my best

    Craig, I am afraid you gave me the chance to learn something : to contempt one person

    Racoon :lol: hehe, French is much harder to learn properly than you think it is ; and even harder the spirit of it ; only “well-intentionneds” can manage it :lol:

  14. Craig on August 7th, 2007 11:11 pm

    Craig, I am afraid you gave me the chance to learn something : to contempt one person

    One person?

    the origin of that ? hehe, I would say America was settled by poor educated people :lol:

    You think that shows only contempt for ONE person?

    And what happened to the days when I was your only American friend? The only one who didn’t treat you badly! Now, I’m the only American you have contempt for? And you make this claim in the very same thread where you displayed contempt for the whole country and all of it’s inhabitants? Wow.

    Are you still wondering why Americans treat you so badly on the blogs, Nomad?

  15. Nomad on August 7th, 2007 11:42 pm

    apparently your the only one who see my sentence the way you do ; if I have offended your mighty nobilian ancestry, sorry, I am a french villan and in France we don’t have regards for crowned heads for such a long time ago

  16. Nomad on August 8th, 2007 12:35 am

    Are you still wondering why Americans treat you so badly on the blogs, Nomad?

    your the only one, the charming master of the best american prose ; BTW, I sent an exemple of your Works to the owner of this place so that he gets an idea of your evangelical talent

  17. Craig on August 8th, 2007 5:56 am

    apparently your the only one who see my sentence the way you do

    I’m the only American here, Nomad. Unless I’m missing something?

    BTW, I sent an exemple of your Works to the owner of this place so that he gets an idea of your evangelical talent

    You are sending my confidential e-mails to people without my permission, now? Is that an improvement over publishing them on blogs?

    I suspect you are giving Drima and everyone else who reads this a different “impression” than you have in mind, Nomad. And you wish you had the class of a French peasant. I’ve known prostitutes with more integrity and better ethics than you.

  18. Nomad on August 8th, 2007 7:58 am

    Tiens tiens, I was sure “Bec” is californian

    you won’t miss an occasion to show your twisted eviled temper : your sympathetic comments on my place or Pazuzu’s, we allready had an aperçu on Shlemzl’s places where your show your grandiloquence in eduction of the Untermenschen that we, the europeans, are.

    you don’t like resistantce, do you ? you prefer that people applause the great educated man you are ; mes couilles, Mickey ! (translate, mon ami, it’s worth of it :lol: )

    speaking of “couilles”, your whinning like a crying baby, asking to the others for help to smatch your opponent ; a spectacular view of the great soldier you pretend you are ; now, that I know a few of them, I can tell you they are not specialists in lowers hits alike you ; this constatation enclines me to think you were rather the toilet man, you seem to be fond of the “shit”

    yes I kept your litterature, I intend to edit it and make money with it :twisted:

    anyone to buy an exemple ?

  19. Drima on August 8th, 2007 8:03 am

    Eh… Nomand and Craig, relax guys.

  20. Nomad on August 8th, 2007 8:11 am

    Sorry, Drima, I am perfectly relaxed, I respond to a burger-eating bigoted racist monkey, who vomits insults and lyings on the net

  21. The Raccoon on August 8th, 2007 9:52 am

    Craig and Nomad… if you guys intend to trade insults, please - I beg of you - make them funny or innovative.

    This just would not do. I strongly suggest that you both turn to the classics for some good insulting…

    Craig, you could probably use Shakespeare, Mark Twain or Churchill (the latter had especially witty insults).

    Nomad, you could probably use Voltaire (even though he was a good friend of Benjamin Franklin :) ) or even Charles V. Alas, I am not familiar enough with good French insults.

    Just to get you started on the right foot:

    France is a country where the money falls apart but you can’t tear the toilet paper.
    - - - Billy Wilder

    America is a melting pot, the people at the bottom get burned while all the scum floats to the top.
    - - - Charlie King

    Ready? Go! :)

  22. Drima on August 8th, 2007 9:58 am

    LOOOL! Thanks for stirring trouble Raccoon. :)

  23. Nomad on August 8th, 2007 10:48 am

    hehe Racoon, would you give me the chair of a french insults Lecturer ? :lol: Rabelais is good too and I find the monthy pythons for the other part quite ok too :lol:

    now I am off

    sorry Drima

  24. Craig on August 8th, 2007 4:34 pm

    Tiens tiens, I was sure “Bec” is californian

    Really? Why were you “sure” of that? She lives in Canada.

    you won’t miss an occasion to show your twisted eviled temper

    It’s interesting that a person who betrays confidences, and brags about it, uses the word “evil” to describe her victim. Don’t you think?

    I didn’t understand the rest. Sorry. What language is that?

  25. Craig on August 8th, 2007 4:44 pm

    Drima, sorry but I’m not going to ignore Nomad. I don’t go out of my way to start trouble with her, but she’s been whining about how Americans treat French people so badly since she first showed up on Sandmonkey’s blog. I befriended her and sympathized with her, despite the fact that about half of what she said to me in e-mails was insulting. I gave her a pass for her poor English skills. It wasn’t until later that I realized she’d been deliberately trying to provoke me all along.

    She’s a nasty and untrustworthy person. It isn’t only my confidences she betrayed.

    Be careful with Nomad, folks. If you are foolish enough to befriend her, be VERY careful what personal information about yourself that you reveal to her. If you ever have a falling out, she WILL use it against you.

  26. Craig on August 8th, 2007 4:50 pm

    I’m not embarrassed about the things I said to you on your blog, Nomad. Why didn’t you leave them there? I didn’t ask you to delete them. Nor did I ask you to turn on moderation. You deserve all that, and more. I’ll say the same things to you here if you wish. No skin off my nose. It’s just that I don’t want to subject Drima’s readers to quite so much profanity.

    where your show your grandiloquence in eduction of the Untermenschen that we, the europeans, are.

    On what basis do you claim to be European? Citizenship? You don’t even know who your parents are. You could be anything. You could even be a descendant of Americans. Wouldn’t that be some shit? :P

  27. Bec on August 8th, 2007 7:06 pm

    Sheesh. Commentland on blogs can be weird places, nu?

    Raccoon, thanks as always for your spot-on humor/humour. (At least you tried!)

    Drima, thanks for your constant graciousness.

    Craig, I used to have a blog that Nomad once commented on (and that you probably never saw) and I am from California. I deleted my blog because I didn’t have the time to keep it up. I also decided that I preferred my privacy and I rarely comment anymore.
    I have always admired your straightforwardness, although you do express a good bit of anger along with it. One always knows exactly where someone stands with you, which is sometimes horrifyingly fascinating.

    Nomad, I know that Americans can be just as insulting to the French as vice versa. However, edgy “humorous” comments can be taken personally and so, out of polite respect for my hosts, I try to avoid them either way. As for your line:
    I would say America was settled by poor educated people I preferred to read it literally, as in: America was settled by educated people who were poor. :)

    I think many of us have “issues” that push our buttons. Only in comments can a topic on the English language be turned into a free-for-all…

  28. Craig on August 8th, 2007 9:58 pm

    Hi Bec,

    I also decided that I preferred my privacy and I rarely comment anymore.

    If you like your privacy, I sincerely hope for your sake that you have not revealed to Nomad anything about yourself that you don’t want the whole world to know. Seriously.

    And I don’t know how well you know Nomad, but I’ve come to believe that none of “humor” has ever been intended to be funny. It’s all intended to insult. I used to believe as you do, that I just wasn’t “getting” some of her remarks, but her malicious intent became clear to me when she started publishing e-mails I had sent her when we weer friends, and threatening to reveal even more, whenever it suite other to. She has also revealed personal information about other people who are/were mutual friends, in attempts to sabotage those relationships. If that isn’t malice, I don’t know what is.

  29. Bec on August 9th, 2007 2:05 am

    Hi Craig,

    Thanks for your concern. I can tell you’re earnest in this. I guess it’s wise to be careful with anyone in such a public forum. I’ve been invited to partake a couple of times in those buddy thingies, but I’m too paranoid. Old Alfred Hitchcock movies come to mind and I skitter away. The blowup over at Shlemazl’s really brought it home to me. There are certain people I do feel I can trust (Raccoon is one - gentle humor is usually an indication), but I think I’ll stick to real life for the most part.
    (Darn, I thought a topic on the English language here at Drima’s would be safe! :) )

  30. Nomad on August 16th, 2007 8:16 pm

    all what Craig says is bias, twisted, lies, insults, I have kept all his writings in case one want a court trial :lol:

    Craig, if you still carry on telling lies I will show them

  31. Nomad on August 16th, 2007 8:50 pm

    Bec

    “-I would say America was settled by poor educated people- I preferred to read it literally, as in: America was settled by educated people who were poor”

    yeah, that is one of the meanings I prefer though, but depends on the persons who read it, you saw it that way, but Craig did see the lilith part of it, it’s kind of holly oil to move on for his vindicativ rants

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