Rowan Amore Posted July 2, 2022 Share Posted July 2, 2022 10 minutes ago, kali Wylder said: That's because we don't use metres/meters, we don't even know how it's spelled. The litre has been slyly making headway though, we frequently see items in the grocery store with litre measurements in addition to our gallons, quarts and pints. Who knows? Maybe someday we'll catch up with the rest of the world. It's not only spelled meter by the US as noted so it would seem BOTH spellings are correct depending on where you live. Theater/theatre is another one that is spelled correctly either way. Perhaps the reasoning behind our American Revolution? Freedom to spell differently? Happy Independence Day! 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Love Zhaoying Posted July 2, 2022 Share Posted July 2, 2022 Just now, Da5id Weatherwax said: In terms of the theory, in the USA's early years they had an understandable drive to establish a "baseline" for education - they recognised that they were a melting-pot of different cultures so they "standardised" and "simplified" their "English" spellings. The most obvious of these are the use of "z" instead of "s" fir the hard phoneme in -ise/-ize and the elimination or of the u in things like colo(u)r and neighbo(u)r. but I think the whole meter/metre thing is a symptom of the same From your words, like "standardized" itself! And "recognized". This game is fun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Da5id Weatherwax Posted July 2, 2022 Share Posted July 2, 2022 8 minutes ago, Love Zhaoying said: Before that, similar issues plagued the Hubble space telescope. Peeve: NASA, like LL, is bad at math(s)! Sell your spuds in whatever units you want, but do your science in SI. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Love Zhaoying Posted July 2, 2022 Share Posted July 2, 2022 3 minutes ago, Rowan Amore said: It's not only spelled meter by the US as noted so it would seem BOTH spellings are correct depending on where you live. Theater/theatre is another one that is spelled correctly either way. Perhaps the reasoning behind our American Revolution? Freedom to spell differently? Happy Independence Day! From some of the examples you and Da5id gave, and memory, the American spellings are certainly more phonetic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Love Zhaoying Posted July 2, 2022 Share Posted July 2, 2022 1 minute ago, Da5id Weatherwax said: Sell your spuds in whatever units you want, but do your science in SI. Chips or fries? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Da5id Weatherwax Posted July 2, 2022 Share Posted July 2, 2022 1 minute ago, Love Zhaoying said: From some of the examples you and Da5id gave, and memory, the American spellings are certainly more phonetic. They ARE - which is why it's honestly harder to argue that they are wrong, instead of just different. The UK has experimented with a more phonetic approach to teaching reading, which failed miserably, the USA has had the whole "Phonix" thing. I just feel it a bit more than most having grown up in the UK, moved to the USA and finally adapted to the different keyboard and spelling just in time to have to relocate back to Scotland and begin the adaption process all over again. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Solo Alpha Posted July 2, 2022 Share Posted July 2, 2022 Peeve : linguists. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Love Zhaoying Posted July 2, 2022 Share Posted July 2, 2022 1 minute ago, Solo Alpha said: Peeve : linguists. Oh, but everyone loves a cunning linguist! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Da5id Weatherwax Posted July 2, 2022 Share Posted July 2, 2022 2 minutes ago, Love Zhaoying said: Chips or fries? oh its WORSE than that. "Chps" in the USA = "Crisps" in the UK. "Fries" in the USA = "Chips" in the UK. This one though, is down to the early deep association the nascent USA had with France. "French Fries" - aka "Pommes Frites" 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Love Zhaoying Posted July 2, 2022 Share Posted July 2, 2022 2 minutes ago, Da5id Weatherwax said: The UK has experimented with a more phonetic approach to teaching reading, which failed miserably, the USA has had the whole "Phonix" thing. Lol! Thought you were using a British spelling of "Phoenix"! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rowan Amore Posted July 2, 2022 Share Posted July 2, 2022 2 minutes ago, Love Zhaoying said: From some of the examples you and Da5id gave, and memory, the American spellings are certainly more phonetic. Exactly! Listen to metre in French, where that particular spelling is derived, then meter in English. Our spelling does seem to make more sense if you're speaking English. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Da5id Weatherwax Posted July 2, 2022 Share Posted July 2, 2022 2 minutes ago, Love Zhaoying said: Oh, but everyone loves a cunning linguist! The cunning linguist is a master of many tongues... 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Love Zhaoying Posted July 2, 2022 Share Posted July 2, 2022 Just now, Da5id Weatherwax said: This one though, is down to the early deep association the nascent USA had with France. "French Fries" - aka "Pommes Frites" Dim memory, that the actual reason they're called "French fries" is that the method of cutting was called, "frenching". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Love Zhaoying Posted July 2, 2022 Share Posted July 2, 2022 Just now, Da5id Weatherwax said: The cunning linguist is a master of many tongues... But - Let's not talk about my "mother tongue", that's just gross. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Solo Alpha Posted July 2, 2022 Share Posted July 2, 2022 4 minutes ago, Love Zhaoying said: Oh, but everyone loves a cunning linguist! It seems to me fewer are and all the better for me .. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Love Zhaoying Posted July 2, 2022 Share Posted July 2, 2022 Just now, Solo Alpha said: It seems to me fewer are and all the better for me .. That's it, I know when I'm licked! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Solo Alpha Posted July 2, 2022 Share Posted July 2, 2022 Peeve : too many minds floating in the gutter .. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SarahKB7 Koskinen Posted July 2, 2022 Share Posted July 2, 2022 (edited) 2 hours ago, Love Zhaoying said: From some of the examples you and Da5id gave, and memory, the American spellings are certainly more phonetic. American English is taught using "Phonics", a simplified method which splits words into smaller verbal syllables for repetitive "listen and repeat" style learning, which has resulted in some very odd, literal sound-based re-spellings of common English words. English schools use a "whole word by sight" recognition method which retains traditional English spelling, although the Phonics method is sometimes used in remedial education for children with learning difficulties. The Phonics method was used in America's early 19th century history as a way to make learning American English as quick and easy for the masses of foreign groups of migrants (mostly Germans/Prussians) who settled and integrated into the US together, and these groups communicated with each other using a common and simplified version of the English language based on phonetic learning. As most of the (white) US population has German/Prussian origins, their Germanic Z's were retained instead of S's, as the letter Z is more commonly used in Germany than in England. Even the name of the letter Z is pronounced differently to England's "zed" Z instead of the German "zee" Z. The letter U was cut from many English words too, as it was an uncommon letter in German. Looking at the surnames of today's white US population, many of these family names are German family names, although some have been Anglocised to disguise or hide their German roots because of the two World Wars. The German influence in the early US was so strong, that they only started using their present "hand over heart" gesture to salute the US flag after entry into World War 2 in 1941. Before 1941, Americans saluted their flag in a very different Germanic way, a salute known in the US as the Bellamy Salute, and if you click that link, you'll see and learn why that practice was ended! Edited July 2, 2022 by SarahKB7 Koskinen 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Da5id Weatherwax Posted July 2, 2022 Share Posted July 2, 2022 3 minutes ago, Love Zhaoying said: Dim memory, that the actual reason they're called "French fries" is that the method of cutting was called, "frenching". As a keen cook I can confirm that - "frenching" is the process of cleaning away fat and gristle from bones in meat prep, but also used to be the description of reducing large vegetables to smaller and standard sized pieces so they all cooked at the same rate. and to refer back to our earlier discussion, "size" is spelled the same way on both sides of the Atlantic -Weird, huh? 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Love Zhaoying Posted July 2, 2022 Share Posted July 2, 2022 20 minutes ago, Solo Alpha said: Peeve : too many minds floating in the gutter .. "What are they doing in the gutter?" "The backstroke, I think." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Krystina Ferraris Posted July 2, 2022 Share Posted July 2, 2022 Jolly Phonics is used here in Ireland to teach children how to read and it’s excellent. Both my girls were avid readers since junior infants and as a method it seems to be really successful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Da5id Weatherwax Posted July 2, 2022 Share Posted July 2, 2022 41 minutes ago, Krystina Ferraris said: Jolly Phonics is used here in Ireland to teach children how to read and it’s excellent. Both my girls were avid readers since junior infants and as a method it seems to be really successful. I went into junior infants already able to read. I just needed ask Dad how some words were said and what they meant. It hadn't translated into writing in my head yet, and to this day my penmanship is abysmal, but the phonetic method of "teaching reading" actually set me back and royally pissed off my parents 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Da5id Weatherwax Posted July 2, 2022 Share Posted July 2, 2022 1 hour ago, SarahKB7 Koskinen said: English schools use a "whole word by sight" recognition method which retains traditional English spelling, although the Phonics method is sometimes used in remedial education for children with learning difficulties. Remember ITA? If you;re an old-enough educator in the UK you will and you'll spit. It's not precisely "whole word by sight" but it starts that way with simple words. More complex ones you mentally break down into "bits you've seen before" - and they don't just have sounds to them, they have meanings. So you get it through your head early on that "threw" and "through" sound the same but the different spelling contains a different meaning, so to continue the same example you get it out of the gate that "threw out" and "throughout" are different, you know the pieces; "threw", "through" and "out" and it makes sense to a child's head. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sid Nagy Posted July 2, 2022 Share Posted July 2, 2022 1 hour ago, Love Zhaoying said: Chips or fries? Chips are crisps, so fries. (friet in Dutch) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Solo Alpha Posted July 2, 2022 Share Posted July 2, 2022 (edited) 2 minutes ago, Sid Nagy said: (friet in Dutch) No. It's called patat. Peeve : Limbos. ( People from the South of the Netherlands as clueless as blondes ) Edited July 2, 2022 by Solo Alpha 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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