American English or British English?

[The Blaatschapen]

All variants of spelling and pronunciation within English dialects are legitimate.

We must break down the barriers that divide English speakers, whether American, British, Australian, Canadian, South African, etc.

It would help if they had one government (again).

[Abarri]

All variants of spelling and pronunciation within English dialects are legitimate.

We must break down the barriers that divide English speakers, whether American, British, Australian, Canadian, South African, etc.

It would help if they had one government (again).

"English: The Story of How An Empire Got Back Together Again"

[Forsher]

Simplified American English. It is more efficient, easier to learn, easier to spell, and doesn't look as stupid. When it comes to British English, those unnecessary letters you don't pronounce are stupid. Why are they there? Why have them? I've never seen a person who pronounces "aluminum" as "all-loo-men-nee-um" and not "all-loo-men-um". Only Dexter says "lah-bore-uh-tory", although both the UK and USA spell it the same.

"Programme" is inefficient and "nappy" for diaper actually makes me angry for some reason.

Basically all of this is wrong.

Colour much more closely reflects pronunciation than color does... compare: colon or or. And then if you want to talk about "our" you run into the problem of why the inconsistency only matters when a letter is taken away?

Similarly, compare paedophile to pedophile. Now, I actually think the American pronunciation looks more like the British spelling but then you think about encyclopaedia and suddenly you realise it is the American habit that is inconsistent. It's only easier to spell in the sense that fewer letters are involved. Of course, spelling reform advocates (misguided though they be), will definitely tell you that consistent orthography as in the British case creates easier spelling...

Onomatopoeia... I used to be able to spell this until a teacher tried mnemonic for it... is another case. Peia... what should we do with this? Paya doesn't seem like a good way of saying this, but you have to remember oe is really œ, or a different letter altogether.

But I really shouldn't talk about vowels. I dispute the granular accuracy of that post incidentally... the joke's major point is, I believe, consistent with this (I don't read IPA).

You spelt aluminium wrong. Normally it doesn't matter (in a descriptive sense) but when you're complaining about a pronunciation difference whilst ignoring that there is also a fundamental spelling differences...

Programme versus program. In the US the distinction between two different, very different, nouns is not reflected in the spelling... Hardly efficient when you consider sentences like:

This is a bad programme.

Which would remain ambiguous even in a paragraph like:

This is a bad program. It's poorly constructed, incoherent and looks like it was written by a two year old.

Of course, programme and programme are both spelt the same way (and are just as ambiguous) but at least we avoid the matter of "chips". The US avoids this problem with the use of the word fries but literally everything is just called chips here. And let's just remember that fries are really a rather trivial matter to Americans... what is the US term for chip shop? Nothing since they don't really exist. To clarify... everything is chips in NZ and Australia. Everything. At best you'll get hot chips and chippies... maybe the odd brand name for novelty items like Doritos. Of course, in the UK they have crisps and chips.

Laboratory is interesting. Plenty of people pronounce it as lah - boh - rah - tree. Lots of people pronounce it as lab - bra - tor - ry. It's really quite impossible to see what your point here is.

Your infantile... it's a pun, don't report... rage at nappy is basically the only thing you talk about where you don't create an inconsistency in what you're saying. In effect, it's right and everything else is "wrong".

The major contribution of American English, on balance, is ugly spellings and easily avoidable complications. The table problem I mentioned in a different post might be impossible to avoid... I don't know myself... but we could have done without two different spellings of colour, just like we're much better off for having one spelling of egg.

[The Blaatschapen]

It would help if they had one government (again).

"English: The Story of How An Empire Got Back Together Again"

One language, one nation, one empire.

[Ifreann]

Simplified American English. It is more efficient, easier to learn, easier to spell, and doesn't look as stupid. When it comes to British English, those unnecessary letters you don't pronounce are stupid. Why are they there? Why have them? I've never seen a person who pronounces "aluminum" as "all-loo-men-nee-um"...

We pronounce it that way because we spell it "aluminium".

[Earthbound Immortal Squad]

Simplified American English. It is more efficient, easier to learn, easier to spell, and doesn't look as stupid. When it comes to British English, those unnecessary letters you don't pronounce are stupid. Why are they there? Why have them?

The reason for those "excess" letters as you put them is to make the language more sophisticated it gives rise to potential homophones in a language e.g night and knight or two,to and too etc. They give the language more possibilities without necessarily needing more words, true the language is a little harder to learn but it gives more structure too which American English can't do with everything being spelt so phonetically. It's like color and colour I never knew about the American spelling until about a few years ago when I used a piece of equipment called a colorimeter and I originally said it as a "collarimeter" because that is what is sounded like to me.

[The Repormyrited]

British is best for Britain, AMerican - for America. For the rest of the world would be enough to choose one language and that's all

[Risottia]

It's what happens normally when you strRRRoll thRRRough EdinbRRRah WaveRRRley and pRRRomoteRRRs hand you a can of cucumbeRRR-flavouRRRed SpRRRite, whispeRRRing "it's peRRRfect with JEN!" - and then you follow the advice, again, and again, and again.

With that strong of a trill, they're probably handing out Irn Bru to be honest.

Maybe they had just aRRRRived frae AbeRRRdeen.

(Also, ew, Irn Bru, I can feel the glucose in my blood now).

[The Free Joy State]

With that strong of a trill, they're probably handing out Irn Bru to be honest.

Maybe they had just aRRRRived frae AbeRRRdeen.

(Also, ew, Irn Bru, I can feel the glucose in my blood now).

Irn Bru's okay. It is tooth-gratingly sweet, I grant you. But if you need an immediate sugar lift...

And, to answer the OP, I use British English (although Americanisms like "apartment", being interchangeable with "flat", have crept into my vocabulary through exposure to US programmes).

But there's also nothing wrong with American English, or Canadian English, or Australian English, or South African English or any other kind of English -- or any dialect contained therein.

[Saiwania]

American english is arguably more efficient if generally speaking, there are fewer letters required for words. Written English should be good for resumes where the text is concise and to the point where possible.

[Jetan]

British english is the proper variant, and the one I generally aim to use. It does get muddied up a bit due to the hegemonic status US has achieved though. And when it comes to pronunciation I have a finnish accent.

[Risottia]

Irn Bru's okay. It is tooth-gratingly sweet, I grant you. But if you need an immediate sugar lift...

You drink a ginger beer instead. With some gin, cucumber, mint leaves and soda water in it, possibily.

[Katganistan]

Hiberno-English.

Which variety? Ulster, Western, Dublin, or cross-regional?

It's almost as if this 'which version of English is best' issue can't be reduced to a simple dichotomy...

Why Can't the English....

[Country of CityTowne]

British English is best English. 420/69 would English again.

[Katganistan]

American English is a strange language and often just plain wrong- so yeah course dey shoul' be learnin' our mother tongue, speaking proper like us in Commonwealth aiight

Fun fact: linguists come to the US to see how we actually have preserved British English.

http://www.bbc.com/travel/gallery/20180 ... ish-accent
http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/201802 ... sh-english


So stick that in your pipe and smoke it.

[Pacomia]

I'm actually American but I use British English because I like it better. Don't know why, I just do.

I would attribute that to my time spent living in Canada, but that was before I was really old enough to have good spelling anyways.

[Qon]

Do you prefer American or British English? American

And should Americans use British spelling in their writing? No.

[National Republic of Catvia]

American English is a strange language and often just plain wrong- so yeah course dey shoul' be learnin' our mother tongue, speaking proper like us in Commonwealth aiight

It is not wrong, it is how it is spoken. It may be wrong for your dialect, thought.

[The Umperia Isles]

semi-off topic, but if Americans think the british accent makes you sound smart, does the American accent make you sound dumb. but to the topic on hand, I use American English since I live in American, but I do like British English.

[Bombadil]

semi-off topic, but if Americans think the british accent makes you sound smart, does the American accent make you sound dumb. but to the topic on hand, I use American English since I live in American, but I do like British English.

Not dumb, but loud.

[Of Herbshire]

I think the only reason why we have two Englishes

We have considerably more than 'two Englishes'.

There's Indian English, Australian English, South African English, various shades of Caribbean English, Canadian English, etc., etc. Even within the United Kingdom, you can find more differences between, say, East Anglian English and Scots English than between standard British English and American English.

IMHO, Canadian English is strikingly similar (95% i would say) to British English, but with a few differences; for example football is American football while soccer is football. And Australian English tends to drop the "u" from words that rhymes with -ur like Harbour, Labour, Neighbour, etc. So in Australian English it's Harbor, Labor, Neighbor, and the list goes on. So we can see some aspects of American English in that matter.

[Heloin]

semi-off topic, but if Americans think the british accent makes you sound smart, does the American accent make you sound dumb. but to the topic on hand, I use American English since I live in American, but I do like British English.

Not dumb, but loud.

American's do like to talk very loudly from what I've seen.

We have considerably more than 'two Englishes'.

There's Indian English, Australian English, South African English, various shades of Caribbean English, Canadian English, etc., etc. Even within the United Kingdom, you can find more differences between, say, East Anglian English and Scots English than between standard British English and American English.

IMHO, Canadian English is strikingly similar (95% i would say) to British English, but with a few differences; for example football is American football while soccer is football. And Australian English tends to drop the "u" from words that rhymes with -ur like Harbour, Labour, Neighbour, etc. So in Australian English it's Harbor, Labor, Neighbor, and the list goes on. So we can see some aspects of American English in that matter.

Canadians sounds like Americans honestly. And speaking of soccer.

[Major-Tom]

I've grown up speaking and writing in American English, though thanks to the internet (and even NSG), I find myself occasionally throwing in British spelling without thinking about it. I'll find myself typing centre, colour, etc etc.

It's horrifying.

[Blargoblarg]

I'm biased in favor of American English for the obvious reason that I was born and have lived all my life in the US.

[New Yeeia]

American of course.