This topic is locked from further discussion.
I'm from Asia, my school taught us UK based English but my life outside school exposed with game and internet in American English. For spelling, American English omits "u", exchange "z" to "s" and there are exception like center (US) = centre (UK).
As for pronunciation, I always remember how different it is to pronounce "can't" in American English and British English.
Other than those? I guess American English has a lot of slang and idioms that I don't understand and have to google it or embarrassingly have to ask you guys to explain it.
Oh... correct me if I'm wrong. In American English, pronouncing "not" is almost similar to "nut" or maybe it's just me?
*
Ugh! Time to make fire! *Scratch scratch*our English is better. and by "our," i mean AMERICA, **** YEAH!
needled24-7
I prefer american spelling to english, even though i graduated a british institution.
There are far too many instances where its simply unreasonable to have the extra letters.
a friend told me the other day that "fanny" actually means vagina in England. I always thought "fanny" meant "buttocks"
mrbojangles25
That is indeed true...
I think it's just slang differences to be honest. I have no problem understanding what Americans say but some Americans are totally confused when we say some words :P
It's a bit like how the Swiss-German (German speaking Swiss) can understand native Germans perfectly but the Germans have real trouble understanding some of the slang the Swiss come out with.
I love the fact that we retain all those alien, illogical spellings, since they say give us a hint that the word wasn't just thought up in a word lab, but was carried from one language and culture to another...I prefer american spelling to english, even though i graduated a british institution.
There are far too many instances where its simply unreasonable to have the extra letters.
depend3ncy
Take the commonly misspelled word "grammar" which was introduced into Britain from Old French. Since the study of reading and writing was associated here with the rich, the word became connected in folk minds with clandestine learning and the occult. It's from here that we get our words "gram" - a measure taken for the concoction of spells, and "glamour" - a magical spell or charm. Knock all words down to a bunch of phonemes and you lose all the clues to our cultures' histories.
What's really weird is that I'm sure I remember those illogical spellings much better than some fairly straightforward ones, I mean, have you ever forgotten about the silent "p" in pneumatic or psychology (or swimming pool :P)? Even that tricky "ough" cluster is never a problem, even for foreigners, and think about all the different vowel/dipthong sounds it expresses: though, through, thought, bough, cough, rough, borough. I don't know, I don't think words like "tonight" and "through" really need to be simplified.
Please Log In to post.
Log in to comment