"British English"

[East Level 2]

Re:

Should an American ever write the word "lazer" simply ask what the "z" stands for. They get very upset.

It's cause ZEDs look cooler especially in lazer! Any American that would be "very upset" at that question should have been aborted.

So the word "ztimulated" isn't in American dictionaries then.

 

[garymj]

What about newcastle english,"hoy us some tabs pet."

 

[rick773]

Re: "British English"

Should an American ever write the word "lazer" simply ask what the "z" stands for. They get very upset.

It's cause ZEDs look cooler especially in lazer! Any American that would be "very upset" at that question should have been aborted.

So the word "ztimulated" isn't in American dictionaries then.

It does have a better ring to it.

Really though I've always seen it spelled "laser" I think the "z" came from a game called "lazer tag" which was a name brand.

 

[Balti]

prefer the Lancy Twang

 

[StrangewaysHereWeCome]

I prefer ye olde English, Shakespeare and perhaps pirate talk

Do you know why pirates are called pirates Bob?

 

[Mad Eyed Screamer]

People where I work are forever using Americanism's which gets on my nerves.

 

[metalblue]

I don't like the way our language is being creepingingly americanised. Too much of that cultural influence. Give me more european influences anyday.

The ironic thing about the English complaining about Americans changing the spelling of certain words is in many cases the original English spelling of the word is what the Americans have always stuck with. And somewhere along the line it is us who have changed the spelling.

Really?

BM educational and informative.
:)

Indeed it is true. Any word that ends 'or' is of Latin origin and 'our' is French...we had a frog in charge once and all the upper classes spoke French...when we reverted back to english they used the French spellings to ease the process for the upper classes.

IIRC the exception to this is 'ize' versus 'ise', although 'ize' would be considered of Latin origin and 'ise' of French I'm not sure ize was every used in old english...this was more driven by a dictionary when trying to standardise or standardize spellings.

Anyroad whatever the history it's our fecking language and we'll spell it as we wish without some busy **** at Microsoft pulling me up on it.

 

[Trollsmoan]

From John Cleese to the Americans regarding the English language

. You should look up revocation in the Oxford English Dictionary. Then look up aluminium. Check the pronunciation guide. You will be amazed at just how wrongly you have been pronouncing it. The letter 'U' will be reinstated in words such as 'favour' and 'neighbour', skipping the letter 'U' is nothing more than laziness on your part. Likewise, you will learn to spell 'doughnut' without skipping half the letters. You will end your love affair with the letter 'Z' (pronounced 'zed' not 'zee') and the suffix ize will be replaced by the suffix ise. You will learn that the suffix 'burgh' is pronounced 'burra' e.g. Edinburgh. You are welcome to respell Pittsburgh as 'Pittsberg' if you can't cope with correct pronunciation.

 

[Tourist since 1971]

I prefer ye olde English, Shakespeare and perhaps pirate talk

Do you know why pirates are called pirates Bob?

Wasn't it originally derived from a load of chinese women going to an exercise class who got lost in the Caribbean? I'm sure I heard that somewhere.

 

[Plaything of the gods]

I was surprised to come across "gotten" in Defoe's "A Journal of the Plague Year", written in the early 1700s.

English is a living language but it seems the Americans are sticking with what they took over with them. True Puritans!