British spelling in the USA
Hi
I've seen many Americans preferring British spelling when they write:
cancelled (instead of canceled,my US spelling checker underlined [in red] cancelled as ''wrong'')
theatre (instead of theater, again, my US spelling checker underlined [in red] theatre as ''wrong'')
dialogue (instead of dialog, again, my Windows spelling checker underlined [in red] dialogue as ''wrong'')
glamour (instead of glamor, again, my Windows spelling checker underlined [in red] glamour as ''wrong'')
worshipped (instead of worshiped, again, my Windows spelling checker underlined [in red] worshipped as ''wrong')
what do you think?
1. why is that some Americans still use the British spelling?
2. does it make spelling checkers less usable/accurate?
thanks
I have came across quite alot of the Cinemas with the spelling of 'Theatre' while visiting the US. I guess it gives it more of a 'glamourious' image.
While in Canada there somekind of Canadian movement to encourge the continue plight of Commonweath spelling usage in Canada. I came across a billboard in Canada 'Say *Zee* You later' - encouraging Canadians to retrain the *Zed* prounciation.
British spellings in America?? That is a new one to me mate. I believe 'theatre' is the traditional spelling in the US but ‘theater’ is a newer form to bring it in line with 'center' (and I suppose 'enter). Theatre and theater therefore can be used interchangeably.
It surprises me to hear that some Americans are using dialogue instead of dialog and cancelled instead of canceled as you say, not sure why that would be. I’m sure there is many on this forum that do however
>>British spellings in America?? That is a new one to me mate. I believe 'theatre' is the traditional spelling in the US but ‘theater’ is a newer form to bring it in line with 'center' (and I suppose 'enter). Theatre and theater therefore can be used interchangeably.<<
Hmm... "theater" is the traditional form in the US (which was introduced at the same time as spellings like "color" in the US), and "theatre" is a rather, well, pretentious anglicism that seems to be popular with certain sorts (in particular theater people), as if British spellings were somehow "better", "more international", or whatnot than American ones. (Mind you that my statement above only applies to Americans; it is not a statement about British spelling itself.)
>>It surprises me to hear that some Americans are using dialogue instead of dialog and cancelled instead of canceled as you say, not sure why that would be. I’m sure there is many on this forum that do however<<
Actually, these sorts of spellings are very common in the US, and the spelling "dialogue" is more common than the spelling "dialog" (which is primarily used in computing in the case of "dialog boxes") in the US.
I agree with Travis. Once in high school, I wrote "dialog" on an English paper, and my teacher corrected it.
I usually see "theatre" in reference to plays, and "theater" in reference to movies. The Shakespearean tradition probably has something to do with that.
Anyway, in response to the original post... to put it bluntly, your spelling checker sucks.
"Dialogue" is certainly the preferred spelling. Merriam-Webster gives "dialogue" as the main form and "dialog" as an alternative spelling. However, as Travis pointed out, a computer is usually said to display a "dialog box" rather than a "dialogue box". (A similar oddity is how many people say "compact disc", but "floppy disk".)
On the other hand, "catalogue" and "catalog" are both common. I never see "monolog", but Merriam-Webster lists it as a variant.
"Worshiped" looks wrong to me because the spelling suggests a long "i" rather than a short one. I would never spell it that way, but I wouldn't consider it an error. Merriam-Webster also seems to prefer the -pped version as well.
I've never been able to decide between the spelling "traveled" and "travelled", etc., but I lean toward the single-L spelling. I certainly wouldn't consider either one an error.
- Kef
''I certainly wouldn't consider either one an error. ''
But spelling checkers would :(
If you write DIALOGUE, you get the that red thing ;)
Hmm, MS Word rejects "travelled" (and "traveller"), but it accepts both "canceled" and "cancelled". And it certainly doesn't put a "red thing" under "dialogue".
>>But spelling checkers would :(
If you write DIALOGUE, you get the that red thing ;)<<
Well, what those spelling checkers say does not necessarily correspond to actual orthographic usage in Real Life. If your spellchecker red-flags "dialogue", then hopefully you can at least add it to its dictionary so it doesn't red-flag it again.
>>"Worshiped" looks wrong to me because the spelling suggests a long "i" rather than a short one. I would never spell it that way, but I wouldn't consider it an error. Merriam-Webster also seems to prefer the -pped version as well.<<
It looks very weird to me as well - I would most definitely go with "-pped" with it.
>>I've never been able to decide between the spelling "traveled" and "travelled", etc., but I lean toward the single-L spelling. I certainly wouldn't consider either one an error.<<
I myself, on the other hand, tend to rather consistently use double-L spellings, spellcheckers be damned.
"as if British spellings were somehow "better", "more international", or whatnot than American ones."
British spelling are more international than American spellings as British spelling are used in nearly every English speaking country, whereas America is the odd one out and your spellings are used only in America.
""Worshiped" looks wrong to me because the spelling suggests a long "i" rather than a short one."
I agree.
To me, "worshiped" should rhyme with "striped."
With one P, the "I" should be pronounced as the "I" in "striped" or "piped".
It's the extra "P" - to make it "worshipped" - that changes the pronounciation of the "I".
Striped
Stripped
Piped
Pipped
Worshiped?!?!?
Worshipped
worshiping, handicapping, kidnapping
(my spelling checker labels them as ''correct'')
worshipping, handicaping, kidnaping
(my spelling checker says: RED!)