yeah,.....YEAH,.....That's the ticket.

Than you get into why manure is OK but sh*t is verboten. I can't think of some of the other words but from what I've read the winning army controls the langague and basically the Fench beat the English and the English words became the slang and the French the standard. It is amazing what you can learn today on TV is yoiu don't watch the manure that the networks pan of on us.

Marc

These lists, by no means exhaustive, illustrate the chief differences:
1. Words ending in -or and -our. (Note, however, that not all such words differ in spelling; consider, for example: emperor, error, mirror, and stupor.)

AMERICAN ENGLISH / The rest of the ENGLISH speaking world

arbor arbour
armor armour
behavior behaviour
candor candour
color colour
demeanor demeanour
favor favour
flavor flavour
glamour, glamor glamour
harbor harbour
honor honour
labor labour
neighbor neighbour
rancor rancour
rigor rigour
savior, saviour saviour
splendor splendour
tabor, tabour tabour
vapor vapour

2. Words ending in -er or -re. (But, again, other examples do not differ: for example, acre, lucre, mediocre, and meter [the instrument].)

AMERICAN ENGLISH / The rest of the ENGLISH speaking world

caliber calibre
center, Centre centre
goiter goitre
liter litre
maneuver manoeuvre
meter (measure) metre (measure)
miter mitre
specter spectre
theater, Theatre theatre

3. Words ending in -ize or -ise. (But these do not differ: circumcise, compromise, exercise, improvise, and surmise.)

AMERICAN ENGLISH / The rest of the ENGLISH speaking world

baptize baptise, baptize
capsize capsise, capsize
civilize civilise, civilize
organize organise, organize
realize realise, realize
sympathize sympathise, sympathize
visualize visualise, visualize

4. Words ending in -se or -ce. (But suspense is the same for both nations.)

AMERICAN ENGLISH / The rest of the ENGLISH speaking world
defense defence, defense
offense offence, offense
pretense pretense, pretence

5. Words using the digraphs ae and oe.

AMERICAN ENGLISH / The rest of the ENGLISH speaking world

anemic, anaemic anaemic
aesthetic, esthetic aesthetic
archaeology, archeology archaeology
diarrhea diarrhoeia
encyclopedia, encyclopaedia encyclopaedia, encyclopedia
eon aeon
esophagus oesophagus
estrogen oestrogen
hemoglobin, haemoglobin haemoglobin
hemorrhage haemorrhage, hemorrhage
maneuver manoeuvre
medieval, mediaeval mediaeval, medieval
pediatrician paediatrician

6. Words with medial -ct- or -x-. (But complexion and infection do not differ.)

AMERICAN ENGLISH The rest of the ENGLISH speaking world
/
complected, complexioned complexioned
connection connexion
inflection i nflexion
reflection reflexion

7. Miscellaneous differences.

AMERICAN ENGLISH / The rest of the ENGLISH speaking world

aluminum aluminium
check cheque
curb kerb
disk, disc disc
draft draught
fulfill fulfil
gray, grey grey, gray
Gypsy Gipsy
inquire enquire
jail jail, gaol
mold mould
mustache moustache
omelet, omelette omelette
pajamas pyjamas
plow plough
program programme
skillful skilful
sulfur sulphur
tire tyre
vise vice
wagon waggon, wagon

LOL I couldn't agree more. I had to cut back on my thread because I was starting to rant.
When I was watching it I was thinking, was I not paying attention or just not taught this stuff in school because I certainly would have remembered at least some of it. I don't. I guess they feel that if a professor has a phd a suit and a pipe and a camera pointed at him then it must be right.

Potatoe= Danny Quail
Potato= The rest of the world except ScOtty

Lights is never lites unless you can't speel coorictly!

Blame it on the Normans. The real question is where did you guys come up with fags for cigerettes? Not even I have the patience to wade through the OED for this one. And where would the good ol' OED be without prisoners?

Alan

...I won't bother with my dictionary.

Hey!

Uh, well he must be from here because everyone pronounces it that way here. Everyone also says they are "fixin" to do something. I hear these accents are common to N. Florida/S. Georgia and East Texas. Just sounds normal to me.

And here it's just "THEE-ter."

This thread is too funny!

Even the posts that purport to be accurate have mistakes.

Although I don't mean to pick on anyone in particular, for example, we DO use "metre" in Canada. An American English dictionary describes it as a "variant" of "meter", when in fact, "meter" is an American variant of "metre". The metric system was invented by the French, who spell the word as "metre".

Funny, too, because we were a British colony and we don't routinely use words like "programme" for "program", and yet we sometimes stick with words that are derived from the French.

Check out this site that talks of the origin of the metric system, its evolution, and how the USA is one of the very few countries in the world that has not totally adopted it, which according to reports costs American citizens billions of dollars a year when trading with the rest of the world.

Origin of the Metric System

So, who is right and who is wrong in a lot of cases? No one!

However, there are a few words that are definite in how they are spelled from "British" English to "American" English.

I do like the idea of "theatre" being the performing arts themselves, and "theater" being the actual building or venue where those arts are performed or shown.

Works for me anyway!

Greggue ;-)

P.S. I believe that English is the foremost language in the world for having words based upon so many different languages, and dialects, etc. Basically, English is really screwed up!

Just be sure to spell "Total owing" at the bottom of your invoice correctly!!! ;-)

Hmmmmmmm...... I just thought of the word "theatrics". I shall go and look it up.

An American dictionary uses it with the connotation similar to my use of "theatre" - the performing part. Hence, "theatrics" and not "theaterics". However, the same dictionary says that "theatre" is a variant of "theater"........ backwards again, IMHO.

When an actor speaks of his love of "theatre", he or she means the actual performing or performances. And yet the American dictionary does not even have that meaning for "theatre".

Just plain silliness!

My bottom line......... in this area, we are primarily talking about Home "Theater". We are creating the VENUE or PLACE where we view "theatre" - the performances - at home, hence, we build our own "theater" at home.

Cheers!

Down here in the states, that would be "Total owed" or "Total Due", actually...:}

Another thing.....

What is with decimal inches in the U.S.?

Are u guys eve gonna go metric?

Decimal inches! That's a hoot! ROFL!!!