American words and spellings not corrected in UK schools

[Fifiplays]

I find that schools no longer correct pupils when they use American English words and spellings in schools. For example, 'Airplane' (Aeroplane), 'Regular' (ordinary), 'Cotton candy' (candy floss), 'Program (when not a computer) etc etc. Does anyone have a good experience of schools being viglilent to this?

has basically 'preserved' that version of the language

And this is the reason for the infamous "gotten" in the US. It's an older British form that came over with the colonists and that we Americans preserved. Same for "fall" as synonym for autumn.

It's a big world etc, but I think the end result is that there will only be American English. Is this what we want?

It's been happening gradually for a long time now. In Charles Dickens's 'American Notes' he relates his journey by ship to the US. Sometime in the 1840s or 1850s. One of the crew members asked him if he wanted something 'right away', and kept repeating. Dickens didn't know what was meant as the equivalent in British English was 'directly' - 'directly' now seems quaint and antiquated, most Brits won't even recognise it. I try to catch myself saying 'movie' etc., but should I just let it go, am I being a pedant to stick to 'film'?

Similar to when minority languages die out.

Well, yes, but arguably some of American English IS older British English, from the Pilgrims and all that jazz.

My understanding (could be wrong) is that eg bath with a short “a” is the norm in the US (and northern England) because the southern/RP “barrth” evolved later here.

Dickens didn't know what was meant as the equivalent in British English was 'directly'

That's interesting. "Directly" used to be common usage for "right away" in the American South, and it is still used by older people.

Oh really? Totally confused then. Maybe 'right away' originated in the northern US states?

I can picture that actually. 'Why Miss Scarlett I will fetch you a mint julep directly'.

Which schools do you mean? How many have you tested on this?

I'd expect a school to change all your examples or at least to point out where these alternative terms come from and get the dc to think of the words British English uses.

The American spelling of sulfur was agreed for international science papers, together with a switch for the Americans to aluminium instead of aluminum. But they haven't switched, or at least not outside science. If you are in New Scientist, you get sulfur. My garden centre does sulphur. I think I came across a Judy Blume novel with aluminium.
I get caught out as my brain assumes sulfur means I'm reading science and when I was reading the Odyssey, I came across sulfur and suddenly got completely discomnobulated.

Those words are not incorrect in English. They are perfectly correct in the orthography used by about 350 million people, as opposed to that of approximately 60 million.

I have used 'airplane' since I was in primary school in Ireland in the late 60s. I pronounce it as spelled, with no 'O' sound in it.

'Program' isn't incorrect - like it or not, it's an example of language evolving.

Children need to be culturally fluent, especially where the dominant culture is concerned, and the dominant Anglophone culture right now is the American one.

The RP accent and non-rhotic R developed because people wanted to be perceived as the equivalent of 'cool' (i.e. not rustic or lower class) back in the day. Before that, the language of the Normans was the one the cool people wanted to use.

This absolutely is how language evolution happens - it is picked up from parts of the culture that are seen as attractive.

@SoVerySophie
My Irish schools from the 60s, 70s, and early 80s all had Principals.

It's not a purely American thing.

Very interesting! I find the evolution of language very interesting. It basically shows the migration of people throughout history. Eg some started with Sanskrit, some Germanic etc

@SheilaFentiman Does this mean you automatically bin applications from Americans? Seems a loss.

Program is a peeve of mine, but I'll also admit American English is smarter. Why is it necessary to have an extra m and e. I used to argue about Organisation and Organization with my DH. I think I don't care anymore. It makes sense with globalisation to accept both versions.

There are American form which are archaic UK English, though. Isn't gotten one of them? I don't know.

I think exposure to these words is important. Children will inevitably read American books, so should know what sidewalk and cotton candy mean. Children use regular to describe shapes, e.g. a regular polygon, so I can see why they would feel more comfortable with that word.

As a teacher, I always correct children when they incorrectly using words like program and practice though.

One thing that is annoying me recently is the use of z in spellings. I was always taught to spell recognise, organise etc. with an s as opposed to the American version with a z. My class kept spelling it with a z and one of them pointed out that it's with a z in the Oxford English dictionary! I dug a little deeper and Oxford press have decided that since it is so commonly spelt with a z nowadays, the English spelling with an s is being retired. This will take some getting used to for me!

You shouldn't be doing that. Teachers are trained not to correct English which is already correct. Is it a long time since you've had any CPD on error correction? Maybe ask for some.

@NowZeusHasLainWithLeda

I have had plenty of cpd and there is nothing wrong with whole class modelling a mistake that I regularly see and thinking aloud to demonstrate which spelling choice to use. Practice and practise are two different words. By year 6, children should know how to use them correctly.

Not me! another poster

Yes, gotten was used in UK English. The King James Bible (what used to be known as the Authorised Version, first published in 1611) uses "gotten" around 25 times. It has remained in use through "ill-gotten gains" and "begotten". It is not an Americanism.

But even if it's not an Americanism, that doesn't mean that it's not now more associated with American speech, or that it wouldn't sit slightly oddly in a formal British context. Ideally children would be taught that something's not wrong, but that the standard English variant (eg colour, got) would be the more common and widely acceptable in that context (even if that might change in future). Schools have probably got enough to do without spending time on those nuances though.

I don't know that got is the correct formal form though, as another poster said upthread, "I have got used to it" rather than "gotten" sounds like "I have went" or "that needs done" to me. Gotten never fell out of use in many parts of the UK so I would say it is perfectly acceptable.

CPD on error correction?! As teachers, how often do we get CPD on anything? I'm guessing you're in secondary. Error correction with a Y4 probably is more like a conversation "ooh, cotton candy tends to be what they say in America. Have you heard the word candy floss? Would that work instead?" if the child wanted to leave it as candy I'd leave it as that 🤷🏻‍♀️

Not saying I'm right, but I disagree with that example. 'I have got used to it' sounds perfectly correct to me. If I read gotten or color or practice (vb) in a job application, it would definitely jump out at me. Not saying I'd think it was 'wrong", or that I'd consciously discriminate at all, but with something like a CV I think it's always better not to notice the language than to notice it.

It's a big world etc, but I think the end result is that there will only be American English. Is this what we want?

You may be right that there will eventually only be American English, but imo it doesn't really make a difference what we want. We will get what we get! There is no preventing these linguistic shifts.

Apologies, @SheilaFentiman . I misread your last post on p 5. It did seem inconsistent with your PPs.

Did you take your name from the Peter Wimsey novel? IIRC, a strong woman married to a man with what we now know to be PTSD.