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Original poster

American words and spellings not corrected in UK schools

155 replies

Fifiplays · 27/05/2023 22:23

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?

OP posts:
SheilaFentiman · 30/05/2023 09:53

poetryandwine · 30/05/2023 09:50

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.

No worries, easy to confuse on the quoting.

(no worries is probably an Americanism 😀)

Yes, I did take my name from that, good spot. And definitely PTSD, poor George F.

CarolinaInTheMorning · 30/05/2023 13:30

no worries is probably an Americanism

Not in my neck of the woods. A quick google suggests its origin is Australian English.

CarolinaInTheMorning · 30/05/2023 13:32

As for "practise" and "practice," that verb/noun distinction used to be observed in American English, but it died out (happily as far as I'm concerned). Now it's all practice.

Jux · 30/05/2023 16:35

prh47bridge "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."

Thank you. Glad to hear it's still used over here, too.

I like those older forms, like oxen, slid, (and I always think it should be glid too, also proven) oh there are loads.

Why NOY glid, so much nicer than glided!

Judgyjudgy · 31/05/2023 03:35

Fairislefandango · 30/05/2023 08:30

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.

Exactly. And in another 500 years we might all be speaking Spanish or Chinese or something entirely different! This is how the world changes and evolves

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