It's Hallowe'en isn't it?

[squeaver]

Not Halloween.

oh the beauty of how the wonderful English language can evolve.

this is high pedantry

I know, I know...

Inwardly I'm telling myself "ffs".

Yes, the apostrophe is the missing v isn't it?

Kids today

is it the same as All Hallow's Eve or is that different?

where does the n come from? if the word is short for evening shouldn't there be another apostrophe for the missing ing?

I write for a regional newspaper and have just written a feature about some Hallowe'en events happening locally. Has to be Hallowe'en at my paper. I am so fecked off with writing Hallowe'en, you wouldn't believe.

Halloween.

Hah!

It is both apparently see here

The OED still gives Halowe'en as its preferred spelling, but DMNC's link suggests it'll be changed in due course. There's C18th evidence for Halloween.

'Shortened from All-Hallow-Even'.

I hate to see Halloween too, but language does have to evolve. Otherwise we'd still be celebrating All-Hallow-Even. My gripe is when our ENGLISH language begins to evolve rather quickly in the direction of US ENGLISH, particularly with their dodgy Webster spellings of nite, color etc. Vive la difference I say! [pretentious emoticon]

I don't think you'd catch an educated American using 'nite' and 'color' isn't dodgy, but a legitimate American variation which was decreed by Noah Webster, but wouldn't have shocked a C15th Briton.

I don't want to adopt US spellings either, but I don't buy the idea that Americans have taken 'our' language and spoiled it.

Hallowe'en is elegant, but is just an apostrophe too far, now we don't use 'even' for 'evening'.

No, I think the Americans have taken English, and changed it for their own ends, which is fine. What I object to is us taking it back in the Americanised form, when we already have a perfectly good form of the word ourselves. I heard someone on the radio the other day mention washing his hands under the "fawcet". What's wrong with "tap" all of a sudden? And he was British btw.

OK, I give in, that's a bit naff.