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[senor boogie woogie]

Hola!

Now on to British English. The English and Americans use different words to express something, for example,

(UK) (USA)
Lorry Truck
Chips Fries
Tarts Hookers
Loo Toilet

But what drives me bats is British spellings. For example, the word program. The British spell the word programme. What is the purpose of the "e" at the end of the word. It has no purpose. The word programme as it spelled should be pronounced pro-GAME, because the silent e turns the a from a short vowel into a long vowel. Shoppe is the same way. Please put the double consonant away. It is not needed. "Shoppe" is used mainly in the USA as a shop in a snooty neighborhood that is too expensive for most of us.

Color and neighbor is spelled in the UK as colour and neighbour. What is the purpose of the "u" in the british spelling? The US spelling is correct because the endings of the word sound like the word "or". The UK spelling is wrong because the end of the word is "our" like the word hour. Say col-(HOUR), or Neighb-(HOUR).

The word MATHS is wrong. Why? Because math is an uncountable noun. You do not say, "I take to maths classes", it is "I take two mathmatics classes. Mathmatics is the plural form of math, not the dreaded "maths"

Center is not spelled centre. Again in "centre" we have a silent "e" that is not changing the other e into a long vowel sound. Center is correct, because the end -er sounds like an R and is correct in the word. Centre is prounounced Sen-tree.

Oh well, what is the forum's position?

SENOR

[Roger]

There is nothing annoying with British spelling!
It is the traditional way of writing words borrowed from a host of other languages. Most words you mentioned have passed into English from French, which modified the original Latin spelling to take care of pronunciation differences.
It may look illogical, but the pronunciation of English IS illogical. Tell me why Americans write WORSHIPING, but pronounce it worshipping?
And why do Americans have a 'se' ('Z'), when everybody else pronounces the last letter in the Roman alphabet as 'set'??

[MartinK]

...

[veiledsentiments]

Ah Senor,

You are just trying to start trouble, aren't you?

The reality is that English spelling is a mess on all sides of the Atlantic (and Pacific - to bring in the Aussies and Kiwis). There were no rules for many years and everyone spelled as they wished and then the tendency for English to borrow words freely from any ole language just made it worse. (like programme - which I believe has maintained its French spelling) Some kept their original spelling and some didn't. Then there was the American move to simplify spelling a couple hundred years ago. I always felt that it didn't go far enough. (he should have fixed the -ough problem and spell them to match their sounds among others---)

If only English were like Spanish, with new words being shoehorned into their existing spelling and pronounciation structure. How much simpler it would make our lives as teachers (and speakers/writers).

Personally I enjoy the differences between the dialects of English. We can usually understand each other.

VS

[PanamaTeacher]

senor

I don't mind how bad they spell American over there in england
it's how they can't talk worth a darn that gets me going

i had a student from Spain that wanted to use some english learning CDs he bought in London
i tried using them for two weeks but i kept laughing so much we had to get rid of them

i mean i know it's the normal thing but it sounds like a movie to me
and then the sentences were so wierd

Do push the pram here darling!
The weather is rather fine wouldn't you say!
The rain in Spain falls mainly in the plain (Shaw)

When I get bored I like to watch BBC and try to figure what they're saying
and i like the funny faces they put on when something is supposed to be especially serious, like prince william getting a speeding ticket or whatever
_____________________________________________________________

WARNING: THE PURPOSE OF THIS POST IS TO PROVOKE ANGRY RESPONSES FROM SPEAKERS OF BRITISH ENGLISH; THE SENTIMENTS EXPRESSED HEREIN ARE NOT MY REAL VIEWS

[rogan]

The OP has to be a wind-up.
There are just too many errors for it to be real.

[Capergirl]

Flame bait, huh? Interesting. There are no hard and fast rules when it comes to pronunciation. Senor boogie woogie, as an EFL/ESL teacher I would think you would know that. To illustrate my point, read the following poem out loud:

I take it you already know
Of though and bough and cough and dough.
Others may stumble, but not you
On hiccough, thorough, rough and through.
Well done! And now you wish, perhaps,
To learn of less familiar traps?
Beware of heard, a dreadful word
That looks like beard and sounds like bird,
And dead; it's said like bed, not bead.
For goodness sake don't call it "deed"!
Watch out for meat and great and threat
(They rhyme with suite and straight and debt);
A moth is not as "moth" in mother,
Nor "both" in bother, "broth" in brother.
And here is not a match for there,
Nor dear and fear for bear and pear,
And then there's dose and rose and lose -
Just look these up - and goose and choose.
And cork and work, and card and ward,
And font and front and word and sword,
And do and go, and thwart and cart.
Come, come I've hardly made a start!
A dreadful language? Man alive,
I'd mastered it when I was five!


Perhaps we should change the spelling of cough to "coff" and through to "thru" (like the modern spelling of "drive-thru" ) or "throo" so that Americans are better able to pronounce them?

Jeez, I'd hate to see how you would massacre a work of Shakespeare, Senor.

[khmerhit]

'Allo me old china - wot say we pop round the Jack. I'll stand you a pig and you can rabbit on about your teapots. We can 'ave some loop and tommy and be off before the dickory hits twelve.

"Got to my mickey, found me way up the apples, put on me whistle and the bloody dog went. It was me trouble telling me to fetch the teapots."

http://www.aldertons.com/

[Mike_2003]

Massive insecurity complex!!!!!

INIT!!!

[C76]

Know something, senor?

English spelling is crazy. Period.

I must say, though...Some of those examples you mentioned are familiar. I'm Canadian. Our spelling system seems to be a mishmash of Brit and American.

And Capergirl, I have a TESL textbook that mentions using "ghoti"* for the word "fish"

*the "gh" taken from the word "enough", along with other odd juxtapositions

[johnslat]

Dear Mike_2003,

" Massive insecurity complex "

What a great name for a rock band ( as Dave Berry would say ).
Regards,
John

[scot47]

Spelling Reform - thatr is what we need. BUT how we will ever get agreement on both sides of that big pond ? Not to speak of agreement from other users of Standrad Interterran in smaller places like Fiji, South Africa and Canada ?

Incidentally "ghoti" as a spelling for "fish" is taken from an essay by George Bernard Shaw, who was a great advocate of a rationalisation of spelling.

Webster had the riught idea but he did not go far enough. And he had the strange idea that there are two differernt languages : Murkan and Brittsh.
We all know that it is ONE language !

[stevey]

[PanamaTeacher]

Stevey

I like that poetry stuff myself

Roses are red,
Violets are blue.
Caper's just right
For me, not you!

or

I like her hair,
I like her smile.
I wish she'd come
And stay a while.

Did you notice my clever use of metaphors/similes/personification/ alliteration/hyperbole/symbolism/metaphysics, etc.

Eat your heart out Shakespeare

The Bard of Panama

[Bertrand]