Spelling bee

[KattyJamison]

I don't give a damn for a man that can only spell a word one way.
- Mark Twain

Let us find CORRECT ways of spelling words different ways. Make Mark Twain proud of us ))

color - colour
analyze - analyse
centre - center
analog - analogue
encyclopedia - encyclopaedia
checker - chequer
tire - tyre
knit sweater - knitted sweater

There are many more. Suggestions?

@темы: discussion, grammar, lol

Comments

[Firesong]

Isn't 1st and 3rd just British-American parallels?
And 2nd from end are different words, no? Tire means to became worn out and tyre is a part of wheel, no?

[Йульки-тян]

As far as I know tire is an american variant of english tyre. Well, that's what my dictionaries say.

[Firesong]

Йульки-тян, and do your dictionaries know phrase "to get tired" and verb "to tire"?

[Астер]

Чиффа.
All of those are British-American pairs, to the best of my knowledge.

The problem is that these words are not ones, of which there is more than one universally accepted correct spelling. It's just that, depending on where you are in the world, different spellings will be correct or incorrect.

[Shae]

if I'm not mistaken - in the left column there's American word spelling and in the right column - definetely British

I'd add practically all the verbs ending on --ize - --ise (recognise, realise, etc);
some nouns on -- er - --re, french borrowing such as theatre, metre, etc;
nouns ending on --or - --our (neighbour, favour, flavour, behaviour, etc)

that's just what I remember.
and -
skeptic - sceptic

[Firesong]

Астер, I vaguelly remember, that in

analyze - analyse

pair in one language there are only one way of spell it; and in other one of them is the verb, and second - the noun (I don't remember languages and which is which, of course).
Other things I've seen always in one spelling of two given, so I can say nothing about them.

[Kleo Scanti]

British words are usually longer. American English is sort of simplified.

[Kleo Scanti]

Чиффа.
Not sure about analyse, but it works with "advice" (noun) and "advise" (verb) this way.

Oh, and one of my favourite British-American traps is "bill" and "cheque".

[Астер]

Чиффа.
Hmmm... I don't think I've ever heard anything like this. "analyz/se" does not look like a noun to me in any language. What may well be true is that in US English the verb is "analyze", but the nouns formed on the basis of this root are spelled with an "s". I.e. "analyst", "analysis".

If you find any further info on your version of the noun-verb split, let me know - I'm getting quite curious now.

[Firesong]

Астер, i don't remember now what book I had that used it as a noun. Of course, I have no idea if it was AmEn or BritEn. But if I happen to see something like this again - I'll share it.

[Йульки-тян]

Чиффа. , yes, they do. Thank you for your concern. =)

[KattyJamison]

Чиффа., Астер, Shae So far as I know, all of them are American-British (sometimes Canadian-American-British) parallels. "Tire" and "tyre" are the same verb, yet again so far as I know. "The little one tyres easily."

Analyze/analyse gets used pretty interchangeably in the US, but the official "purely American" use is "analyze".