Are You Writing English Right? Part 3

byrevansca

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Updated 4 years ago

Part 1 of this series of posts on the topic of recognizing that we have a global audience can be found at: https://my.wealthyaffiliate.com/revansca/blog/are-you-writing-english-right/31406349 and part 2 at: https://my.wealthyaffiliate.com/revansca/blog/are-you-writing-english-right-part-2

Part 3: More On Spelling Challenges

From focusing mostly on words where consonants were the primary cause of different spellings on either side of the Atlantic, (although we did cover words with the letter ‘u’ added in UK English compared to American English, in this blog post we begin by looking at words that have alternative spellings because of differences in vowels.

Buy A Vowel (or Two)

Archaeology/Archeology, Manoeuvre/Maneuver, Oestrogen/Estrogen, Paediatric/Pediatric, and Leukaemia/Leukemia are all examples of British English having an extra vowel. Removal of the extra vowel makes the word both simpler to spell and easier to know how to pronounce the word. The American version is more phonetic.

Analogue/Analog, Catalogue/Catalog, Dialogue/Dialog are also examples of words that in the British English spelling appear to have unnecessary vowels appended to the simpler, more phonetic American English word. These are words that again show that Americans will happily adopt a simplified version of a word if one is offered. However, ''gue' ending words such as monologue, epilogue, and pedagogue still remain the prevalent spellings in American English which makes analogue, catalogue, and dialogue still acceptable in the USA.

Words that are pronounced differently because they are spelled differently

In American English the word Aluminum is pronounced Al-oo-min-um. In British English the spelling includes an additional letter 'i' - Aluminium - and it is pronounced Al-oo-min-ee-um, and so presents both a spelling challenge and a pronunciation challenge. There are other words such as route which have different USA and UK pronunciations.

There must be other words that are spelled differently and so pronounced differently, but at this time they are not coming to mind…

Words that are completely different

If you enter a multi-story building and you have a choice between taking the stairs, taking an escalator, or taking an elevator to get to a different floor, you are in the USA. In the UK, your choices would be between taking the stairs, taking an escalator, or taking a lift. It is also worth mentioning that in the USA, the ground floor is the first floor, and it is labeled ‘1’; but in the UK, the ground floor is ‘o’, zero, and is most often labelled ‘G’ for ‘ground floor’, and the floor immediately above it is the first floor, and so is labelled ‘1’. This means that in the UK, you go up to the first floor from the ground floor, whereas, in the USA, when you are on the ground floor, you are already on the first floor. ‘P’ is used for parking in both the USA and the UK, but ‘G’ in the USA might well mean Garage.

The term lift in the USA is more commonly used in workshops where a vehicle is raised up on a hydraulic lift. But at a ski resort, the chair lift is a cradle that people ride in that is carried by cable up a mountain. The term lift is used in the UK to also mean transportation; “I need a lift to the store,” which is equivalent to asking for a ride in America, while being ‘taken for a ride’ means the same thing in England or the USA.

Types of residential homes in the USA include Single-family home, townhome, mansion, and apartment. In the U.K. apartments are known as flats. Yes, easily confused if the context is not clear with having a puncture in one’s tyre (tire). The typical fourplex apartment building, two ground floor and two 2nd floor apartments in the USA would be a maisonette in the U.K. A single-family home in the USA would be either a detached home (or dwelling if referenced in an older 20thCentury publication) while a townhouse in the USA would be described as a semi-detached home or a terraced home in the UK. The terms mansion and castle are used to mean the same things on either side of the Atlantic.

Another source of confusion for travelers and tourists is the common acceptance of the term bathroom in the USA which might not actually be a bathroom, but just a toilet. In Europe, a bathroom is only a bathroom when it has a bath in it. A home with a toilet and a shower but no room with a bath in Europe is a home that doesn’t have a bathroom, while in the USA, if you are visiting a home having both a toilet and a shower in the same room, it is common to refer to it as a ‘half-bath’, and if you wish to use the toilet you would ask, “May I use your bathroom?” but not in England or Europe. The biggest location for major confusion for the American travelling in England or Europe is most likely a hospital or urgent care medical facility where, if you ask if you can use the bathroom, they are likely to question you, or worse still, tell you they do not have bathrooms for visitors; so knowing to ask for the toilet can be quite important.

There must be other words that are completely alternate words, spelled completely differently, that can trip one up, but at this time they are not coming to mind…

A Simple Tool At Your Disposal – Free and Immediately Available

Not sure, which is which - Is it American English or British English? Paste this blog post into Microsoft Word and see which words light up with red underlines... Depending on which version of English you have your spell check set for, American English (USA) or British English (UK), will determine which variant is flagged as a spelling error. How does this help? Well to begin with, Spellcheck can help you check for correctness for your primary market and it can help you avoid an unintentional mixture that may cause confusion.

Conquer The Universe

If you want to create a universally acceptable manuscript in which you can show that you recognize (recognise) that there are regional differences in written English language, that help to suggest to the reader that you are well traveled (travelled), you might consider putting the alternative spelling in parentheses following the correct spelling for your primary audience.

Substitute and Avoid

One strategy for dealing with words that have different American English and British English spellings is to substitute and thereby avoid them. At the end of these notes, are listed of all the words that are used or mentioned in this article that have an alternative spelling, along with alternative words to consider as substitutes...