On Wednesday, December 13, 2006 5:46 PM [GMT+1=CET], web kracked
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
One day I would like to know what it the differences between
American (US) English and British (EN) English. As a born and raised
American,
I speak English just like my Aunt who was born and raised England.
I know that some words are spelled different like color/colour, but
both are excepted
in the American/English dictionary.
just food for thought
I'll bet you don't speak like your aunt. There are hundreds, if not
thousands of differences. The American spellings of "color" etc. are
simply wrong in English and a colleague of mine (we are both English and
both worked for an American company) was told he'd be fired if the
presentations he prepared for his boss were spelt in UK English.
You say specialty. We say speciality - note the extra "I".
You say aluminum; we say aluminium.
You say realtor. Most English people wouldn't know what that means. We
say estate agent.
In American, a rubber is a contraceptive; in English it's an eraser.
You say trunk; we say boot.
The first time I had to fill my (hired) car's petrol (gas to you) tank
in America they asked me what my tag was. I had no idea. We call them
number plates.
Gallons are *not* the same; yours are 16 fluid ounces, ours are 20.
There are spelling differences, grammatical differences, syntactical
differences, semantic differences, idiomatic differences and
words/phrases in each language that simply don't exist in the other.
Completely off topic, I know. Apologies to the purists in the list.
Harold Fuchs
London, England
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