John Schweisthal wrote:
> Isn't it funny that the British who complain about the French, use French
> spellings in English rather than American. Yet, they complain
> about "French" measures. Go figure!!
On the subject of spelling, the practice that annoys me is the Canadian
one.
About the time I moved from Toronto to California (in 1977), most of the
Canadian newspapers were using spelling that was even more progressive than
American, and had been doing so for quite a number of years. For example,
they even spelled glamour without the "u."
Since then, the more reactionary members of the academic, literary and
public sector communities seem to have won the day, with a very major shift
back to British spelling.
I remember hearing complaints, regarding American spelling -- that it wasn't
Canadian. My response was always that the British spelling isn't Canadian
either. Perhaps Joe can tell us if Canada's identity crisis is still
ongoing. <g>
Although I'm British born and a naturalized Canadian, I speak American
English (good American English, I hasten to add). Of course, in spite of the
reactionaries, words like "sidewalk" persist in Canada. (For those who don't
know, the Brits call it the pavement.) I'm not sure whether they're spelling
the edge of the sidewalk "curb" or "kerb," these days. Joe?
Bill Potts, CMS
San Jose, CA
http://metric1.org [SI Navigator]
