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Subject:Re: British vs. American Spelling From:"Michael A. Lewis" <lewism -at- BRANDLE -dot- COM -dot- AU> Date:Fri, 17 Oct 1997 14:02:56 +1000
R2 Innovations wrote:
>
> At the risk of offending many of the list members I must take exception to the
> insinuations that _only_ the American spelling of word is correct. Granted,
> the US is the largest single concentration of English-speaking people on earth,
> but they _do not_ represent the majority of people using the English
> language.
>
> Prior to responding to this thread I made the effort of talking to a
> number of people for whom English was not their mother tongue, but
> had learned the language in the school systems of their homelands. Some
> of the countries represented where India, Pakistan, Egypt, Hong Kong,
> Taiwan, Japan, and Indonesia. The "version" of spelling taught was
> almost universally British. From this observation, I think it is safe to say
> that more people using the English language are familiar with the
> British spelling than with the American.
>
> Being proud of my Canadian birth, and my British heritage, I
> generally use British spelling in my documentation and have never had any
> major criticsm from my employer (a large US-based multi national comany) or
> those clients for whom I have done contract writing. The only
> problem I enountered was with an editor for my book, Documenting ISO
> 9000: Guidelines for Compliant Documentation, who kept insisting
> I use American spelling. In fact she recently posted a
> recommendation of the book on this list to which she added an
> editorial disclaimer because I elected to stick with my Canadian
> ways.
>
> I am sure that this post will raise the ire of many of my American
> counterparts, but I mean no offense. I just think we should
> recognize that the alternative spelling found in many dictionaries is
> correct for many people who use the English language, who may
> outnumber those for whom the American spelling is considered correct.
>
> Let the flames begin
>
> Ralph E. Robinson
Two comments. First, even where people in non-English-speaking coutries
do learn US English, it seems that British English is regarded as being
of higher prestige. Second, how come you spelled "offense" the US way?
Just wondering :-)
--
Michael Lewis
Brandle Pty Limited
PO Box 1249
Strawberry Hills, NSW 2012
Australia
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