3 ms·

Today I learned that American English uses the same spelling for the noun 'licence' and the verb 'license'. If you think it's odd that we distinguish in Britis

Today I learned that American English uses the same spelling for the noun 'licence' and the verb 'license'. If you think it's odd that we distinguish in British English, what about 'advice' and 'advise'. I think Americans still retain the two spellings?

vinay427 6y ago
"Licence" doesn't even look wrong to me as an American. This, along with "grey" and "gray," is one of the few where I don't bother to figure out which one is more common in which country. I'm generally quite pleased by the comments here. None of the usual litterings of "we invented it," "we have more English speakers," etc. that I've seen on some other sites.
- dmix 6y ago
  > I'm generally quite pleased by the comments here. It helps it was written with humour. Although, not that humour has always stopped people on the internet from taking things super seriously.
bjoli 6y ago
English is not my first language, and in school we were taught British English. However, most English language culture I consumed was American. I have given up speaking anything but franken-english.
- TeMPOraL 6y ago
  Same here. To this day I wonder why are we teaching people British English? It's not like my country is somehow beholden to the Queen, and the only English anyone here will experience outside school setting is American.
  - vinay427 6y ago
    I'm not sure where your country is but at least in Europe, I think British English is more commonly taught because people are (thought to be) more likely to move to the UK/Ireland or interact with Britons/the Irish so BrE is marginally more applicable. I'm not sure that's actually true with the population differences at play. Also, at least in a few countries what more often seems to affect the curriculum is where one's teacher is from or was trained. I don't know how widely true that is.
    - TeMPOraL 6y ago
      I can buy the "where the teacher was trained" argument. Though if so, then there's also a huge inertia, because a growing number of teachers, particularly in private English schools, is from my generation (~30-ish people), and we grew up in thoroughly Americanized world. I don't buy the "move to UK/Ireland" justification. Someone knowing American English will handle the UK perfectly fine (the two dialects aren't that different). But only so many people travel or move to the UK; meanwhile, almost everyone in Europe is living thoroughly immersed in American culture and language - in movies, songs, books, technology, social media. From practical and economical POV, American English is a better choice.

vinay427 6y ago

"Licence" doesn't even look wrong to me as an American. This, along with "grey" and "gray," is one of the few where I don't bother to figure out which one is more common in which country. I'm generally quite pleased by the comments here. None of the usual litterings of "we invented it," "we have more English speakers," etc. that I've seen on some other sites.

dmix 6y ago
> I'm generally quite pleased by the comments here. It helps it was written with humour. Although, not that humour has always stopped people on the internet from taking things super seriously.

bjoli 6y ago

English is not my first language, and in school we were taught British English. However, most English language culture I consumed was American. I have given up speaking anything but franken-english.

TeMPOraL 6y ago
Same here. To this day I wonder why are we teaching people British English? It's not like my country is somehow beholden to the Queen, and the only English anyone here will experience outside school setting is American.
- vinay427 6y ago
  I'm not sure where your country is but at least in Europe, I think British English is more commonly taught because people are (thought to be) more likely to move to the UK/Ireland or interact with Britons/the Irish so BrE is marginally more applicable. I'm not sure that's actually true with the population differences at play. Also, at least in a few countries what more often seems to affect the curriculum is where one's teacher is from or was trained. I don't know how widely true that is.
  - TeMPOraL 6y ago
    I can buy the "where the teacher was trained" argument. Though if so, then there's also a huge inertia, because a growing number of teachers, particularly in private English schools, is from my generation (~30-ish people), and we grew up in thoroughly Americanized world. I don't buy the "move to UK/Ireland" justification. Someone knowing American English will handle the UK perfectly fine (the two dialects aren't that different). But only so many people travel or move to the UK; meanwhile, almost everyone in Europe is living thoroughly immersed in American culture and language - in movies, songs, books, technology, social media. From practical and economical POV, American English is a better choice.