4 ms·

Ah but which "mother version"? American English is closer to the original spelling than British English, but getting the actual English to change their use of t

Ah but which "mother version"? American English is closer to the original spelling than British English, but getting the actual English to change their use of their own language because the Americans use it differently seems... odd. Plus there's no intrinsic reason to prefer the original spelling over later versions. So maybe we should all use English as it is used by the actual English? But that would see a small minority of the number of English-language speakers setting the rules for the huge majority. So maybe (as others have suggested) we follow the majority of native English speakers and use the Indian version?

rsynnott 5y ago
> So maybe we should all use English as it is used by the actual English? Which ones? It's not like English, as actually spoken in England, is particularly uniform. It has uniform _spelling_, but that's about all; a lot of vocabulary and even grammar is quite regional.
- marcus_holmes 5y ago
  If we get a choice, then Irish English. There are a few things that got pulled from Gaelic to English in Ireland that I love. Like "him/herself" to mean the object of the sentence without naming them "ah would you look at himself, all dressed up like that", "I'll have to check with herself if I'm allowed out on a school night", etc And no (or dimished) use of yes or no. Monosyllabic answers verboten.
- viraptor 5y ago
  Unless you're in Bristol and notice how much the "should'ov" spelling becomes a thing.
  - marcus_holmes 5y ago
    I really think that "should have" is going to be replaced by "should of". It already is in most actual usage, and it's only "language snobs" (like me) who care that it shouldn't be used like that. I have the same feeling about "lose", which is increasingly spelled "loose". It annoys the living crap out of me, but in fairness English is whatever people say it is, and if people want to say it's "loose" then so be it. I've already seen "moorish" succumb - from meaning (more or less) "spicy" to meaning "something I'd like to have more of". Which to be fair we don't have a word for, while we have plenty for "spicy" so it seems like a fair trade.
    - viraptor 5y ago
      > It annoys the living crap out of me, but in fairness English is whatever people say it is That's about my position on it. "I'm a descriptivist, but this is just stupid, let's not go there."
finnthehuman 5y ago
>So maybe we should all use English as it is used by the actual English? I'm in. Just imagine stuck up californians suddenly speaking Geordie. Howay man.
- marcus_holmes 5y ago
  I'm not sure that Geordie counts as actual English, given that 80% of England (never mind the rest of the Anglosphere) can't understand it ;) I once worked as a KP in the Isle of Man alongside cooks from Belfast, Glasgow and Sunderland. My Wurzel upbringing did not prepare me for this. Took me 3 weeks of repeated "what?" to begin to understand them. But I find that 30 years later, I can still understand them. Weird how that works.

rsynnott 5y ago

> So maybe we should all use English as it is used by the actual English? Which ones? It's not like English, as actually spoken in England, is particularly uniform. It has uniform _spelling_, but that's about all; a lot of vocabulary and even grammar is quite regional.

marcus_holmes 5y ago
If we get a choice, then Irish English. There are a few things that got pulled from Gaelic to English in Ireland that I love. Like "him/herself" to mean the object of the sentence without naming them "ah would you look at himself, all dressed up like that", "I'll have to check with herself if I'm allowed out on a school night", etc And no (or dimished) use of yes or no. Monosyllabic answers verboten.
viraptor 5y ago
Unless you're in Bristol and notice how much the "should'ov" spelling becomes a thing.
- marcus_holmes 5y ago
  I really think that "should have" is going to be replaced by "should of". It already is in most actual usage, and it's only "language snobs" (like me) who care that it shouldn't be used like that. I have the same feeling about "lose", which is increasingly spelled "loose". It annoys the living crap out of me, but in fairness English is whatever people say it is, and if people want to say it's "loose" then so be it. I've already seen "moorish" succumb - from meaning (more or less) "spicy" to meaning "something I'd like to have more of". Which to be fair we don't have a word for, while we have plenty for "spicy" so it seems like a fair trade.
  - viraptor 5y ago
    > It annoys the living crap out of me, but in fairness English is whatever people say it is That's about my position on it. "I'm a descriptivist, but this is just stupid, let's not go there."

finnthehuman 5y ago

>So maybe we should all use English as it is used by the actual English? I'm in. Just imagine stuck up californians suddenly speaking Geordie. Howay man.

marcus_holmes 5y ago
I'm not sure that Geordie counts as actual English, given that 80% of England (never mind the rest of the Anglosphere) can't understand it ;) I once worked as a KP in the Isle of Man alongside cooks from Belfast, Glasgow and Sunderland. My Wurzel upbringing did not prepare me for this. Took me 3 weeks of repeated "what?" to begin to understand them. But I find that 30 years later, I can still understand them. Weird how that works.