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> Unfortunately my teachers were a little unreasonable about this and would still deduct points when I pointed this out... I can see the teacher's perspective

> Unfortunately my teachers were a little unreasonable about this and would still deduct points when I pointed this out... I can see the teacher's perspective here. I don't think it's unreasonable for teachers to mark this down, though I don't think your request to get back the points was unreasonable either. Communicating effectively with your particular audience (the local American audience one in this case) is arguably a skill they're trying to teach you. Using language constructs that are unnatural for your audience can distract them and disrupt their flow. You don't want your reader to see "enrol" and spend the next 5-10 seconds pondering if you're illiterate or unable to run a spellchecker instead of spending that time digesting your actual point. This friction gets in the way of your point, thus ultimately hurting your own cause in addition to wasting their time. So when you keep doing that on your assignments and exams, you're effectively showing that you haven't mastered this skill -- and so it's not unreasonable for your grade to reflect that.

onemoresoop 2y ago
I personally don't care much for small misspellings and they add zero friction to my reading, I'm more interested in the message and how it is delivered to some extent. What adds friction are some styles of writing which diverge too much away from the essential.
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
Sakos 2y ago
In Germany, I wouldn't get marked down for using the wrong spelling, because it just didn't matter. Behavior? Behaviour? Who gives a fuck, it's all the same. It's ridiculous that these regional variations are somehow significant that it warrants points being taken away.
- jimkleiber 2y ago
  I think native speakers of a language have a more visceral reaction to things being spelled wrong or the wrong word order. So in Germany, people may not care so much. I grew up in the US but near Canada so I have maybe more exposure to written British English than most in the US (center vs centre). And I lived in Tanzania where I myself became very confused on how to spell words (grey vs gray?). But there are probably still some words that will make me think the person is not American, like organisation with an s. I read it and it viscerally feels off.
  - ndsipa_pomu 2y ago
    As a Brit, I resent the "authorized_keys" in my .ssh directory. Due to the large number of U.S. internet residents, I don't tend to really notice many "Americanisms", though one thing that bugs me is when the U.S. doesn't seem to recognise that "America" is a a large continent and only one area is the U.S. However, even Canadians will refuse to admit that they are American, as in living within the american continent.
    - jimkleiber 2y ago
      I'm not sure if you did it intentionally but I saw "recognise" and felt a slight electric shock :-) Perhaps the solution is to just unite all of the states of America, because I at least think the original idea was that the USA was a supranational government uniting little nation-states (precursor to the EU?), but maybe these more established nation-states won't want to join the union and become a "state" (even though I think political science would already refer to them as states).
- pasabagi 2y ago
  German spelling is ridiculously easy, whereas English spelling is quite hard. I guess the equivalent inverse would be comma use in German.
yieldcrv 2y ago
its also entirely inconsequential after school, so do your job and follow the district mandates but for the rest of us, the point of language is to convey a shared concept, and if the sender and receiver are doing that then mission accomplished
carstenhag 2y ago
If you live in the US, I agree that you must use American English. But even us people that live outside of the US/UK/related countries often got errors marked, because we used the wrong regional variant... In Europe, British English is used as a reference point, but I had a similar problem as GP.
- rjsw 2y ago
  > If you live in the US, I agree that you must use American English. Unless you are writing International Standards. ISO requires British English spellings in documents.
  - dullcrisp 2y ago
    Also if you’re invited to tea with the Queen
    - cherryteastain 2y ago
      I hear conversations with her are not as lively anymore
      - mpclark 2y ago
        They absolutely are! She just looks a little different.
    - donohoe 2y ago
      Unlikely, but not impossible.
- gomerspiles 2y ago
  My teachers only commented/deducted if I mixed spellings in a single essay. If a teacher can't teach someone who uses either variant they probably have a stark educational deficit themselves.
- em-bee 2y ago
  when i was an exchange student i was told that some students would have problems coming back because their english teachers would not accept the american english they would learn during the exchange year and that might reflect on their grades. fortunately i had an understanding teacher who didn't do that, but who was happy to see my english dramatically improved.
JumpCrisscross 2y ago
> Communicating effectively with your particular audience (the local American audience one in this case) is arguably a skill they're trying to teach you Please find me the numpty who can't distinguish colour from color. > don't want your reader to see "enrol" and spend the next 5-10 seconds pondering if you're illiterate or unable to run a spellchecker instead of spending that time digesting your actual point Fair point. At the very least, one should be aware of the different usages.
- Anon1096 2y ago
  Colour and realise I suspect most American readers would be able to understand just fine. But you start writing tyre, kerb, and gaol, and there will be real reading comprehension issues that start arising. We have standardized spellings for a reason and that's what schools are there to teach. And this is just spelling, not even going into words that have different meanings in the US vs UK like pants and lemonade.
  - changing1999 2y ago
    Interestingly, recently there is a push in the US to normalize African-American (for the lack of a better name) grammar and spelling, e.g. using "do" in place of "does". Wonder if this includes normalizing the usage of British spelling as well.
    - justin66 2y ago
      > normalize African-American (for the lack of a better name) grammar and spelling The name is “Ebonics.” It’s had its own name since the seventies, although the push to “normalize” it peaked in the nineties. > Wonder if this includes normalizing the usage of British spelling as well. No.
      - changing1999 2y ago
        Thanks, I haven't heard of Ebonics before. Looks like at this point in time its usage is becoming discouraged (the term, not the phenomenon it describes).

onemoresoop 2y ago

I personally don't care much for small misspellings and they add zero friction to my reading, I'm more interested in the message and how it is delivered to some extent. What adds friction are some styles of writing which diverge too much away from the essential.

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]

Sakos 2y ago

In Germany, I wouldn't get marked down for using the wrong spelling, because it just didn't matter. Behavior? Behaviour? Who gives a fuck, it's all the same. It's ridiculous that these regional variations are somehow significant that it warrants points being taken away.

jimkleiber 2y ago
I think native speakers of a language have a more visceral reaction to things being spelled wrong or the wrong word order. So in Germany, people may not care so much. I grew up in the US but near Canada so I have maybe more exposure to written British English than most in the US (center vs centre). And I lived in Tanzania where I myself became very confused on how to spell words (grey vs gray?). But there are probably still some words that will make me think the person is not American, like organisation with an s. I read it and it viscerally feels off.
- ndsipa_pomu 2y ago
  As a Brit, I resent the "authorized_keys" in my .ssh directory. Due to the large number of U.S. internet residents, I don't tend to really notice many "Americanisms", though one thing that bugs me is when the U.S. doesn't seem to recognise that "America" is a a large continent and only one area is the U.S. However, even Canadians will refuse to admit that they are American, as in living within the american continent.
  - jimkleiber 2y ago
    I'm not sure if you did it intentionally but I saw "recognise" and felt a slight electric shock :-) Perhaps the solution is to just unite all of the states of America, because I at least think the original idea was that the USA was a supranational government uniting little nation-states (precursor to the EU?), but maybe these more established nation-states won't want to join the union and become a "state" (even though I think political science would already refer to them as states).
pasabagi 2y ago
German spelling is ridiculously easy, whereas English spelling is quite hard. I guess the equivalent inverse would be comma use in German.

yieldcrv 2y ago

its also entirely inconsequential after school, so do your job and follow the district mandates but for the rest of us, the point of language is to convey a shared concept, and if the sender and receiver are doing that then mission accomplished

carstenhag 2y ago

If you live in the US, I agree that you must use American English. But even us people that live outside of the US/UK/related countries often got errors marked, because we used the wrong regional variant... In Europe, British English is used as a reference point, but I had a similar problem as GP.

rjsw 2y ago
> If you live in the US, I agree that you must use American English. Unless you are writing International Standards. ISO requires British English spellings in documents.
- dullcrisp 2y ago
  Also if you’re invited to tea with the Queen
  - cherryteastain 2y ago
    I hear conversations with her are not as lively anymore
    - mpclark 2y ago
      They absolutely are! She just looks a little different.
  - donohoe 2y ago
    Unlikely, but not impossible.
gomerspiles 2y ago
My teachers only commented/deducted if I mixed spellings in a single essay. If a teacher can't teach someone who uses either variant they probably have a stark educational deficit themselves.
em-bee 2y ago
when i was an exchange student i was told that some students would have problems coming back because their english teachers would not accept the american english they would learn during the exchange year and that might reflect on their grades. fortunately i had an understanding teacher who didn't do that, but who was happy to see my english dramatically improved.

JumpCrisscross 2y ago

> Communicating effectively with your particular audience (the local American audience one in this case) is arguably a skill they're trying to teach you Please find me the numpty who can't distinguish colour from color. > don't want your reader to see "enrol" and spend the next 5-10 seconds pondering if you're illiterate or unable to run a spellchecker instead of spending that time digesting your actual point Fair point. At the very least, one should be aware of the different usages.

Anon1096 2y ago
Colour and realise I suspect most American readers would be able to understand just fine. But you start writing tyre, kerb, and gaol, and there will be real reading comprehension issues that start arising. We have standardized spellings for a reason and that's what schools are there to teach. And this is just spelling, not even going into words that have different meanings in the US vs UK like pants and lemonade.
- changing1999 2y ago
  Interestingly, recently there is a push in the US to normalize African-American (for the lack of a better name) grammar and spelling, e.g. using "do" in place of "does". Wonder if this includes normalizing the usage of British spelling as well.
  - justin66 2y ago
    > normalize African-American (for the lack of a better name) grammar and spelling The name is “Ebonics.” It’s had its own name since the seventies, although the push to “normalize” it peaked in the nineties. > Wonder if this includes normalizing the usage of British spelling as well. No.
    - changing1999 2y ago
      Thanks, I haven't heard of Ebonics before. Looks like at this point in time its usage is becoming discouraged (the term, not the phenomenon it describes).