On 6/10/06, Steve Summit <scs(a)eskimo.com> wrote:
There seem to be lots of American editors who think
that British
English is *wrong*, and likewise British editors who think that
American English is *wrong*. (They rarely come out and say this
I think you're mischaracterising it. There are a number of Americans
in general who have had very little contact with British spelling, and
find it *wrong*. Most British-spellers have had contact with American
spelling, and those that object, find it *bad*. They generally accept
it as a valid choice, they just don't like it.
So, generalising a lot, Am->Br is usually done out of ignorance,
Br->Am out of bloody-mindedness.
explicitly, but the vigor with which they debate a
change from
one to the other suggests that's how thy really feel, deep down.)
But, of course, it's not that one or the other is Right or Wrong;
they're just different.
AmE in an article about cricket is "wrong".
(The problem's just as bad over on Wiktionary,
where there are
stubbornly, defiantly distinct pages for `color' and `colour'.
Huge, repetitive, internecine arguments regularly erupt, whenever
anyone has the temerity to suggest that the two entries be merged
somehow since they're "obviously" just two spelling variants
for "the same" word.)
Eep.
Steve