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British Spellings Quiz
Based on the American spelling, guess the British spellings of these words.
Some of these are pronounced differently
Read me => Sometimes these words can be spelled the same in Britain. Guess the DIFFERENT spelling which is not used in the U.S.
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Last updated: January 28, 2022
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| First submitted | April 10, 2012 |
| Times taken | 87,371 |
| Average score | 70.0% |
| Rating | 3.94 |
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If ever we used any of your spellings in our schoolwork, we got told off as it is not Standard English! The English language is a beautiful thing that does not need to be 'dumbed down' or simplified. The spellings of the words above really offend my eyes.
Sorry to be pedantic...
We definitely don't say aeroplane.
I'm a proud British speller, but I do not align myself with any concept of British spelling being superior or even older than American spellings. I once read a stupid British author who singled out "gotten" as a "tedious Americanism". No doubt there are many barbarisms that America has imposed on the glorious English language, but "gotten" is not one of them. Apparently that author has forGOTTEN, not only that word but gotten's appearance in the King James Bible, right there at the start of Genesis (Eve: "I have gotten a man from the Lord"). And in any case it's a beautiful word, a real "cellar door" as Tolkien once said.
we spell a piece of fiction a story
As for Storey, the clue is misleading. This spelling of storey refers to a floor in a building, not a tale. Same for check. To check something we spell it the same as you, cheque is a form of payment. We spell racket when describing a din the same, racquet refers to sports equipment.
Words that are derived from modern romantic/French roots, such as advertise, are always spelled with an 's' rather than a 'z', even in the US.
The British started to shift towards the -ise, -ising, -isation spellings that prevail in the UK today in the late 19th and early 20th century: possibly because Greek and Latin started to become less important on the school curriculum, possibly because the "frenchification" of the language was more desirable (French had traditionally been a language of royal courts in earlier centuries, and so had a "classy" connotation).
Some British bodies - such as the Oxford University Press - favour the original, classic -ize spellings even today.
So, in that sense, the US form of these words is the original, and arguably correct spellings.
...Not sure it explains color, labor, favor, however.
Not wanting to get it wrong I asked if they meant American spelling of the English language but was told flatly 'we speak American, so spell it American'
It was hard trying to treat them seriously after that.
The sad fact here in Britain is that a huge number of the younger population (and an increasing number of older indigenes) can't spell, use grammar (especially apostrophes) or even communicate properly.
Americans and Brits use different spellings and sometimes even different words. That's life! No-one is right or wrong (except maybe where jam/jelly is concerned!)
I respond with "Can't find a powerpoint"
He walks out and returns with powerpoint open with on his computer
I hope I will learn to spell those words in the future.
In any case, they are not insurmountable differences, and I for one have never struggled to understand an American using different spellings and vernacular. That said, I am interested in phonetics and linguistics...
As stated above, all languages are dynamic and vowels shift, and the sound of consonants also change. The letters we have are not varied enough to represent subtle differences. The differences in US and UK orthography come down to exactly what point in the history of English we first (respectively) decided to fix them in stone. Plus, of course, spelling reform. If you think that words should be pronounced as they are spelled, you are not right. The word comes first and the orthography necessarily comes later, and the system is often found lacking and is quickly superannuated, because language usage CHANGES constantly
Didn't know what aeon was so I didn't know how we spell it 🤷
PS why don't you guys just spell it aloominum and have done with it haha
Sorry, but many American root forms are, more often than not, pedigreed back a millenium and a half before the traditional French versions, which later came in full vogue in 1800s England.
- William Shakespeare
Notably, here we see a different situation with the newer French spelling of lieutenant. Old French was leuftenant, which holds over in the current British pronunciation versus American.
Many modern editions of older English texts "correct" to modern British spellings, but writers including Shakespeare used older spelling forms as well as francophone versions.
For contemplation hee and valor form’d,
For softness shee and sweet attractive Grace,
Hee for God only, shee for God in him:
His fair large Front and Eye sublime declar’d
Absolute rule; and Hyacinthine Locks
Round from his parted forelock manly hung
Clust’ring, but not beneath his shoulders broad:
Shee as a veil down to the slender waist
Her unadorned golden tresses wore
Dishevell’d, but in wanton ringlets wav’d
As the Vine curls her tendrils, which impli’d
Subjection, but requir’d with gentle sway,
And by her yielded, by him best receiv’d,
Yielded with coy submission, modest pride,
And sweet reluctant amorous delay."
- John Milton, Paradise Lost
Here, we see one of the most cherished of all Englishman writers holding onto older English spellings in the mid-1600s. Among them, "valor", completely U-less.
Otherwise we're going to have a lot of Americans thinking that in the UK one might cheque the parking metre while making a racquet telling a storey, until your friends tyre of you and you kerb your behaviour.