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Macruadhi Posted 20 years ago
Speech & Pronunciation

American v/s British words

I'm not sure if this goes here, sorry if it doesn't

For the past several years I have enjoyed the differences twix American and British English and I endevour to use the British spellings of words, i.e. Colour, Favourite, and to drop those annoying Zs', i.e.Realise, Scrutinise. Is the British spelling the "correct" spelling? Or is the the American spelling just further evolution of our language?

And lastly, Tire v/s Tyre, I am not sure where the difference came from.

Thanks,
Eric
  

Top answer

Neither is universally correct or more evolved. S. S.

— BarbaraPA

  • Neither is universally correct or more evolved.
  • S.
  • S.
  • S.
  • spellings, because in those cases the British spelling would incorrect.
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5 Answers
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Neither is universally correct or more evolved. If you live in the U.S. or work for a U.S. company outside of the U.S., use the U.S. spellings, because in those cases the British spelling would incorrect. If you live in the U.K., use the U.K. spellings. Just don't use "color" and "colour" in the same essay.
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tire = American spelling
tyre = British
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Hi Macruadhi,

You wrote:
and to drop those annoying Zs', i.e.Realise, Scrutinise
Realize, scrutinize, memorize, apologize, etc., are all considered appropriate in British English. In fact, they are given as main entries in the Oxford English Dictionary, whereas ise-spellings are given as equally correct and completely acceptable variant spellings. Some people think
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Hi Grammar Geek,

You wrote:
Just don't use "color" and "colour" in the same essay.
I couldn't agree more. We should always strive to be as consistent as possible.

Englishuser
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Some American spellings are a simplification of British ones, like "jail", which I adopt wholeheartedly instead of the absurd BrE spelling "gaol". Also the removal of some Greek diphthongs, e.g. "esthetic" instead of "aesthetic" doesn't seem a bad idea, but I wouldn't use this for a British readership. A historical note: some of these changes, like "color" for "colour" and "center" for "centre",
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