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Most of the former British Empire uses British English, more or less. Billions of people use

British forms. English as a second language (ESL) speakers split the difference between

(mostly) British and (mostly) merican, dependent upon dominant influences and intent in

learning. !ictionaries struggle with archaic forms which are still in acti"e regional use.

#his article is not intended as a long comparati"e list of words from either side of the tlantic.

  long list $ust inspires headaches. (%f you really want one, you can find it here.) &ather, % try

to identify some of the underlying patterns in spelling differences. 'nowing the patterns

makes understanding easier on e"eryone

Broad spelling patterns

 merican* or 

British* our 

E+ample* neighbor- "s. neighbour-

 merican* ie / ye

British* ise / yse

E+ample* stabilie- "s. stabilise-

 merican* er 

British* re

E+amples* center- "s. centre-, meter- "s. metre-. Metre- is actually the official scientific

form.

E+ception* 0ust to make life e"en more interesting, not all British words use an ending re-

instead of er-. E+amples* ri"er, disaster, enter. 1nly words which were originally borrowed

from 2rench use re- instead.

 merican* og / eck

British* ogue / e3ue

E+ample* catalog- "s. catalogue-, check- "s. che3ue- (but only for the bank instrument

and its "erb, 41# the other "erb or its corresponding noun)

 merican* e

British* ae / oe

E+ample* anesthesia- "s. anaesthesia-, fetus- "s. foetus-

 merican* aft

British* aught

E+ample* draft- "s. draught-

 merican* consonant stays single when the suffi+ is added

British* consonant doubles when the suffi+ is added

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E+ample* tra"eler- "s. tra"eller-

E+ception* %f, in the original word, the accent is on the final syllable, merican English

doubles the consonant as well. E+ample* controlling-

%rregular plurals are more likely to sur"i"e in British English than merican English.

E+amples* staffs- "s. sta"es-, forums- "s. fora-

E+ception* 5lurals which ha"e become collecti"e nouns are more likely to retain irregular

spellings. E+ample* mediums- "s. media-.

5unctuation

%n standard sentences, merican English almost always places 3uotation marks outside

periods, commas, and 3uestion/e+clamation marks. British English almost always places

3uotation marks inside punctuation marks.

6sage

 merican* 78/79 or 8:9 ; 8th day of May (day first)

British* 79/78 or 79.78 ; 8th day of May (month first)

5i !ay (the 9

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 merican pri"ate schools are similar to British public schools but not 3uite identical. #he

mindset behind the terminology is different (as noted abo"e), but so is the actuality* since

many British public schools also 3ualify as charities.

#he 6nited States uses imperial measurements (mile, pound, ton).

#he 6nited 'ingdom uses metric measurements (kilometre, kilogram, tonne).

 lthough the doubled consonant e+ists for e+actly the same reason as all those other

doubled consonants mentioned abo"e under spelling patterns, here Aton and Atonne mean

completely different things. #he tonne (or metric ton) weighs the same as 9,777 kilograms

(>,>7< pounds). #he (imperial) ton weighs the same as >,777 pounds (F7G kilograms).

#hese are both different from the pre:metric British ton, which weighed the same as >,>

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Khen British chemist @umphry !a"y first identified the metal, he proposed the name

Aalumium, which was used in the 97 1+ford English !ictionary. By 99>, !a"y had altered

this to Aaluminum in his book ?hemical 5hilosophy-. n anonymous re"iewer ob$ected,

arguing that Aaluminium had a more classical sound. lthough there was nothing wrong or

unknown about the Aum suffi+ as applied to elements (eg. platinum), the Aium suffi+ also

matched the other elements which !a"y had isolated. 1n the other hand, the Aium ending

did not match the spelling pattern for metals and their o+ides. (nd so it began.)

#he difference of opinion permeated both sides of the tlantic. #he 9> Kebsters used

Aaluminum, but most merican chemists of the same period used Aaluminium. ?harles

Martin @all patented his new method of producing Aaluminium, but ad"ertised it as

Aaluminum. Kebsters 6nabridged (9F9=) has Aaluminium, but by now the people of the

6nited States were using Aaluminum.

%n 9F>H, the merican ?hemical Society came down on the side of Aaluminum, and so future

 merican and ?anadian dictionaries noted it. 0ust about e"erywhere else in the world uses

Aaluminium. #he %nternational 6nion of 5ure and pplied ?hemistry officially uses

Aaluminium, but accepts Aaluminum* both ha"e been used in its publications. !iplomatically,

%65?s periodic table includes both spellings.

5ast and future sub$uncti"e

 ll of this is sub$ect to the "agaries of the dominant authoritati"e medium. Before #homas

0efferson, who wrote se"eral federal and state constitutionaldraughts, British spelling

followed Samuel 0ohnson (9G88). few decades later, merican spelling shifted to follow

4oah Kebster (9>). %n between was either the merican &e"olution, the merican Kar of

%ndependence, or e"en a continuation of the %ntercolonial Kars (or specifically $ust the Se"en

Jears Kar), depending on your point of "iew.

Khat was once the realm of dictionaries, marketing, and wars has entered a different

arena. %nternational tele"ision, @ollywood/Bollywood, and the %nternet are changing all the

rules. Many who do not speak English as their first language recei"e their first e+posure from

English:language tele"ision and film. #he "ast ma$ority of e+ported English:language

programming comes from the 6nited States. E"en reat Britain, with its "arious cultural

protection laws, imports much more merican programming than the in"erse. E"en though

NaluminiumN dominates the world, @ollywoods Star #rek %O has ensured that transparent

aluminum- became a worldwide catchphrase. Bollywood, which produces more film than any

other nation, might ha"e been a powerful world influence for British (%ndian) English* but

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most of its productions use English only as one of two or three different languages, with the

others highly regional to %ndia and those of %ndian descent* thereby limiting its international

effect on the English language ... so far.

#he net effect is that an increasing percentage of the worlds population is becoming familiar

with merican terminology and language norms, while at the same time the 6nited States

remains fairly resistant to non:merican English terminology.

#he 6nited States also de"eloped the %nternet, and indi"idual mericans still run the lions

share of English:language websites. @ow could English around the world not absorb many

of the merican usages, so in"isibly that many ne"er realise those meanings were not there

all alongP 1n the %nternet, the default English:language forms through sheer social

pressure are merican. %ne"itably, it becomes easier for others to learn merican patterns

of speech than to struggle against the tide to preser"e their own. &egional "ariants are

struggling.

Jet certain aspects of language seem to be peculiarly resistant to re:labelling. 2oods almost

always retain the local names, possibly because taste cant yet be transmitted through the

electronic airwa"es. Many people on both sides of the tlantic ha"e gone astray simply by

ordering a lemonade. 1n the British side of the ocean, lemonade is a lemony carbonated

drink without a real merican e3ui"alentI while mericans seeking merican:style lemonade

should order a lemon s3uash instead. 2ind yourself at the wrong moment with an

une+pected taste, and you might be 3uickly disco"ering the difference between pants,

panties, and getting ones knickers in a twist.

% think we can e+pect unmentionables, being mostly unmentioned, to retain their uni3ue

fla"our for a long time to come.

LetNs not forget that the QBritishQ spelling e+ists, in large part, abo"e the 6.S. border. ?anada

has managed to keep a hold of many of the traditional British spellings, such as keeping the

QuQ in words such as Qcolour,Q Qbeha"iour,Q and Qhonour,Q spelling QrealiseQ and QanalyseQ

without a QQ (which we call QedQ) and doubling the final QlQ in words such as Qtra"ellingQ and

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Qle"elledQ and the QsQ in Qfocussed.Q Ke, howe"er, ha"e also incorporated our second official

language (2rench) in some uni3ue ways and spell QcentreQ and QmetreQ with an QreQ instead

of an Qer.Q

 s an English teacher in ?anada, % ha"e to daily battle the spelling issue, and % am proud to

show my students our uni3ue method of spelling as compared to the QmericanisedQ

method. % constantly remind students that QuQ are a part of the colour of ?anada. #hey keep

telling me, QBut spell:check says itNs wrongQ and % ha"e to e+plain that we are bombarded

with merican software, literature, teaching guides, and other forms of media, but that

doesnNt necessarily make it right. % show them how to change the settings in Kord 5erfect

and Kord so that the spelling is checked as ?anadian. % also try to enforce ?anadian word

usage such as QchesterfieldQ instead of Qcouch,Q Qser"ietteQ instead of Qnapkin,Q and Qhockey

sweaterQ instead of Q$ersey.Q

Some think that % am petty when it comes to enforcing the ?anadian way, but % ha"e found it

reassuring to show our uni3ueness in a 4orth merica that is being o"errun with merican

culture. % know when watching tele"ision and a commercial for Qhair colourQ flashes across

the screen, that % am tuned in to a ?anadian:based channel. % know that a te+t showing

something measured in QmetresQ is a ?anadian te+t. nd % know that &och ?arrierNs classic

story, Q#he @ockey SweaterQ is a ?anadian story. So %Nm now going to press the QSpell check

nowQ link, and ignore many of the bold red words that will show up as being misspelled,

knowing that the writer of this article is ?anadian.

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2ar too much is made of the differences between British and merican English.

#he two "arieties of English are in fact one and the same language with some interesting,

sometimes amusing, sometimes challenging differences. #he two "ersions of English

pro"ide fertile ground of all sorts of linguo:fascists, ignoramuses and arrogant so:called

e+perts.

LetNs begin with spelling.

Khen % was about 9> years old % obtained a copy of 0ules OerneNs 2rom

#he Earth #o #he MoonN. fter a while % noticed something strange. @ad the typesetter run

out of 6NsP Khy was "alourN spelled "alor. nd why was centreN

spelled centerN. Khat was going onP

Jou may ha"e guessed by now that % am British English, in fact. % had ne"er before seen

written 6S English although % had long been accustomed to merican accents ha"ing grown

up on a diet of merican #O series such as Kagon #rain, &awhide and Bonana (and many,

many more). % was suddenly awakened to the fact that there were more differences between

me and &owdy Jates than met the eye.

Many years later % became a student of the English Language learning about its origins in

 nglo:Sa+on, through the Middle English period and then on to Shakespeare. nd so we

arri"e at !r Samuel 0ohnson and his famous dictionary. nd we also find that until printed

books became widely a"ailable and the language was at last analysed and codified, spelling

was, shall % say, a matter of personal choice.

By the time the 6nited States came into being there was a pretty much agreed way of

spelling most words with some acceptable "ariations.

Enter 4oah Kebster who thought it was high time the post:colonials showed their former

masters a thing or two. So letNs sweep away the past and stride out into the merican future

with a more consistent, more easily learned orthography (thatNs spelling using a technical

term that gi"es me some credN

here).

#rouble was, and is, Mr Kebster didnNt really go far enoughI in fact, Mr Kebster realised that

if you go too far then future generations will not be able to read their own literary heritage.

Kell, thatNs an e+aggeration, but if you change too much, too 3uickly, it causes confusion,

re"olt and a strong likelihood of not being accepted.

So what changes did 4oah bring forth to the people of the 6nited States.

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#hereNs more, but % donNt want to bore you. So letNs mo"e away from spelling and go beyond

as the title e+horts us to go.

%f we put aside the written word we are left with the spoken and that throws up a large

number of issues such as accent, pronunciation, grammar and cultural difference.

&MM&

%tNs actually 3uite remarkable how close the two grammars are which reflects how stable

English has been for about

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!ates and time*

%n the 6S you would say, (a) 3uarter after eightN and (a) 3uarter of/till eightN. %n the 6' this is

(a) 3uarter past eightN and a

3uarter to eightN.

0uly the fourthN in the 6' but 0uly fourthN in the 6S.

#wo thousand and nine in the 6' but two thousand nine in the 6S.

%t took me many years to figure out (now thatNs an mericanism) that mericans do not drop

their hNs but adopt an ancient English practice which has gone out of use in the 6'.

 mericans do not aspirate the hN

in words such as humanN and herbN whereas the British do sound the initial

hN in these words (unless your local accent drops the hN which is not considered &5 or

recei"ed 5ronunciation).

?6L#6&E

Khen we go beyondN the underlying differences we ha"e to address culture. Language

reflects culture so, in"ariably, we ha"e words, phrases, references which are known only

within a particular cultural group.

Let me try you out with some culturalN British English*

2lintoff took the new ball after lunch and took three wickets in his first fi"e o"ers lea"ing

 ustralia on 9G:H at stumps.N

 part from the sheer fantasy of England besting the ussies at cricket, an merican wouldnNt

ha"e a clue what this is about. 4o doubt a similar description of a baseball pitcher and his

achie"ements would be e3ually incomprehensible to a Brit.

But, hereNs the thing, we British ha"e been steeped in merican culture through film and #O

for about 87 years. merica is the dominant English:speaking culture in the world. %ts use of

language is beginning to ha"e a big %nfluence on spoken English. %ncreasingly, young Brits

are adopting the "ocabulary and speech patterns of their merican counterparts much to theconsternation of their parents who suddenly canNt understand their children who sound like

 ustralo:4ew Jorkers. s far as %Nm aware, there is no such reciprocal effect on merican

English by British English which most mericans still regard as somewhat 3uaintN whilst

re"ering us as the true progenitors of their nati"e tongue.

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Such is the nature of language. Like fashion, history and life itself, it is in constant flu+.

Sometimes that flu+ mo"es more swiftly than at others. %t happened around 9877 when the

language mo"ed rapidly from the language of ?haucer to the language of Shakespeare. %t is

happening now* $ust watch a mo"ie from the 9F=7Ns and listen to the merican and British

accents. #he mericans sound far more British than their latterday compatriots and the

British sound like mericans think the British still speak (only kidding, yaNll). %t is not

inconcei"able that one day we will ha"e great difficulty understanding these ancient films (%

e"en ha"e to concentrate now to understand some mericans especially frican merican

street talk). % can see the future when there are degree courses at 1+ford or 5rinceton in the

language of the early merican

cinemaN.

 s things stand, if you listen to an old recording of 5resident Mc'inley, although he sounds a

little strange, he is still perfectly comprehensible. % wonder how far back we would ha"e to go

before we could no longer understand standard English. %Nd guess about =77 years, which is

an incredible testimony to the durability, conser"atism and global span of that great language

we share, abuse and re:craft e"ery day.

#wo cultures separated by a common languageP 4o way. %t is our common language which

binds us, not separates us. May it long continue.

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#he English language has been under siege for generations. 2or generations, it has been

passed on and used as a fail:safe, a method of communication, which is accessible to and

used by many different people. %t has become a uni"ersal refuge in which many cancommunicate across cultures.

Jet we ha"e not safeguarded this safe house and it is beginning to become run:down and

uncared for. 1ne of the main problems with it being an international language is the fact that

e"eryone speaks it in a different mode, with differing dialects, and still bands it under the

single heading of English.

%t is true that words may sound the same and also true that QEnglishQ is a wonderfully

"ersatile language. @owe"er it is not able to be completely without rules, as otherwise we

would all be speaking our own language. 2or e+ample, it is often the case that the meaning

of one word used by two people from different countries will not match. #his may either be

due to the language barrier, with one or other person not 3uite communicating using the

traditionally accepted meaning of the word.

@owe"er, it might also be the case that a group of people or country begins to adopt the

language for their own, and assign new meanings to words. #his may lead to new words

being added to the language. #his could begin a process of Qlanguage rehabilitationQ,

whereby words start as one thing and come out a mesh of many other things or disappear

o"ernight, lost completely as how e"er they were pre"iously known.#his initiates a complete restructuring of the basis of that one language, thus making the

foundations of uni"ersal understanding potentially unstable. dditionally, the encroachment

of the new meanings of words upon the old meanings dominates the way the language is

used by all, including inside the languageNs home country.

4eedless to say, those who dictate and control the language in which whole groups of

people think, dominate the thoughts, actions and li"es of the people. #hey become ensla"ed

to a language which is no longer theirs but a shadow of itself lurking down memory lane,

pleading to be recognised as the usual agent of their language. 6nfortunately this is

something which is not only happening now, but has happened many times before.

#he difference now is that this is the first time we ha"e had a language which is already

more or less uni"ersal, so the effect of changing that language works far more subtly and

with less effort because, after all, who in their right minds would choose QthroughQ o"er

QthruQP 1f course, it adds e+tra letters and wastes time in an already busy lifestyle. Khy

mince meanings when you can ha"e QblinkersQ, which lea"e no work to the brain cells,

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instead of QindicatorsQ, which is clearly far more logical and actually says what they are

intended for. #here is something 3uaint about QindicatorsQ which QblinkersQ doesnNt 3uite

achie"e. Something British about it.

Similarly, % belie"e such spelling inconsistencies as NcolourN and NcolorN matter only if you take

the time to pronounce your language properlyI otherwise we may as well all con"erse in the

short te+t language that stalks the world looking for long words to feed off of. %n that case

con"ersations would be boring and de"oid of life, ha"ing had the blood sucked out by pointy

two letter sentences.

!onNt misunderstand me. % am fully in fa"our of a few abbre"iations here and there, and

people can use Qside:walkQ or QerbsQ as they wish. % plead only that we set out some

boundaries to lend some stability to our foundations, defining the English language as the

English language and the merican language as the merican language, or te+t speak as

te+t speak. 1therwise in the not:too distant future, society will be at a dead:end. Either wewill ha"e been permanently separated, with each group no longer able or willing to

communicate with each other, or our ability to attach meaning to our thoughts and li"es will

be being handed out to us arbitrarily.

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4eologisms and the deri"ation of English words and sayings.

#he English Language is dynamic,di"erse and constantly changing.%t is interesting to note

that language is constantly rein"enting itself.2or e+ample look up the word NcoolNin a

dictionary and of course its prime definition is NcoldN.@owe"er o"er the last decade in England

in the spoken "ernacular cool has come to mean Ngreat/1'/wonderfulN.E"en the fairytale

word NwickedN has taken a semantic twist,for in young childrenNs parlance it translates itself as

meaning NgreatN

%n English we ha"e the idiomatic e+pression Nsuffering from daylight robberyN.#his e+pression

has always been synonymous with a person Nbeing ripped offN or Ngetting a bad dealN.@owe"er

the e+pression deri"es from an archaic ta+,the window ta+ le"ied on London properties.t

the end of the se"enteenth:century it was decided by the local authorities that the more

windows your house had,the more ta+ you had to pay#his hideous ta+ perpetuated

throughout theOictorian era.E"en thrifty aristocrats to minimise the ta+ bill for their property

would ha"e windows bricked in.#his made life hell for you if you were a Oictorian

woman.Khen windows were blocked in,hardly any light was entering the drawing room of

the house and if a woman was reading a !ickens no"el it was hard work,because her

drawing room became dark,dismal and gloomy.#hus many Oictorian women petitioned their

local authorities "ehemently grumbling that they were Nsuffering from daylight robberyNie

sufficient daylight was not entering their drawing rooms.#hus this e+pression came into

being.

London sauciest sub:district is Soho famous for its great restaurants and racy

nightlife.@owe"er why is Soho so namedP%n the 9H7Ns Soho was a mass of open fields

where aristocrats went hunting on horseback for wild deer.#heir traditional hunting cry was

NSoho,SohoNso the area became known as Soho.%nterestingly 4ew JorkNs Soho,howe"er issimply an acronym of NSouth 1f @ouston StreetN

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