Date   : Sun, 05 Feb 2006 16:25:49 -0000
From   : "Colin" <cwhill@...>
Subject: Re: Grammar

I did jot down (!) a few thoughts on this thread but sent it directly to the
originator rather than to the list, sorry.
I think we must remember that any language is formed from many sources.
That may be (for English) Anglo Saxon, Viking, Latin, Greek, Norman French
and so on.
Usage determines which words become part of the language.
Programme is used because that is the spelling that the English adopted as
the correct spelling for that particular word.
To adopt an American spelling (for whatever reason) follows that method of
incorporation into the language. Programme and program are two variants of
the same word and their meaning should the same. To say that one means one
thing and the other something different although similar is really incorrect
unless we accept that "foreign" words are acceptable but only if their
meaning is different from the one we are presently using. That's confusing
the language, not strengthening it.
There may be a valid case for not spelling cheque as "check" in order to
avoid confusion ("a check will be fine" could mean a cheque or simply an
investigation for correctness). We can accept that as a foreign word just as
we accept cafe (sorry, no accent on my keyboard), finesse and chic.
English will continue to change. It must do to prevent it becoming a "dead"
language. It has done for thousands of years and I can't see it stopping now
because we have a dictionary (which changes anyway as the usage changes).
It's a bit like trying to keep thou and thee in usage.
Sorry if that irritates anyone.
Colin Hill


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jules Richardson" <julesrichardsonuk@...>
To: "BBC Micro Submit To List" <bbc-micro@...>
Sent: Sunday, February 05, 2006 2:10 PM
Subject: Re: [BBC-Micro] Grammar


> Jason Watton (Lycos) wrote:
> > Annihilannic <annihilannic@...> wrote:
> >> Like me you are probably equally irritated by 'insecure' as opposed to
> >> 'unsecured' computers, 'license' (the verb) being used instead of
> >> 'licence' (the noun), 'seperate' and 'definately' being continuously
> >> mis-spelled, to name but a few...  ;-)
> >
> > Similarly, 'license' is the US spelling of the UK noun 'licence'. I
> > consciously use the former because the 'net is American.
> >
> > Am I doing wrong?
>
> Personally I write in my own language *unless* that would result in
confusion
> for my particular target audience. So I'll almost exclusively use UK
English
> spellings, but if I'm writing one-to-one to an American I'll often use
their
> terms for things - the same goes for talking to people from other
> English-speaking countries)
>
>
> The thing that always irritates me is when non-US people use US-English
rather
> than their own local variant, because they've been brought up on a diet of
US
> TV shows and are reacting from there rather than what they were taught in
> school. (I like diversity and regional trends - the world would be a very
dull
> place if everyone were the same)
>
>
> cheers
>
> Jules
>
>
>