we're singing for England. En-ga-land.
This is to everyone (mainly people who probably don't even know my blog exists) who argues that British English is more correct than American English.
In elementary school, I asked a teacher why a certain book spelled "color" and "favorite" as "colour" and "favorite." I was a good speller, top in my class, and I knew the words ended -or. Something was amiss. My teacher told me that in America we spell those words -or, while in Canada and England, they are spelled -our. This is accepted by most Americans, or at least those who aren't overly, annoyingly Anglophilic.
"But English belongs to the British! It was their language first."
Four hundred years of evolution on both sides of the Atlantic make that a stupid claim. Saying that American english isn't the original english is true but of little consequence, because the current British english is also not the original english. And what? It's not your language? You haven't spoken it most of your life? A language belongs to the people who use it. No one has copyrights, not even the most rigid sticklers.
Plus, the "I think it's cooler/ more elite/ British-y-er" American users of it (at least the ones I've seen) apparently don't know the difference between Canadian and British. If you're going to do Brit english, do it right. Simply using -our and -er only makes it a bastardized Canadian english. In some cases, Brits have different puncuation. Comma outside the end quote. Tyre, not tire. Manoeuvres, not maneuvers. Spell your words in whatever way is aesthetically or sensibly pleasing to you, but don't say you're doing it because it's British if you're not going all the way. I spell colour with a U because it's British. Ah, then why doesn't "frolick" have a k? Ummm, I spell frolic without a K because it's American or I forgot because that's what I'm used to or I just totally had no freakin' idea. While there shouldn't be enough people doing this to warrant a rant, there somehow are.
Myself, I am a fan of the Canadian English, but apparently Canada isn't hip enough for some people. Eh.
In elementary school, I asked a teacher why a certain book spelled "color" and "favorite" as "colour" and "favorite." I was a good speller, top in my class, and I knew the words ended -or. Something was amiss. My teacher told me that in America we spell those words -or, while in Canada and England, they are spelled -our. This is accepted by most Americans, or at least those who aren't overly, annoyingly Anglophilic.
"But English belongs to the British! It was their language first."
Four hundred years of evolution on both sides of the Atlantic make that a stupid claim. Saying that American english isn't the original english is true but of little consequence, because the current British english is also not the original english. And what? It's not your language? You haven't spoken it most of your life? A language belongs to the people who use it. No one has copyrights, not even the most rigid sticklers.
Plus, the "I think it's cooler/ more elite/ British-y-er" American users of it (at least the ones I've seen) apparently don't know the difference between Canadian and British. If you're going to do Brit english, do it right. Simply using -our and -er only makes it a bastardized Canadian english. In some cases, Brits have different puncuation. Comma outside the end quote. Tyre, not tire. Manoeuvres, not maneuvers. Spell your words in whatever way is aesthetically or sensibly pleasing to you, but don't say you're doing it because it's British if you're not going all the way. I spell colour with a U because it's British. Ah, then why doesn't "frolick" have a k? Ummm, I spell frolic without a K because it's American or I forgot because that's what I'm used to or I just totally had no freakin' idea. While there shouldn't be enough people doing this to warrant a rant, there somehow are.
Myself, I am a fan of the Canadian English, but apparently Canada isn't hip enough for some people. Eh.
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