What am I talking about?
SPELLING IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE.
I was raised with British spelling.
- Colour, not color.
- Cheques, not checks.
- Neighbour, not neighbor.
- …and so on.
It’s not something I can change because I’d have to mentally stop myself from adding “u”s to my words, and there’s nothing #*$&#*% wrong with it.
… but here’s the thing.
Every time I spell things with a “u” or I write with British spelling, other people feel the need to point it out or correct me and it is extremely annoying.
It does NOT bother me that people spell things without a “u”, or they spell “cheque” as “check”. I don’t flippin’ care.
What does bother me is that people make a big deal out of it and say things like:
- Oooo it annoys me off that you spell it like that with a “u”
- Don’t you know that cheque doesn’t have a ‘q’ in it?
- You know that’s wrong, right?
Seriously? STFU.
No one cares.
BOTH WAYS OF SPELLING WORDS ARE ACCEPTABLE AND CORRECT.
Deal with it.
You’ll never change people who spell the words that way, to spell it YOUR way to make you feel better, just as people who are just as annoyed at the other way of spelling in English are never going to change you!
What are you going to really do about it anyway?
So what, you’ll fly to Britain and tell the Brits who invented the modern English language that it annoys you that they spell things differently?
And really, in the grand scheme of things, who really gives a flying #*$#^ as long as it is spelled correctly in the style of the speaker/writer?
If it bothers you that I spell things the British way, then consider that it may bother me that you spell things the American way, but you know what?
I am not going to bring it up and shove it in your face and call it ‘annoying’, ‘stupid’ or ‘wrong’.
Stepping off my soapbox now.
Just a girl trying to find a balance between being a Shopaholic and a Saver.
I cleared $60,000 in 18 months earning $65,000 gross/year.
Now I am self-employed, and you can read more about 
having grown up reading British story books and literature, I have always preferred the british spelling and usage of most words. does anyone else miss the x in connexion?
I’m Australian and whilst we have a strong historical British heritage, it seems the youth today are desperately trying to Americanise everything. I find it refreshing to see a few u’s in your blog 🙂
While I’m not a native English speaker, I was also taught the British spelling. To this day I annoys the hell out of me when I see half my words underlined (in Word) because of the extra u-s. 🙁
I cannot believe people have the nerve to correct you without checking it first. I am Turkish and I have been taught British English at school. Then I lived in the US for over three years and I think, I write color one day and colour the next. I remember describing a guy as a “stout fellow” and my American friends told me they had never heard the word “stout” before. So there you go:)
Canadians spell the British way also. I have American spell check on my computer tho!
I worked for a British company for 10 years and we were required to use British spelling. I spell both ways and often can’t even remember to think about it
Lol, angry much? 🙂 I like when Brits use those words in their blogs becuase it reminds me of where they’re from. And I think it’s neat that we spell things differently. Well, and I don’t spell so great anyway so I sometimes don’t even notice.
I have netflix and so one thing I’ve gotten used to is “queue” instead of “line” or “list”. I actaully told one of my daughters the other day to stand in the queue while I grabbed some sandpaper. ??!!!??!! Haha, she laughed and I realized my mistake. Us Americanos don’t use queue! Lol. Anyway, when people give you grief just tell them to screw off. Or, as you brits say, bugger off.
Well, or, when they say you’re spelling it wrong, you could say, “who invented english first? The english or americans?” That should shut them up. Except that we don’t know our history real well, so people would probably say americans in repsonse, lol.
People are ignorant. Sometimes their lack of experience leads them to believe there is only one right way to do something. Personally, I love the British spelling of certain words and can tell where someone might be from by the way they write. You shouldn’t feel the need to justify yourself and know that since your language came first, we’re the ones with the funky spelling. 😉
I also use British English (I’m in NZ) though I’ll admit I sometimes use ‘check’. I also use words like ‘flatmate’ and ‘pharmacy’ that probably confuse some readers…