What are your opinions on British spellings vs American spellings?

Off Topic
1

I know I certainly prefer American spellings over British spellings, since American spellings make more sense. However, since I’m American, that preference might just be familiarity bias that I’ve rationalized.

So, since I have a nice international group of people who I can ask stuff to, I decided to let you guys discuss what you prefer about the two regions different ways of spelling stuff.

Also, here’s a table with some examples of words that are spelled differently between the dialects:

British Spellings American Spellings
diarrhoea diarrhea
programme program
colour color
aeon eon
defence defense
centre center
cheque check
cosy cozy
aeroplane airplane
artefact artifact
plough plow
grey gray

By the way, when discussing this, BE CIVIL. I DO NOT WANT THIS THREAD TO IMMEDIATELY SPIRAL INTO XENOPHOBIA. If there are things you dislike about one dialect’s spelling methods HATE ON THE DIALECT, NOT ON THE PEOPLE WHO USE IT.

2

depends on the word, i’ll spell colour and defence but use airplane and program

3 Likes
3

I was going to say I use the real spellings because the real spellings are real unlike american ones, but after learning this is real, I don’t know anymore

4

i think the british ones sound more fancy

5

By the way, adding onto why I like American spellings more. I feel like English is already such a nonsensical, stupid and inconsistent language. One thing that I like about American English is that it would probably be at least slightly easier for a non-English speaker to learn.

6

It’s funny because as a Brit I do actually use some American ones myself, namely program, eon, defense, center, check, cozy, airplane, artifact, and plow. Almost all of those depend on the situation or context tho

1 Like
7

:sob:

:sob:

1 Like
8

I am biased to british because I live in aus, but there are a surprising few American spellings I use like eon, program, cozy and artifact

9

i typically prefer british cause it uses the letter s more than american, like spelling analysing instead of analyzing

10

personally I find both to be okay, it just mostly depends on what I want to use
(I interchange certain words with their Brit/American counterpart because why not)

11

So here they teach british english in school because it’s the “cOrREcT” english or something but lwk i learned american anyway :sob: i speak pure midwestern american english despite being european. The american spellings just make more sense and ngl they’re easier to write. Like who tf says aeroplane? Ngl bri’ish spellings just seem kinda pretentious

1 Like
12

Meanwhile I occasionally flips between the 2 as a Canadian

just randomly i could flip from one to the other
I confuse myself sometimes

13

i have not once seen the spellings “diarrhoea” or “artefact” :sob:
american spelling better. god bless the land of the free.

14

I think only pretentious british article writers use those 2

15

Fromsoft probably does it like that in the games they make that aren’t Armored Core or Sekiro

16

Here’s a poll to easily count the preferences of the community:

Which do you prefer?
  • British spelling
  • American spelling
0 voters
As for my opinion

American English is vulgar, simple, and lacks both detail and complexity. It is the language of peasants that arrived to this new land to gamble with their livelihood, usually after hitting rock bottom.
I hate it, even if I may accidentally make use of it as I’ve taught myself this accursed language through the internet, I hate it. It yearns for efficiency and sacrifices everything in exchange of it, without accounting for the pleasure of its usage.

17

this one makes sense

18

I find myself using the American spellings more often out of convenience. There’s no need for an A in Eon, nor “que” in “check”. However, I still utilize “grey” and “defence” over “gray” and “defense” out of personal preference.

1 Like
19

How? What other words that rhyme with “wow” are spelled with an “ough” ending?

20

idk it sounds like it works