Originally posted by smileyd:
A lot of the spelling mistakes I deal with are students spelling words the way they read them in books (usually printed in the US with American spellings).
However, In Canada we use a combinaton of British spellings, American and French.
Heres a chart to keep it straight:
http://www3.telus.net/linguisticsissues/BritishCanadianAmerican.htm
we use
metre for meter
centre for center
calibre for caliber
cheque for check
colour for color
enrol for enroll
favour for favor
do you see the major differences? (so be kind when you beta a Canadian Writer!) I try to edit what I type here, but I can't promise to always use the American spelling. I already don't always use the correct form in my everyday life. I see that as actual legitimate regional differences in spelling. It's no different than regional dialects, in my opinion. There's a big difference between allowing a misspelled word to get by because you're tired of correcting it and actually having a different spelling that is correct. You've provided excellent examples of the differences between just Canadian and American English. But the professor who wants to ignore atrocities such as "misspelt" is a disgrace to the educational system. I don't even pronounce a "t" when I say "misspelled" out loud (although, I don't know if other accents do create a "t" in the word).
This is just another example of how each generation is more and more focused on just "getting by" instead of actually learning. Where do we draw the line?
Okay, I'm getting off my soapbox before I get really worked up.
- Rona, the professional student, who is currently working on an English degree, and is actually part of one of those younger generations that she can't stand.
