The US/UK English debate

[Dannymh]

This is a follow on from http://www.bloggingtips.com/forums/showthread.php?t=608 but thought it worthy of it's own topic because it is something I think worth discussion.

I am Australian and as such write in UK English, where the biggest difference being that in certain words we use s where as US English uses Z, further more in words like coloured, we use "OU" instead of just o.

The dilemma I face (in my daily job as well as in my blogging life) is whether I should turn my back on years of schooling and 27 years in all of using UK English, in order to use the more globally accepted (these days at least) US English.

My visitors vary greatly with the bulk coming from and even split between the US and Australia and also the UK.

My concern is that if I use UK English (and Australian colloquialisms) that this will ostracize people of other locales and damage the reputation of the blog.

This may seem like a small concern but the more I read the more I tend to notice the effect this can have on the blogs readership and popularity.

Cheers
Dan

[Swtrose]

Dan? Check- Cheque? Does it matter how we spell it? It all= money when we cash it, unless it bounces. :)


As a Canadian, I'm devided between the American and Uk way of spelling.

[Dannymh]

Dan? Check- Cheque? Does it matter how we spell it? It all= money when we cash it, unless it bounces. :)


As a Canadian, I'm devided between the American and Uk way of spelling.

True, and I mean no offense or disrespect to US readers of this post, but I tend to get negative comments from US visitors, who seem to think that spelling it in UK English is somehow incorrect, and then if I write in US english and people figure out (Which is obvious) that I am Australian, the tend to respond negatively for using US english.

A Catch 22, maybe I should just start using web language or l337 5p34k, but I am just not that lame. :)

[Swtrose]

I wouldn't worry about it too much. You could always add a link to the difference between American and UK spelling. ;-)

[Dannymh]

I wouldn't worry about it too much. You could always add a link to the difference between American and UK spelling. ;-)

Not a bad idea...by the way, I updated the comment on blokeman to show what speedos are :)

[redwall_hp]

How are you most comfortable spelling things? That's the way to go.

I'm from the United States, so I don't have to worry about that as much as say, a Canadian or Australian, where I hear they tend to use both spellings interchangeably depending on preference.

[Dannymh]

I tend to use English spelling more, but naturally switch if I am emailing a Colleague or client in the US. Generally though I tend to use English UK

[ap4a]

You should use what you're comfortable with otherwise you'll potentially find a mix of spellings will creep in which will probably look worse all round. If you use a word that is possibly not known to the other form of the language then add the language's own version of that word in brackets afterwards eg. we say 'brackets' in English for rounded brackets (shift + 9 or 0) however in the US they say 'parenthesis'. Although parenthesis is the English technical name for them, it's just not something we say. So if you are that concerned over keeping all of your readers happy, just have something like 'we can put a number of parameters into the brackets (parenthesis)' (example designed for someone who blogs about coding ;)).

[sarahG]

If you use a word that is possibly not known to the other form of the language then add the language's own version of that word in brackets afterwards

That's what I do for my posts when I remember. Different spellings of words isn't so much of an issue, at the end of the day people realise what you're writing about and can understand it. But when you use words that are either not known or have a different meaning in the other language then it's just polite to at least inform people of the difference. Of course it depends what your site is on and who it is targeting too.

Anyone that feels the need to criticise someone's spelling because it's written in a different way to their own language needs to get out more ;)

[Swtrose]

I know what speedos are. :) That pic is sooo wrong. lol

[Dannymh]

I know what speedos are. :) That pic is sooo wrong. lol

The saddest part is that was my local surf club by the looks of it, I grew up just near that beach....I was |-| that close to wearing speedos I reckon!

and Manties....oh dear lord!