Writing about the accents I hear in my head while reading yesterday made me think about another recent case of some literary American/British English differences. Continue reading
He Must Mean Trunk
American English
Garage or Garage?
What voice do you read in? Whenever I read, it’s just my own voice I hear in my head, like when I’m thinking to myself. And that works fine. Most of the time, anyway, but then sometimes I’ll read something which makes this seemingly normal practice feel a bit odd. Continue reading
Sir, You’re Making a Scene…
I’m currently reading The Terror, an intriguing and aptly-titled novel based loosely on the real-life mid-19th century lost Franklin expedition, which set out to find the fabled Northwest Passage. Franklin refers to Sir John Franklin, the expedition’s leader. Throughout the book, he’s referred to as Sir John Franklin, and after a few times I thought that was interesting because he also of course had a naval rank, which could be used alongside Sir. But would it come before or after Sir? Continue reading
ise or ize?
I know this one! I hear you say. -ise is British English, and -ize is American English. That’s it, isn’t it?
Basically yes, but also no, not really. Continue reading
America
It’s pretty common to refer to the United States of America as simply America, or anyone or anything from the country as American. This however, can be somewhat controversial.
Hump Day
Look, I know this is being published on a Thursday, but in my defence I’m writing this on a Wednesday and the idea came to me this afternoon.
What Time is it?
A pretty straightforward question generally, but one with a surprisingly complex range of possible answers.
English-Language Thoughts 