Spelling Campagne - Gagging on the English Language
Many of you may believe that I spelled Campagne wrong. I would like to claim that it was intentional; that it was only an American spelling. We tend to economize. A comes before e in the alphabet; logically Campagne should be spelled Campagna. My spellcheck didn’t flag the error, in fact it flagged the e ending. It was an honest faux pas.
It might be economizing or just laziness but Americans shorten everything. The majority of English speakers overuse the letter U in an attempt to add glamoUr to the language. Not us Americans. We conclude the alphabet with the letter Z, not a common hillbilly name Zed. Sounds like a distant cousin from Tennessee. If his moonshine was good, he would be your favoUrite neighboUr. HonoUrable writers of the language seek to add coloUr or flavoUr to an otherwise simple way to spell rather simple words. My behavioUr may lead to the need to wear armoUr against the slings and arrows of the word police. RumoUr would have you believe that my sense of humoUr is lacking. This goes a long way to prove that theory. LOL
Other spellings tend to be economized in America. Adding letters seems to make the Brits happy, but we follow the economy sized models. A fetus needs nine months as does a foetus. We plow through our writings, but the plough takes two more letters to do the same thing. It’s quite an extensive catalogUE and the dialogUE can become heated. Ironic that the UK adds UE. Boris must hate the use of EU in any order. I apologiZEDe to my friends from the UK for these observations.
While I’m on the subject, several glaring differences between English and American usage of travel terms in the same language arise. The spare tyre or tire is in the boot or trunk. An elephant’s trunk is on the front? Score one for the Brits. But we score big on the other end of a car. A hood is designed to cover things whereas a bonnet belongs only in an Easter parade outfit. A lorrie makes more sense than a semi which suggests the other half of the truck is nowhere to be seen. In the US we go to vacation in a trailer but in England a caravan is needed to go on holiday. A trailer trails behind the towing vehicle; a caravan is a bunch of camels. Tie game here.
Crisps certainly is a much better term for bagged thinly cut fried potatoes. However, the remaining pieces of crisps toward the bottom of the bag are better called chips. Pudding is a creamy dessert not the term for what follows the main course. This one’s a tie. A mum is what you give Mom on Mothers’ Day not the other way around. A biscuit needs sausage gravy on it. A sweater makes you sweat; a jumper does not make you jump. Points for the USA. However, sneakers don’t make you sneak but trainers help you train for events. Tea time in England means Tetley’s and watercress sandwiches where a tee time in America means 18 holes of golf and a six pack of beer. Definite edge to the Yanks. Several English sports are played on the pitch while American sports are played on a field. A pitch is what Trump is hoping to throw out at the Washington Nationals next season opening baseball game. He refuses to field tough questions from reporters. The British score big there.
One word which has no American equal is haggis. I wonder why…
I would enjoy giving anyone equal time in my blog either to respond or expand on this. Scrabble is not the only word game worthy of time and effort. Email me here.