- Location
- Do you really care?
Even Americans can't seem to agree on how they want to spell it, in my experience. Maybe the spellcheckers just decided to give up and roll with it, spare everyone the frustration.
Pet Peeves in Fanfiction
- Thread starter LostHourglass
- Start date
The Narrator
Disembodied Voice
- Location
- Somewhere Offscreen
Both spellings are considered valid in American English. We never managed to settle on one when the spelling of words got codified in ye olden times.
Axslashel
I am a pessimist not a realist.
- Location
- Land of the Midnight Sun
It is worse than that. There are three forms. American, colloqiual British and Oxford spelling. The latter is like British but with -ize endings. If you are ESL learner this last standard might very well be the one you learn (especially if you are in science) because it is the preferred one for a lot of international organizations and journals. Nature is propably the most famous one. It is named that way because the Oxford University Press uses it exclusively.
- Location
- Elsewhere
The one that frustrates me is weary/wary, because they mean different things, but almost always make sense in the same sentence.
He is weary of monsters attacking. (He's been attacked a lot and is tired of it.)
He is wary of monsters attacking. (He has reason to be concerned about monsters attacking in the near future.)
More recently it seems like the authors mean [wary], but write [weary].
Apparently under the belief that it's a British spelling or something.
He is weary of monsters attacking. (He's been attacked a lot and is tired of it.)
He is wary of monsters attacking. (He has reason to be concerned about monsters attacking in the near future.)
More recently it seems like the authors mean [wary], but write [weary].
Apparently under the belief that it's a British spelling or something.
Astrid Fornhoff
Perpetual Depressant
- Location
- 1632 Revello Drive, Sunnydale California
- Pronouns
- She/Her
I was today years old when I learned that, thanks!
- Location
- Do you really care?
Huh, that explains a lot. I always figured it was just people picking whatever option they felt sounded best because English barely has any consistency anyway.
Axslashel
I am a pessimist not a realist.
- Location
- Land of the Midnight Sun
It can even work the other way around when you are corrected for using a word because people think you meant to use another.
No I really do mean "The axe struck true" not "through". It means it is hitting dead on.
No I really do mean "axe the question" as in getting rid of the question and not as a dialect version of "ask".
Or grammatically speaking when I write "I haven't seen nothing" I do in fact mean that I have seen something but is using the double negative to make an understatement.
No I really do mean "The axe struck true" not "through". It means it is hitting dead on.
No I really do mean "axe the question" as in getting rid of the question and not as a dialect version of "ask".
Or grammatically speaking when I write "I haven't seen nothing" I do in fact mean that I have seen something but is using the double negative to make an understatement.
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- Location
- Neptune
That one is actually pretty easy to remember. Just remind yourself - American High School. That should already be lodged in your brain from the decades of American media. So British is the other one - secondary school - and primary precedes secondary.
The Englanderish
Schrödinger's Kuudere Kitty Caliph(a)
- Location
- Califat de Chats
Incorrect, there is English and then there is American and the soulless Oxford traitors who are both simply wrong.
- Location
- Do you really care?
And any Canadians who might be present would be too polite to call you out on it anyway.Just use whichever form feels the most natural and if asked just say you are using Canadian English. No one will notice.
- Location
- Somewhere
Except in legal writing. Forgetting the Oxford Comma has literally caused the meaning of the document to be considered different. Cost one company $5 millionJust use whichever form feels the most natural and if asked just say you are using Canadian English. No one will notice.
- Location
- Do you really care?
...how did they even justify that? That the Oxford comma is a functionally superfluous bit of punctuation placed in front of a conjunction that does not properly need a comma to mean the same thing is its entire definition.
The Englanderish
Schrödinger's Kuudere Kitty Caliph(a)
- Location
- Califat de Chats
Because it absolutely is not superfluous.
The oxford comma isn't an Oxford press thing, it's a vitally important feature of how commas are used within the English language.
- Location
- Do you really care?
Okay, point taken. Reminds me of my favourite example for why capitalization is important, by the way: "I had to help my uncle Jack off a horse." You can imagine the rest.
Omegahugger
Inattentive Idiot
This might just be my ESL brain speaking, but doesn't that second sentence need an "a" or some other article before dildo collector to be correct? Can you just leave dildo collector floating around on its own like that?
- Location
- Do you really care?
Yes, although the other sentence would still mean the same thing even with the indefinite article, it would just flow a bit more awkwardly.
- Location
- United States, EST
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Wildly swap between grey and gray and colour and color, confuse everyone as to where you're from. Swap between spellings depending on where the speaker is from or where the narrator is looking. Have some fun with it. As long as you're comprehensible and avoid the mistakes that are just irritating to look at and parse (forgetting capitalization, using commas instead of periods, etc.) the rules are more like guidelines anyways. Play with them and find a neat vibe.
The Englanderish
Schrödinger's Kuudere Kitty Caliph(a)
- Location
- Califat de Chats
Oh I forgot the a in both sentences lol, oops.
punster lv1
Killjoy - cheerful shitposter - ignorant pedant
One of my pet peeves is when the narrator goes on long ass tangent in the middle of dialogue so when the next character speaks I have forgotten what they were talking about and need to scroll back up to follow along. Especially if they do it more than once in a single conversation.
Edit ninja'd
And I feel like without the "a" or another article, "dildo collector" becomes a title (or at least a nickname) and that, as such, it should be capitalised.
Edit ninja'd
- Location
- Volksstaat Hessen, Deutsches Reich
It's called "context". We can discern what is meant. And there just is no comma that comes before "and".
Sure, in cases where one reading leads to an absurd result. But when both readings are valid, it becomes important.
The Englanderish
Schrödinger's Kuudere Kitty Caliph(a)
- Location
- Califat de Chats
"I'm meeting your parents, Heinrich and Elsa."
"I'm meeting your parents, Heinrich, and Elsa."
If you insist on a much more boring example.
Astrid Fornhoff
Perpetual Depressant
- Location
- 1632 Revello Drive, Sunnydale California
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Intellectually I know that's correct. Practically I almost never see it.
Mandemon
Gentlemen, I love brawl.
- Location
- Cookie Jar
Propably because people will avoid writing such cases. So instead of writing "I'm meeting your parents, Heinrich and Elsa", they will write "I'm meeting Heinrich, Elsa and your parents" which makes it clear that Heinrich and Elsa are separate from "your parents"