MetaChat - Stylistic Consistency Has Got Me Down

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23 October 2005

Stylistic Consistency Has Got Me Down Honour. Valour. Colour. I learned to spell not so much in school (though I thank them for teaching me to spell "business" and "cat"), but from reading. And, quite coincidentally, it appears that most of my books were written by British authors. That means that, as American as I am, I learned that flavour is spelled flavour, not "flavor". However, I was not raised British, and apparently the effects of British spelling have been restricted to the "or/our" variation, "paedophilia", and "diarrhoea". I never picked up "connexion" or some of the other differences.→[More:]

Now, I'm on the net, and I've been living a lie. In order to avoid being accused of being a poseur, I've stuck with exclusively American spellings. But every time I write "color", a little part of me dies inside. Is it better to suffer the slings and arrows of denying my true spelling, or take arms against a sea of self-repression, and by opposing have to deal with people getting on my case for inconsistent spelling schema?

post by: bugbread at: 09:08 | 30 comments

Whoa. Looks like I put [More:] in the wrong place. Can one of the admins move that up to the start of the post, not the end? Thanks.

posted by bugbread 23 October | 09:09

As a Canadian, I feel your pain. It must be horrible for commonwealth web monkeys to have to type 'color' in to their commonwealth css all day.

posted by Capn 23 October | 09:30

better?

posted by dodgygeezer 23 October | 09:42

better?

Much, and many thanks, dodgygeezer.

posted by bugbread 23 October | 09:53

Ha! I was a writer and editor in the U.S., so had to assiduously excise those spellings. But now I'm free!!! So I spell however I feel like spelling, whenever I feel like it, and don't even give a toss for consistency. (heh. I said "give a toss")

Look, watch this:

Grey.

Hoho! I'm mad!!! Nobody can stop me!

posted by taz 23 October | 10:06

Uh-oh. You're telling me that "grey" is the Brit spelling, and "gray" is the American spelling? I always assumed the difference was unrelated to geography. So I've been mucking it up the entire time?!

posted by bugbread 23 October | 10:22

heh. You're just a natual renegade, bugbread... Flow with it.

posted by taz 23 October | 10:27

bugbread, it's a tad unusual for an American to bring up this subject.

But I wouldn't worry too much about it. I used to think I was a pretty good speller (Brit version of course) but I've found with spending so much time in Asia and so much time on the net that I really start forgetting which is which.

That's mostly true for a small set of words, usually things that have 'z' in US and 's' in UK, but I've kind of stopped worrying too much about it. Hopefully it's a mutual assimilation.

Actually, for a while there I was using US spelling on purpose (online) but decided it was somewhere between pretentiousness and condescension. Now it's whatever the hell comes out and looks right.

posted by peacay 23 October | 11:43

Ha, I'm the opposite from you, bugbread: I'm an American, I learned to copyedit in Canada, and I'm usually the person who de-Anglicizes British works for my publisher.* So I'm keenly aware of the differences. And being American, even when I like the Commonwealth alternative better, I still have to write like one, as the pretentiousness factor is too great for me to bear. (Yeah, I'm lookin' at you "grey."**) My one revolt is dates with the month written out: 20 Nov., etc., because I like avoiding the comma.

* The worst was the cookbook though: Can you people please measure by volume instead of weight? I never want to have to divine the density of broccoli again. And it's a freakin' eggplant.

** Not that taz is pretentious. But way too many of the authors I deal with are.

posted by dame 23 October | 13:23

Can you people please measure by volume instead of weight? I never want to have to divine the density of broccoli again.

You're opening up a whole 'nother world of conflict there. They use weight here in Japan, too, and it's a doublesided sword: When I go to the grocery store, it sucks having to look at an eggplant and guess how many I need to buy to make 500 grams. But it also sucks working with a recipe that says "2 potatoes", coming home, making the food, and discovering that potatoes are apparently much larger in the country where the recipe was made than in the country I bought my potatoes in. At least if it said "500 grams", I could plop the potatoes on my kitchen scale and discover, before ~~cooking~~destroying a meal that two potatoes in Country A is the equivalent of three potatoes in my country.

posted by bugbread 23 October | 13:45

I always spell it "grey," just because I think it's prettier. Same with "theatre" vs. "theater."

posted by jrossi4r 23 October | 13:49

I agree, jrossi. Those two words really get me.

Y'all should have seen my PhD thesis. The science was impeccable (of course!) but I got raked over the coals for inconsistent usage. Because when it comes to US vs UK, I just picked the one I liked better :)

posted by gaspode 23 October | 14:09

I could plop the potatoes on my kitchen scale

Yeah, see, that's part of my problem: I don't want to weigh stuff. American recipes do give some weight of course for things that come in packages with the weight on them, but . . . Anyway, it just drove me crazy when I was converting hundreds of recipes. Random tangent.

To get back on track:

I always spell it "grey," just because I think it's prettier. Same with "theatre" vs. "theater."

This to me is like fingernails on a blackboard. Worse, really. And I know it isn't logical, but GAH! so fey and silly. I am American. Muscular. I need no silly "e," no useless "u," no reversed "er." RAWR!

posted by dame 23 October | 14:18

Also, I love consistency. So when you are inconsistent, you can at least cheer yourself with the thought that somewhere I am gnashing my teeth and wailing. That's happy, right?

posted by dame 23 October | 14:20

What if I maintain consistency with myself (always spell "colour" as "colour", but always spell "connection" as "connection")? Then I'm being internally consistent, but just inconsistent with standard usage?

posted by bugbread 23 October | 15:07

so fey and silly

Yep. It's also precious and pretentious. But that's how I roll...

posted by jrossi4r 23 October | 15:13

That doesn't work because we don't live in your head, so that it is consistent with you doesn't mean so much. But it's better than being utterly inconsistent. Again, though, it is worth asking yourself what is the value of someone who is driven to RAWR in a usage thread.

posted by dame 23 October | 15:16

Oh, jrossi4r, watch out. Hemmingway and I are coming to your house. And we have muscles.

posted by dame 23 October | 15:18

Don't worry, dame, I won't be making the decision based on your opinion alone. This post was part venting, and part water-testing (that is, if almost nobody cared, then I have been paying way too much damn attention to this, and I should bust out my "valour"s. If almost everybody said mixing is a bad thing, then the amount of aggravation I'd save myself by writing "colour" would be less than the amount of aggravation I'd cause in everyone else, so I'd grit my teetn and continue to bear it. Anywhere in-between, and it's all "I'll take it under advisement" territory, and interesting (to me) conversation.)

posted by bugbread 23 October | 15:40

I was just making fun of myself, bugbread. Because I think it is silly in equal proportion to my vexation. It's foaming at the mouth while making a face.

I won't budge on the volume v. weight though. That shit's dead serious.

posted by dame 23 October | 15:46

Muscles, schmuscles. Papa packs heat!

posted by jrossi4r 23 October | 16:11

Americans who write "colour" are pretentious douchebags. That is all.

posted by klangklangston 23 October | 17:45

And I'm sorry, Bugbread, because I quite like you. But man, it IS obnoxious.

posted by klangklangston 23 October | 17:46

What if I increase my use of "y'all" and "fixin to" to compensate?

Mefite: My wife and I are about to create a beautiful human larva. What should we do about the baby room?

bugbread: Well, if y'all are fixin to have a baby, first thing y'all gotta do is pick the colour of the baby room wallpaper.

posted by bugbread 23 October | 18:22

NOOOO!!! If that's the alternative, then please just go back to being silly & fey.

(I kiss you jrossi4r.)

posted by dame 23 October | 18:36

Use the variety you like the most, and pretentiousness be damned. Given that American / English versions of words are going to homgenize over the next few internet and media driven years, it'll eventually come down to the versions people use the most. We could do a trade. You can have Aluminum, but you're only getting your version of colour when you rip the U from my cold dead hands.

posted by seanyboy 23 October | 18:58

The spelling has already homogenized in my brain; it's a big pain sometimes.. Working medical, as I do, on both sides of the US/Canada border, has me labouring to color when South. :)

Mostly the Canadian english spellings pass, but every once in a while a Doc (usually an intern) will go ballistic on me for it, and i suck it up and start rethinking my u-seage.

BUT but but.. seanyboy! The fellow that discovered it named it aluminium. It seems slightly unfair to change it for USians (and Canadians, too). It's like aluminum came through Ellis Island.

posted by reflecked 24 October | 05:15

There ain't nothin' wrong with fixin' to write like this. You jus' gotta be 'ware that yer in informal territ'ry, and expect to be read like that.

posted by klangklangston 24 October | 11:56

As an American living in Canada I enjoy inserting "u" into words, willy-nilly. Even when they're not supposed to be there. So :-P and yeah, "grey" is much prettier, but I don't like "theatre", it's just weird. The "z" and "s" thing continues to confuze me.

And I'd read it that the guy who invented ALUMINUM named it such and the Brits added the extra "i".

As long as I don't have to say "shhhedule" I'll be happy. Talk about silly and fey.

Also, I know that periods and commas belong inside quote marks. I don't care. It's stupid and you can't make me.

posted by deborah 24 October | 12:55

It took me a long, long time to accept that spelling "junior" as "juniour" is just plain wrong, in all countries.

posted by bugbread 24 October | 13:41

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