On 07/12/2014 10:51 AM, Janet Wilder wrote:
> On 12/7/2014 10:50 AM, graham wrote:
>> On 07/12/2014 9:20 AM, Janet Wilder wrote:
>>> On 12/6/2014 10:21 PM, Dave Smith wrote:
>>>> On 2014-12-06 19:50, Janet Wilder wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>> Isn't that really Transpondian? I've only heard "zee" in US and never
>>>>>> "zed"; the other side exclusively "zed".
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> Don't Canadians say "zed"
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Yes. We speak English English and the last letter if the English
>>>> alphabet is zed.
>>>>
>>>
>>> I have found many differences between English and American English. I
>>> just had to edit a manuscript written by a Brit that will be published
>>> here and abroad. I had to find a happy medium between the two
>>> languages.
>>>
>> I had an American boss who said: "I never use Me and You." He meant the
>> "me" in "programme" and the "u" in colour.
>> I think your spelling would not be so different if Webster hadn't hated
>> the English so much.
>> Graham
>
> LOL!
>
> I left the "ou" spellings because most literate Americans will not be
> bothered by it, but the "ise" instead of "ize" was jolting. By that I
> mean it interrupted the flow of words. After checking the spelling of
> "realize" in the OED, I found that they accept the "ize" spelling and
> not the "ise" spelling. I changed the "ise" to "ize" and thereby stuck
> a happy medium. At least the publisher was happy.
>
> There were one or two colloquialisms that I had to Google. One was "a
> cold in the nose" I don't think Americans will get that, but there was
> no way I would change it because I won't change an author's voice.
> Grammar, punctuation, sentence structure clean-ups, yes; but not the voice.
>
I once thought that "ise" was used for words with a Latin origin and
"ize" for those with a Greek root, but Fowler disabused me of that!
Back in the ~60s (I think) a British ex-con won a literary prize for a
novel. It was subsequently found that he had copied an American novel
word for word. When I read it, I thought that the jury must have been
blind to the setting and abundance of Americanisms in it.
Graham