The never-ending stor(e)y · 1:55pm May 19th
For some reason this is one of the points readers of mine (including off-site ones) have mentioned several times, perhaps because it's one of those Transatlantic divides that isn't all that well known. So: when you're talking about the floors of a building:
US English: one story, two stories. The same spelling and the same plural as for the other kind of story.
UK English: one storey, two storeys. Not the same spelling or the same plural as for the other kind of story.
Given the relentless tide of American English in recent decades, I suspect we may end up succumbing to the US usage at some point, but we're not there yet. For the moment, at least, what (some?) Americans call a parking garage remains a multi-storey car park over here. With an E.
I honestly wasn't aware of that specific difference between mainline UK English and mainline USA English. Thanks for sharing.
I mainly use British English because I refuse to spell colour like color.
However, the more I find out what are the correct British words, the more I start to like US English.
I mean, foetal? Really?
The English have made a right bag of the language.
'car park' is a phrase I've not heard in a very long time, and there's never been a multi-stor(e)y version of one!
5781700
don't get me started on "oestrogen" :V
I only use the US spelling since I’m half American, I actually once had somebody help me with one of my stories and they spelt color differently but I always change it to the US spelling of it because I thought that was the correct way to spell it.
5781698
You're welcome. I like the fact that these differences exist, and I hope they're not all homogenised out of existence by the all-pervading internet.
5781700
"Fetal" is the standard in UK medical circles nowadays and is gradually taking over in general usage. There's no sign of us dropping the O from the start of "oesophagus", though.
5781703
You mean a right Horlicks, surely!
5781713
"Car park" remains absolutely standard over here. We all know what "parking lot" means, but virtually nobody uses it.
5781719
I think as long as you're consistent, most people aren't going to worry too much about that one.
Yeah, it’s an interesting one. Especially for me, as I do all my blogs and comments in UK English but write my stories in US English (it started out because “Shining Armour” just reads weird, but has stuck for other reasons).
There are words for which I find the UK spelling more bizarre than the US one, and I always seem to be finding more. Struggling to recall most right now, but marvellous having two l’s is one such example. It just looks wrong.
While some US English phrases have taken over the UK English ones for me, most remain this side of the Atlantic for me, and I don’t even realise no American would use them. A car park over a parking garage is one of them. Americans wouldn’t even recognise the former meant the latter, really?
Mad stuff.
The real puzzle is figuring out what floor you're on.
How to confuse an American: stand on the ground floor and say, "Go up to the first floor."
Americans spell it story!? D: I didn't even know!
sorry 'mericans. but that sucks :P when it comes to spelling you lot may have it 9 times out of 10, but english is full of ridiculous clobbered together nouns already. They may sound exactly the same, but they are both so common and their sense so different that it justifies the different spellings.
5781703
we totally have!
5781728
“Who’s on first?”
“No, Who’s on ground.”
5781728
that's what I thought this blog was about :P that is so confusing. I side with the 'mericans there. The 'ground' floor is floor one, so it should be the first floor.
As a UK English speaker, even I have to translate that one away from common sense and into English-sense :P
the secret is to use canadian english where we randomly use both
5781700
me too. I suspect there's something in the fact that we have a lot of words like "though" "bough" "rough" that use 'ou' as a hard 'o' and mebbe even "sour" "flour" that have a hard 'o' mixed in that make me want "colour" to be spelled that way.
5781738
No, it's because I learned this spelling in third grade when I first learned English. I'm not native
5781739
ahh, ok. Also foetal is insane. I totally agree on that one
5781721
thought we were dropping that. It's a frenchy thing isn't it? Like oevre, or manoeuvre?
angevin till I die
I'm angevin till I die :P
I did not know that! I've read British editions of many novels but I never noticed the difference. Colouer me surprised!
5781721
I haven't thought of Horlicks in a very long time. I really like the taste of malt, so when we lived near an import food store, I used to get it, both to drink and to add to milkshakes to make malts!
5781727
Surely "car park" is self-explanatory? Though, given what I've observed of my fellow countrymen, I can believe that some would find the term inexplicable. I do love seeing other Yank's head explode when they're trying to find their hotel room and can't figure out that the Second Floor is actually on the Third Storey.
5781737 I thought Canadian English was French?