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Use of "U" in words 1

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Michael52x

Technical User
Oct 4, 2005
813
US
Is it that words are correct in having a "u" and incorrect in not?
Like colour vs color or favourite vs favorite
Is it that "American English" is wrong? [poke]


"Impatience will reward you with dissatisfaction" RMS Cosmics'97
 
Michael said:
Well, this has all been properly parsed, and is now permanently paused for posterity. End of thread! Yay!..."Impatience will reward you with dissatisfaction"
Next topic: Irony. <grin>


[santa]Mufasa
(aka Dave of Sandy, Utah, USA)
[I provide low-cost, remote Database Administration services: www.dasages.com]
“Beware of those that seek to protect you from harm. The cost will be your freedoms and your liberty.”
 
I don't consider myself pretentious (then again, who does?), and I've never lived outside of California, yet I occasionally add the optional 'u' to words. I communicate online with enough people from overseas that it sometimes feels more natural.

Strangely, "favourite" seems to be the word where I inadvertantly add the 'u' at times, yet I would almost never unintentially use "colour" or "armour". The only explanation I can find is that "favourite" is one of those rare words that I probably see spelled the British way more often than the American way.
 
I've put it all together now...one of [santa]'s favorite bands is Chicago, and one of their greatest hits (and probably the biggest prom theme song in history) was Colour My World. It all falls quietly into place.

Tony

Users helping Users...
 
[rofl]

[santa]Mufasa
(aka Dave of Sandy, Utah, USA)
[I provide low-cost, remote Database Administration services: www.dasages.com]
“Beware of those that seek to protect you from harm. The cost will be your freedoms and your liberty.”
 
I always thought TA was a shortening of ta-ta (meaning goodbye). Never once had I associated it with Thank you.

"NOTHING is more important in a database than integrity." ESquared
 
*sigh*

I'm going to have to say it, aren't I? As no-one else has...

The optional 'U' you say. Hmm. I say - where did this language of English begin? (Hint - the clue is in the name!)

Fee

"The cure for anything is salt water – sweat, tears, or the sea." Isak Dinesen
 
==>where did this language of English begin?
I believe the Anglo-Saxons emigrated from Germany.

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And I also believe you'll find that England was named from the language, "englisc", and not the reverse.

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To get the most from your Tek-Tips experience, please read
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<tongue firmly inserted> I think my point was that it still isn't called 'American'....</tongue>

Fee

"The cure for anything is salt water – sweat, tears, or the sea." Isak Dinesen
 
Fee,

Thanks for the reminder. Next on our agenda, we need to correct the name of the language. In terms of population, we vastly outnumber the English, so I think it's high time we corrected the name of our language. (We might even get Irish support on this, but I can't be certain.)

Who cares if they were using a similar language first; we use it better. ;-)
 
LOL - no. So tell me, how do the English feel about "melty"? Or for that matter, how do the Welsh feel about it?


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Good Luck
To get the most from your Tek-Tips experience, please read
FAQ181-2886
As a circle of light increases so does the circumference of darkness around it. - Albert Einstein
 

Cajun,

So tell me, how do the English feel about "melty"? Or for that matter, how do the Welsh feel about it?
My guess would be, that's how: thread655-1490186.
Fee said she is turning into a "grumpy melting analyst".
(And I really, really sympathize - I hate heat, too.)
 
EdwardMartinIII said:
But it doesn't exclude Doctor Who fans. When they do it, they're just being pretentious. ;)

Being Doctor Who fan and being pretentious, isn't that tautology?

Bye, Olaf.
 
Being Doctor Who fan and being pretentious, isn't that tautology?"

Well, now that DW is pop, probably it's not an issue.

But the extra "u" is still a cheat at Scrabble. Except with "through". Ahem.

[monkey] Edward [monkey]

"Cut a hole in the door. Hang a flap. Criminy, why didn't I think of this earlier?!" -- inventor of the cat door
 
Olaf said:
...or pretentious...
Olaf, are you suggesting that hundreds of millions of "spellers" throughout the world, who align themselves with accepted British spellings of hundreds of words are being pretentious?


Although I may favour West-End Girls, patterning myself after East-End Boys is not my idea of a step up (even a pretentious one). <grin>

[santa]Mufasa
(aka Dave of Sandy, Utah, USA)
[I provide low-cost, remote Database Administration services: www.dasages.com]
“Beware of those that seek to protect you from harm. The cost will be your freedoms and your liberty.”
 
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