American/ British Spelling and Word Usage
- Both British and American spellings are in common use, with the British variant predominating in official circles.
- When referring to the same thing, British vocabulary is more commonly used, for example: bin instead of garbage can; lift instead of elevator.
Read more about this topic: Hong Kong English
Famous quotes containing the words american , american, british, spelling, word and/or usage:
“Those who sit in a glass house do wrong to throw stones about them; besides, the American glass house is rather thin, it will break easily, and the interior is anything but a gainly sight.”
—Emma Goldman (1869–1940)
“I do not know the American gentleman, God forgive me for putting two such words together.”
—Charles Dickens (1812–1870)
“Give a scientist a problem and he will probably provide a solution; historians and sociologists, by contrast, can offer only opinions. Ask a dozen chemists the composition of an organic compound such as methane, and within a short time all twelve will have come up with the same solution of CH4. Ask, however, a dozen economists or sociologists to provide policies to reduce unemployment or the level of crime and twelve widely differing opinions are likely to be offered.”
—Derek Gjertsen, British scientist, author. Science and Philosophy: Past and Present, ch. 3, Penguin (1989)
“My spelling is Wobbly. It’s good spelling but it Wobbles, and the letters get in the wrong places.”
—A.A. (Alan Alexander)
“Give us that grand word “woman” once again,
And let’s have done with “lady”; one’s a term
Full of fine force, strong, beautiful, and firm,
Fit for the noblest use of tongue or pen;
And one’s a word for lackeys.”
—Ella Wheeler Wilcox (1855–1919)
“Pythagoras, Locke, Socrates—but pages
Might be filled up, as vainly as before,
With the sad usage of all sorts of sages,
Who in his life-time, each was deemed a bore!
The loftiest minds outrun their tardy ages.”
—George Gordon Noel Byron (1788–1824)