Hong Kong English - American/ British Spelling and Word Usage

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.

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Famous quotes containing the words american , american, british, spelling, word and/or usage:

    Even an attorney of moderate talent can postpone doomsday year after year, for the system of appeals that pervades American jurisprudence amounts to a legalistic wheel of fortune, a game of chance, somewhat fixed in the favor of the criminal, that the participants play interminably.
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    My spelling is Wobbly. It’s good spelling but it Wobbles, and the letters get in the wrong places.
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    Pythagoras, Locke, Socrates—but pages
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