Watching the World Series last week, Meg
Watching the World Series last week, Meg wondered, “why White/Red Sox and not Socks?” I knew that if we waited long enough, the Internet would come up with the answer. Bonus: the NY Yankees were once known as the Porchclimbers. Those rascals!
Reader comments
Kenny GOct 28, 2005 at 1:07PM
Why not give credit where credit is due. Slate Explainer came up with the answer. Isn't saying
"the Intenet would come up with the answer" a bit like saying "the newspaper industry
would come up with the answer?"
shelleyOct 28, 2005 at 1:08PM
um did you by any chance read the more explainer story at the bottom.. yikes
http://slate.msn.com/id/2128921/?nav=navoa
Chris AinslieOct 28, 2005 at 1:15PM
I'd still love to hear an explanation of why the American people are taught to spell so differently from other English nations.
NOTE:
I said "differently", not necessarily "wrong". (Before the flaming starts) :)
kirkarachaOct 28, 2005 at 3:23PM
You might want to start with this WikiPedia article on differences between American and British English.
JackOct 28, 2005 at 8:16PM
"I'd still love to hear an explanation of why the American people are taught to spell so differently from other English nations."
Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that other English speaking nations were colonized by the Brits, wheras America was formed to rebel against British rule.
I like a lot of the Britishism out there--like 'proper' and such--but I think that retaining odd spellinds such as 'colour' and such are anachronistic and does not recognize the natural evolution of language.
Chris AinslieOct 29, 2005 at 6:51AM
"I like a lot of the Britishism out there--like 'proper' and such--but I think that retaining odd spellinds such as 'colour' and such are anachronistic and does not recognize the natural evolution of language."
I tend to agree with your sentiments there. We use "British English" here in South Africa, although I've taken so spelling some words (color) being one of them, the "American way", mostly because of my programming background.
I don't particularly like the "-ize" as a replacement for "-ise", but that's a personal thing.
The wikipedia article explains things to some degree, as does the comment about America being formed to rebel against Britain.
Still, it would be interesting to know the reasoning behind the changes.
This thread is closed to new comments. Thanks to everyone who responded.