British vs English (was US/English versions)

[Hollydaze]

No: HPFGUIDX 34523

Eloise wrote:
> > > This whole discussion should be under the banner US/British 
> > > versions. After all, they are both written in English, aren't they 
> > > and it is extremely irritating to Scottish, Welsh and Irish 
> > > Britons to be thought of as English. 

I wrote:
> > I always got the impression that (most) Scots, Welsh and Irish hated 
> > being called British too and that was what devolution was about?I 
> > presumed we were talking about the language rather than the 
> > countries anyway and in those ways it is right as the British 
> > version is written in *English* while the "American" version is in 
> > US English (hence US in the title of the discussion).

Eloise wrote:
<SNIP>
> The thing I am uncomfortable with in your last remark is that it 
> suggests that we have the 'copyright' and that other types of English 
> are 'versions of', whereas the English language actually has many 
> different, equally valid forms.
<SNIP>
 
Just to explain myself there. I wasn't exactly sure hwo to express what I meant, so I kinda used the thing that Microsoft has on it's wordcheck where you select the langauge you wish to spell check, it has "US English" or something very similar and I wasn't sure what else to refer to it as. I didn't want to say "American" since a lot of Canadians on the site have recently said they find that offensive since everyone who lives inthe continent of America is an American, I thereofre presumed the same applied to language as surely anything spoken IN the contenent of America could be classed as American!

<SNIP>
> British English has after all also carried on developing since the 
> days of the Founding Fathers and the differences in our two languages > stem from this as much as from (for want of a better word) US 
> developments. That is why I prefer in these contexts to speak of 
> British English, rather than just English.
<SNIP>
Hence the reason I wrote *English* instead of English.

HOLLYDAZE!!!


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]