Questions about English used in the United States and Canada, but usually not Mexico.
39
votes
6answers
7k views
Which is the correct spelling: “grey” or “gray”?
What is the difference? Or is there any? Which would be more British English?
25
votes
5answers
6k views
Is there a difference between “arse” and “ass”?
From a comment here, in frequent usage, arse and ass are often interchangeable when used to refer to buttocks or to a person of dubious charms. However, although “to arse about” has a vague connection ...
16
votes
3answers
1k views
Why does “corn” mean “maize” in American English?
I keep hearing "corn" as a synonym of "maize". This is widely popularized worldwide by popcorn. However, this is American English! In British English, "corn" can mean any type of "grain", especially ...
15
votes
5answers
1k views
The use of “hey” in North America
Having had my formative years in New Zealand, I was born in South Africa. I vaguely recall when I was VERY young having someone tell me when I said "hey" that "hay is what horses eat".
I got that ...
15
votes
4answers
1k views
Is it awkward to use the word “aubergine” instead of “eggplant”?
According to Google Ngrams eggplant is far more common (although in British English aubergine seems to have a small advantage over eggplant).
So, not being a native speaker of English I wonder ...
8
votes
2answers
4k views
Is the proper spelling “judgment” or “judgement”?
I always thought the proper spelling was judgment, but I see judgement all the time, even in articles, news, etc. Merriam-Webster lists judgement as a variant spelling for judgment.
But is the ...
8
votes
5answers
367 views
Is the term “village” used in North America?
The post Difference between "town", "city" and "metropolis"? describes the usage of terms describing various sizes of cities. In the US, I have never encountered any ...
8
votes
2answers
3k views
Origin of “More X than you can shake a stick at”
What is the origin of the phrase "more X than you can shake a stick at"?
Every website I've seen on this basically says the same thing (e.g., http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-sha2.htm):
Recorded ...
8
votes
3answers
3k views
Origin of the word “boner”
What is the origin of the word boner? Trying to find the roots for its prevalent usage, especially in North America.
According to a dictionary it means an erect penis.
7
votes
4answers
713 views
Origin & history of name “she oak” or “sheoak” (a Casuarina tree)
In wikipedia's Casuarinaceae article (and somewhat similarly in its Casuarina article), one finds:
The most widely used common name for Casuarinaceae species is sheoak or she-oak (a comparison of ...
7
votes
2answers
430 views
Dropping L in compound adjectives. Is it “skillful” or “skilful”?
We have been taught at school that when a word ending in "LL" helps form a compound word, "LL" becomes "L" (e.g. skill -> skilful). I have also come across the usage of this adjective as skillful ...
7
votes
2answers
499 views
When does realisation of velar nasal /ŋ/ as alveolar nasal [n] happen along with tensing of the preceding vowel (/ɪ/ to [i])?
I have observed some English speakers in North America who seem to produce this assimilation in words like "running" /ˈrʌnɪŋ/ (as /ˈrʌnin/) or "winning" /ˈwɪnɪŋ/ (as /ˈwɪnin/). I'm specifically ...
6
votes
2answers
1k views
Why is most North American speech rhotic?
Most North American speech is rhotic—why is that? Does it come from the early English settlers or perhaps from the Irish settlers?
5
votes
1answer
160 views
Why is “accidentally” pronounced “accident-ly” instead of “accident-tal-y”?
Why is accidentally pronounced accident-ly and not accident-tal-ly?
Incidentally, some other adverbs have this same phenomenon, where some dictionaries show the second-to-last syllable as being ...
4
votes
8answers
3k views
Why is it called an “Indian file”?
I recently came across a US phrase, Indian file. This is utterly unheard of in the UK, and probably outside North America; at least I’ve certainly never heard of it. The phrase would be expressed in ...
4
votes
8answers
541 views
Dinky cars (toy cars)
I came across this term while proofreading an unpublished poem by an Irish poet. The context is not important so I'll just say that it is clear that it means “toy cars”.
I Googled the term and see ...
4
votes
3answers
470 views
Which flavor of English (British vs. American) first had standard modern spellings?
Which flavor, British English or American English, first standardised its modern spellings?
I'm mostly interested in the direction of alteration; for example, was the u dropped from colour or was the ...
3
votes
2answers
491 views
How should a (North American) Native English Speaker prounounce the word 'Afrikaans'?
I've always had trouble with the word 'Afrikaans'. I could say it the way South Africans say it, but then I'm not sure if I'd just be saying the word with a South African accent. After all, I don't ...
3
votes
3answers
202 views
British term for 'washroom'? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
“Washroom”, “restroom”, “bathroom”, “lavatory”, “toilet” or “toilet room”
What is the British equivalent of the American 'washroom'? (Besides 'loo', of course, as it is ...
3
votes
2answers
897 views
“travelling” vs. “traveling” [closed]
Is the correct spelling travelling or traveling? I’ve seen both in common usage, but I can't find an authoritative source that says one way or another.
Is this a difference between British spelling ...
3
votes
1answer
503 views
Divergence in meaning of “just about” between UK and North American English
Does anyone know anything about how the meaning of "just about" came to have opposite meanings in the UK and North America.
For example, in the UK, The team just about won. means that the team won, ...
2
votes
0answers
32 views
Punctuating a Question Ending with an Exclamatory Quotation in American Style
I've done quite a bit of looking for some definitive advice on this scenario to no avail, so I turn to you. What is the proper way to punctuate a question ending with an exclamatory quotation, such as ...
1
vote
1answer
477 views
difference between American and British /ӕ/ sound
When I presented British /ӕ/ sound to three Korean English-familiar persons online - they are doing answering English-related questions activities [case 1; case 2], and asked what sound it’s like /ӕ/ ...
1
vote
2answers
211 views
How common is the short “be” in American English
A friend prompted me to look up the pronunciations of the homophones "be" (IPA: /bi/, /biː/) and "bee" (IPA: /biː/). We found that there are two ways to say "be" -- one is short and the other (the ...
1
vote
1answer
492 views
Is “I wouldn’t have got left” grammatical?
In American English, is the following sentence grammatical?
If I had run faster, I wouldn’t have got left.
0
votes
1answer
60 views
Meaning of “the crawling of the walls” [closed]
What is the meaning of "the crawling of the walls"?
I can practically feel the presence of disease: the crawling of the walls, the energy tension— like the nesting of a thousand insects.
0
votes
2answers
41 views
How frequent is the use of 'Appropriation' in American English compared with British English?
How frequently is the word 'Appropriation' used in American English? In what contexts might young people commonly hear it?
0
votes
1answer
338 views
“If I was to” vs. “If I were to” [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
“If I was” or “If I were”. Which is more common, and which is correct?
If I was to sum up my computer knowledge in one word, it would be “destitute”.
If I were ...
0
votes
0answers
534 views
Which of the English tenses are most important and commonly used? [closed]
I am starting to learn English. I will have a long trip to USA in next year. What English tenses do I need to learn first of all for everyday communication?
So applying of all 12 tenses it is unreal. ...
