Saturday, January 30, 2016
What I learned at work today!
We live in a weird and wacky world that is very much dictated by what happens in the US.
One thing that drives me crazy is the English language. We have British English and then we have US English. Well - we already know about COLOUR - or is that COLOR? Colour is the British version and color is the American version.
You can use the one you want, BUT if you happen to be writing for the public for sources outside Canada, please use the American version. Like I said - it drives me crazy, but I'm getting used to it.
When I write for QUILTSocial, I think the only one that I really have to pay attention to is COLOR/COLOUR.
However yesterday I was preparing a document that would be seen by folks in the US and I learned a new word that has an American spelling. Quite frankly - it knocked my socks off!!!! Do you want to know what the word is????? We (as quilters) are all familiar with the word.
What is it????? SELVEDGE. Yes - that is the British spelling. The American is SELVAGE. Don't trust me???? Follow this link. I was in total shock! Who knew???? OK - that really drives me crazy and I shall endeavour to write future text WITHOUT using the word colour or selvedge!!! I think that will be kind of difficult.
What are your thoughts about the color/colour - selvedge/selvage thing???? Any other words that I need to be aware of????
Well - it's going to be another absolutely crazy weekend. No rest for me and I have a class waiting for me and a ton of stuff to put in the car so I had better get in gear or I'll be late.
I heard through the grapevine that Lexi's been at the computer again. Check out what she's been up to.
Have an awesome day!!!!!
Ciao!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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You work for Northcott. How about Quilts of Valor (US) and Quilts of Valour-Canada.
ReplyDeletePat C
Pat - I hear you. I think those are TWO seperate organizations as well. Hence the different spelling of the name.
DeleteNeither is as bothersome as using an apostrophe s to make a plural noun or mixing up to, too, two; your and you're, or their, there, and they're. Soapbox rant over.
ReplyDeleteOh - I hear you on this one. The worst part is that some people don't even realize there are different meanings to those words. Our language is going to hell in a hand basket.
DeleteI'm an American who also speaks British English so the various spellings don't bother me. While I've never used colour, I think I've always used selvedge rather than selvage. Never realized that was British English.
ReplyDeleteBarbara at Stash Overflow
Barbara -- yes - personally I think selvedge is the more commonly used spelling, but we have eagle eyes in our marketing department who prefer that we ONLY use the US English versions of words. As for selvage - I never even knew that word existed. I hope I can play it in Scrabble one day.
DeleteBeing in the United States myself, when I read something and see it uses the spelling of 'colour', I don't get bothered by that at all. I just know in reading something using that spelling, that they are not from the U.S., and I would not too many would focus on that difference in spelling.
ReplyDeleteAs far as the selvage v. selvedge; don't stress that one very much at all, because that one is a common variance even in the United States. You will see that word spelled both ways by many in the States. Even we can't all agree which way it is spelled. LOL Myself, I do use the selvedge spelling and always have; it is the way I was taught. Over the years I've seen blogs which ask readers which way they spell that word and where they lived. Even for those living in the States, the answers were split in both directions. The one blog poll I haven't seen is to pose that same question asking the age of each person, or at least an age range. I sometimes wonder if that would be the point in which you might see the difference between those using selvage or selvedge. I can tell you as I type those words while writing this comment on your blog, I am being told that the spelling as selvedge, is incorrect. But, I typed both ways in a sentence into a Word document prior to replying here, and neither one showed as being incorrect as if both are a correct spelling. I wouldn't stress too much over that one because you will see it used both ways in the U.S.
Vicki - very good observations. I agree - our eagle eyes for this belong to a younger generation than myself, but sometimes they are ones mixing up the use of the other words - like to, two and too. I will be using selvage for work purposes, selvedges for my personal reasons and I'm going to keep an eagle eye out myself for uses in magazines and blogs and where they are published. Thanks for your feedback!!!!
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