Yes.  I have noticed that since a long time ago.  I was not aware that 'duellist,' however, could also be considered correct.  You learn something new.

Ha ha, yeah, I always wince when I see "duelist" because I was taught to spell with two ls -- but with that said, whenever I read something written with American spelling I have to resist the urge to correct it. Because it's correct either way. Although these days I always have Jemaine in the back of my head narrating the thought with: It doesn't matter what country someone's from, or what they look like, or the color of their skin. It doesn't matter what they smell like, or that they spell words slightly differently...some would say, more correctly.

Last edited by Clarice (11-06-2010 02:04:20 PM)

When we first implemented titles, I pushed hard for "Duelist;" that's how I learned to spell it, and it looks much more elegant!  Believe me, misspellings do not stand on my watch.  But it turned out there was no single right answer, and I've stopped noticing.

I get the feeling that, if I were still a copy editor, and if the word were to show up in a newspaper article, I'd be forced by some obscure rule to insist on the single-L spelling.  Personally, I don't mind either spelling.

Cool story mate, i mean, bro.

Tamago wrote:

Also I somethings have to remind myself that in America, they spell words like metre, litre and centre as meter, liter and center instead.

Actually, we do our damnedest not to use the words "meter" and "liter" at all.    Talk to us about feet and gallons instead.  We'll accept "parking meter," and for some reason we'll deal with a one-liter bottle of water or a two-liter bottle of soda, but nothing else -- that's literally it.  Litreally it?

Tamago wrote:

Also in Australia, center would be a synonym for middle. (He stood in the center of the circle.) while centre would be the word used to describe a gathering place eg: Arts Centre or shopping centre.

I didn't know the rule was so subtle!  What about the players in that one game that you foreigners insist on calling football?  Those people who play near the middle of the pitch -- are they centers or centres?

I do wonder if this subject should really be in the General Dissection instead.

Right you are!  Fixing!

satyreyes wrote:

I didn't know the rule was so subtle!  What about the players in that one game that you foreigners insist on calling football?  Those people who play near the middle of the pitch -- are they centers or centres?

I'm not certain but I think I would go with centers on that issue.

I know that Americans refer to Gridiron as football, which is a bit odd as there is almost never any kicking involved.

When Australians think of football, they are thinking of Aussie Rules Footy, Rugby League or Rugby Union, in all cases IIRC you have to kick for any goals.

And of cause in the rest of the world, football is soccer.

I heard that one of the reasons Americans like Gridiron over other types of football is that it has a lot of stops which makes it easier to order your hotdogs and drinks without worrying about missing anything important.

It seems to me that Australian is about half way between being American and British in how they speak or spell in general.

As for the grammar nazi-like peeves:

Getting there, their and they're mixed up, why do people have this problem with these words, its not that hard, eg: They're going to take their piles of useless crap and move it over there.

Too and to: I know the odd accident will happen, but when individuals never seem to use to/too right, I find it too annoying.

Bluesky wrote:

I would've thought 'duelist'was right, if only because you have the morphemes 'duel' and 'ist' sort of stuck together. Why the extra 'l'? What does it do?

Reflects the pronounciation better? At least I hear it as a double-consonant...

I like seeing discussion like this, really! It's interesting to see how far the American and British language spheres, I guess(?) extend across the world and into local flavor.

Even I'm not immune. One of the things I pride myself on is spelling things correctly (and grammar too, but bleh, nitpicking) and I still have trouble with some words. I'm born, raised and wholly educated in America, so the exposure to British spelling comes from either books or video games. There's one cult game, called UFO: Enemy Unknown in its birthplace of the UK and X-COM: UFO Defense in America. The game was developed in England, so naturally they use the UK spellings. This leads to words like colour, defence, centre, encyclopaedia, targetting and even manoeuvre! Those words are rendered color, defense, encyclopedia, targeting and maneuver here in the States.

And you know what? It took me forever to get myself to stop writing stories using those UK spellings, and even then I still trip up on words I can't be sure I remember how to spell in America! I still have to sit in place for several seconds thinking "Okay, is it manoeuvre or maneuver? Which one is my audience going to be expecting?"

I think it's just that, especially on the Internet. We write for what our audience expects, and being only human we expect our audience to be well-versed in the same dialect/spelling/what-have-you as we were taught.

Also, fun fact. I don't know if this is just the game or if all UK spellings do this, but words like exoskeleton and cardiovascular employ hyphens, so they are spelled exo-skeleton and cardio-vascular. If anybody can double-check this, I know there's one person here who'd appreciate it!

Heh. I was playing a lot of hidden object games a while back, of which the vast majority are written/developed in the US. I have a bad habit of using words from the latest thing I'm reading, and it annoyed my boss of the time when I started using American words instead of the Australian equivalent, e.g faucet for tap and such. Combined with my habit of using the minor local variations from the place in NSW where I was raised, instead of the QLD equivalent. He was South African, though, with English one of a number of second languages so I think he thought I was doing it deliberately to confuse him and piss him off. I wasn't. (Much.)