Thread: Metric vs Imperial Spelling - Meter or Metre

Originally Posted by artme

Who cares? They do as they please. Just ask New Zealanders.

Stirrer

Originally Posted by Grumpy John

This may explain it.

That's quite interesting. Seems British English is less predicatble than American English when it comes to -re or -er in general.

Slowly our kids are adopting yank pronunciations though

Zee instead of Zed is now also quite acceptable in our primary schools too.

Originally Posted by renov8or

Zee instead of Zed is now also quite acceptable in our primary schools too.

Kids singing songs in an American accent . Even songs that don't come from the USA

Originally Posted by Manuka Jock

Kids singing songs in an American accent . Even songs that don't come from the USA

Absolutley, and when they are quoting an actor from small or large screen, on goes the American accent.

Originally Posted by renov8or

Absolutley, and when they are quoting an actor from small or large screen, on goes the American accent.

True , and they ain't taking the like we were

Word processing programmes have a lot to answer for. They change the spelling so that in the end the US way looks correct and then it overflows into the spoken word.
Over and over again you hear that being used instead of who e.g. the person who has now become the person that. Then there is the word guys, which now encompasses everyone, female as well as male. They haven't changed grumpy old bugger yet so I'm safe for a while longer.
Cheers,
Jim

A "METRE" is a Unit of Length

A "METER" is a device for measuring a quantity...Water Meter, Electricity Meter

Originally Posted by skot

A "METRE" is a Unit of Length

A "METER" is a device for measuring a quantity...Water Meter, Electricity Meter

Not necessarily
.
It depends on what skool you went to

Slap them kid's.
We are not yanks.

Slowly our kids are adopting yank pronunciations though. TV, I guess. When I was at school your forehead was pronounced forrod. And gunwhales were gunn'ls. I suppose we are all becoming victims of globalisation.

Mick[/QUOTE]

Originally Posted by renov8or

That's quite interesting. Seems British English is less predicatble than American English when it comes to -re or -er in general.

Zee instead of Zed is now also quite acceptable in our primary schools too.

Zed Zed Top, one of my favourite bands .

Sigh.

Language is dynamic, as is pronounciation. There was a period, just after the war of independence, when the speech patterns of the east coast Americans was considered more correct english than that used by the English middle and upper classes.

English is the ultimate bastard language. The largest influence on it is british maritime terms (words like landmark for example), followed by Norman then Anglo Saxon (German if you like). More recently it's been absorbing Asian words.

So linguistic snobbery is a nonesense.

It has been claimed for generations that American influence would overwhelm Austalianism. Hasn't happened. Yet anyway...

Artme: quite right, the French love to go their own way, sometimes several directions at once ... but always contrary to any direction from anyone else...