An American grammar question (totally off topic)

[Razor X]

Here's an interesting (at least I think so) article on the spelling differences between British and American English and why the deviations occurred:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_spelling

My thoughts have always been that if one really wants to get technical on which is correct, then we should probably defer to the British usage -- it is, after all, their language.  But I must admit, that while I don't object to an extra "U" after an "O" or an "S" instead of a "Z", certain words just don't look right to me.  For example, I can't get used to "tyre", "kerb", or "cheque".  (Note my use of the Oxford comma there.)   

[Laser Man]

The bigger problem seems to be in the use of an apostrophe to make a word plural, for example: Apple's are $1 per pound.  This seems to have become common usage.  

People also seem to struggle with "its" versus "it's"...

[tomgallagher]

Whatever happened to the posessive apostrophe in the English language.
a. That is Franks' automobile.

Nowadays it always seems to be written,
b. That is Frank's automobile.

The apostrophe after the S (example A) is plural possesive and Example B is singular possessive.

Well I don't know what is plural about it but whatever. I just thought it was always used to denote a conjunction.

[Arnie]

Whatever happened to the possessive apostrophe in the English language.
a. That is Franks' automobile.

Nowadays it always seems to be written,
b. That is Frank's automobile.

a. Would be the Franks family automobile. (plural)

b. Would be an automobile belonging to Frank. (singular)

Many times these days people don't distinguish...or don't know how.  But, what can you expect with MS Word auto-correcting everything?

People have begun to forget how to spell.

[Razor X]

The bigger problem seems to be in the use of an apostrophe to make a word plural, for example: Apple's are $1 per pound.  This seems to have become common usage.  

I've always found that annoying.

[Laser Man]

As I understand it, the US used the "ou" in words like labor (labour) and color (colour) until the 1930's.  Don't know why the spellings were changed, though.

[Razor X]

As I understand it, the US used the "ou" in words like labor (labour) and color (colour) until the 1930's.  Don't know why the spellings were changed, though.

Actually, the changes came in the 19th century. Daniel Webster attempted to simplify spelling of certain words.  Since it was after the American Revolution, the rest of the British Empire for some reason, didn't feel obliged to comply.   

[Arnie]

Don't forget...

it's versus its

it's = it is

its = possessive tense of it

[Laser Man]

Reading this thread, I feel I'm in good company!  A friend of mine teaches a college-level course on writing and he tells his class that typos are "like bad breath on paper!"

[tomgallagher]

Whatever happened to the possessive apostrophe in the English language.
a. That is Franks' automobile.

Nowadays it always seems to be written,
b. That is Frank's automobile.

a. Would be the Franks family automobile. (plural)

b. Would be an automobile belonging to Frank. (singular)

Many times these days people don't distinguish...or don't know how.  But, what can you expect with MS Word auto-correcting everything?

People have begun to forget how to spell.

Never mind.

[120inna55]

Im more than happy to be proved wrong, but I have a feeling the version that pisses you off is the correct one (although I tend to use the one that doesnt piss you off)

Tyler, Schro, and BaldRob walk into a bar...  

FWIW, the version he prefers is correct.

EDIT:  This was already addressed, but for some reason, I wasn't seeing subsequent posts.  Sorry.

[Chavster]

Here's something that happens here all the time, and it DRIVES ME INSANE. Im not sure if this happens in America, but here, its very common.

"If I'd had the money, I would've bought it". When people speak those words (or similar), it sounds like just like that. Would've. However, when they type it or write it, they type it or write it like this:

"If I'd had the money, I would of bought it".

I dont know if its ignorance, a bad education or laziness, but a hell of a lot of people here think 'would've' is the shortened version of 'would of', rather than 'would have'.

Something else that gets on my titt1es here is when people say 'I bought it off my friend', instead of 'I bought it from my friend', or even worse, 'I brought it off my friend'

But for me, the worst Englishism (or the one that drives me insane most of all) is what I call 'turnarounditis'. Its some sort of physical compulsion people experience before they do anything.

"I told my friend he was ugly and he turned around and punched me in the face". "I called the bank to find out my balance and the girl turned around and said I'm £15.51 in credit". "I confronted my boyfriend about whether he'd shagged the girl next door and he turned around and denied it".

Before doing anything, a lot of English people actually do a 360 degree turn. They are the European version of the Whirling Dervish.

[120inna55]

GSGUK, with regard to "turned around".  I wonder if that's not just vernacular.

For instance, where I'm from, "fixing to" (literally spoken "fixin' to") is commonly used to express intent.

One would commonly say, "I was just fixin' to change my oil".

"Y'all" is also commonly used since folks around here can't seem to grasp the fact that "you" can refer to a group.

What's even better is that while "y'all" is acceptable, "you all" is considered yankee-speak and thus is frowned upon. ("Yankee" here used to refer to northeastern US as opposed to the US in general as described by some British).

[Chavster]

Yes, Im sure thats probably what it is. It drives me nuts though.

The other thing I've never understood is when someone in America is 'fixing dinner'. Why is it being fixed? Whats wrong with it? Is it broken?

[cvasara]

Because that's the way we speak.  We speak American here, Not real English.
Maybe that's one reason the United States of America doesn't have an official language.
(It would probably be Spanish anyway).