Former prime minister Brian Mulroney may be advising the Conservatives during the Canadian election campaign, but he’s not a household name in the United States. Mulroney was a guest on CNN’s Larry King Live after the death of former U.S. president Ronald Reagan.
“Mulroney: ‘Good to see you, Larry. Thank you for having me and delighted to be with you.’ ”
“King: ‘My pleasure. Good guy. Brian Mulroney, the former prime minister of Great Britain.’ ”
Sigh.
Published 4 years, 5 months ago
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I laughed when I read this — but really, it’s appalling isn’t it?
I laughed too.
I stopped being appalled at this sort of thing a long time ago.
Now it is merely discouraging.
Cre8d has an email up from a US citizen who took her to task for spelling something in British english. The only thing one can do is laugh.
Bene,
That’s as bad as a Brit upbrading an American for spelling color without the “u.” (Yes, it’s happened.)
Ignorance knows no boundaries.
It is, and you are correct it happens both ways. I don’t know if schools in other countries teach the differences in British and American english.
When I was in high school, we were taught both.
I saw that that at Rachel’s place. I’m so confused by -ize and -ise that i don’t think I use either consistently!
While you’re right that this sort of thing “cuts both ways”, there is an important difference: the British way of spelling *is* correct! ;o)
A bit of a tangent: One of the things I love about the English language (as spoken on either side of the pond) is how it has made use of words from so many other languages. One wag put it thus: English doesn’t borrow from other languages. English follows other languages down dark alleys, knocks them over, and goes through their pockets for loose grammar.
Is it any wonder that our spelling “rules” are such a hodge-podge?