Re: Complete list of UK/US Differences for HBP


Mark Evans wrote:
> Quite a few "Americanizms" actually turn out to be quite regional.
> Including "shopping trolly"/"Shopping cart"; "pavement"/"sidewalk";
> "pop"/"soda"; "trousers"/"pants" and so on.

True (I've never said shopping trolly). But that is actually becoming
less pronounced in the US because of TV. Most everyone talks the same
on TV.

> It's even possible that
> there are parts of the US where Noah Webster's spellings are depreciated
> in favour of the more standard ones.

I'm confused. Webster's spellings are not standard spellings?

> > That's right, and then when you read about a hooter you have the mental
> > tools to understand the word from its context, not being spoon-fed.
>
> Which you have to do anyway, since "hooter" has several different
> meanings. If anything you have to rely on context *more* with Webster's
> spellings since he tended to eliminate homophones. Thus overloading some
> words with a great many possible meanings. (I have noticed quite a
> few fanfiction writers, especially those from the US, making a complete
> mess of homophone usage).

Now I'm even more confused. How can you eliminate homophones from a
dictionary? Are you saying that Webster preferred homonyms to
homophones?

Ciao,
Lee

.

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