Why do brits say "aluminium" instead of...

[K.I.L.E.R]

The rest of the world also spells "nite" as "night".

Its only spelled 'nite' in product names, as far as I know.

Why? I don't get that. :?

 

[Killer-Kris]

The rest of the world also spells "nite" as "night".

Its only spelled 'nite' in product names, as far as I know.

Why? I don't get that. :?

Easier to copyright perhaps?

 

[nutball]

We're right and you're wrong basically! It is called English after all

 

[Simon F]

Why do brits say ...

And Aussies, Kiwis....

I just typed Aluminium into "Google translate" and German and French also seems to use "Aluminium" though not Spanish, Portuguese and Italian, where it's more like "al(l)umínio".

 

[Simon F]

Hehe a silly question that didn't seem so silly after hearing the answer.

The hood of a car in the UK is called a bonnet, and french fries are chips. Silly gits.

I think the correct way to say it is that in the US (and Canada?) the bonnet is called a hood etc, because other English speaking countries also use the former.

 

[London Geezer]

Why am i gay and not gaee?

 

[Mariner]

One of my pet peeves is when people in the UK pronounce "schedule" in the American way (i.e. sked-ool). Regrettably the correct (i.e. English ) way of saying the word is dying out and many people here don't even realise they are just aping what they've heard on American TV programmes.

One of my other pet peeves is the way Americans pronounce the word "herb" as "urb". It's got a bloody letter H in it, for heaven's sake!

 

[London Geezer]

Well the other day i had a discussion with my colleagues because i was adamant that skeptical was written with a "k", simply because i've been speeling it like that in MSWord, which will autocorrect you if you write the proper English way, which is sceptical.
Made me so angry!! My PC (and word) is set up on UK English, but it autocorrects this and many other words into the American (wrong) spelling. And because of that i will always spell skeptical the wrong way, with a K.

 

[Gerry]

One of my other pet peeves is the way Americans pronounce the word "herb" as "urb". It's got a bloody letter H in it, for heaven's sake!

On a similar note.

People who pronouce "aitch" (as in the letter H) as "haitch". There ain't no bleedin' "h" at the start of it, so stop pronouncing it that way.

 

[Captain Chickenpants]

A couple of things.

Night almost certainly comes from the german Nacht (meaning night).

(taken from here http://www.staff.ncl.ac.uk/nikolas.lloyd/opinion/badeng.html

Lieutenant: This derives from a French word. Literally, it refers to the man who becomes the tenant of command in lieu of the captain - lieutenant. One could assume a French accent, I suppose, and pronounce it as would the snail-chewing scoundrels from the Land of Garlic. However, we Brits have adopted our own way of saying the word, and this refers to the meaning of it. The man who is left as tenant of command when the captain is away is the “left-tenantâ€￾, and that is how the word is pronounced. The Americans manage an interesting double, and pronounce it in a way that reflects neither its meaning nor its origins, and they say “loo-tenanâ€￾. I know of no reason to copy them.

CC

 

[London Geezer]

A couple of things.

Night almost certainly comes from the german Nacht (meaning night).

(taken from here http://www.staff.ncl.ac.uk/nikolas.lloyd/opinion/badeng.html

Lieutenant: This derives from a French word. Literally, it refers to the man who becomes the tenant of command in lieu of the captain - lieutenant. One could assume a French accent, I suppose, and pronounce it as would the snail-chewing scoundrels from the Land of Garlic. However, we Brits have adopted our own way of saying the word, and this refers to the meaning of it. The man who is left as tenant of command when the captain is away is the “left-tenantâ€￾, and that is how the word is pronounced. The Americans manage an interesting double, and pronounce it in a way that reflects neither its meaning nor its origins, and they say “loo-tenanâ€￾. I know of no reason to copy them.

CC

Which in turn comes from Latin, Noctem (I think, bit rusty on my Latin these days).

 

[Crisidelm]

A couple of things.

Night almost certainly comes from the german Nacht (meaning night).

(taken from here http://www.staff.ncl.ac.uk/nikolas.lloyd/opinion/badeng.html

Lieutenant: This derives from a French word. Literally, it refers to the man who becomes the tenant of command in lieu of the captain - lieutenant. One could assume a French accent, I suppose, and pronounce it as would the snail-chewing scoundrels from the Land of Garlic. However, we Brits have adopted our own way of saying the word, and this refers to the meaning of it. The man who is left as tenant of command when the captain is away is the “left-tenantâ€￾, and that is how the word is pronounced. The Americans manage an interesting double, and pronounce it in a way that reflects neither its meaning nor its origins, and they say “loo-tenanâ€￾. I know of no reason to copy them.

CC

Which in turn comes from Latin, Noctem (I think, bit rusty on my Latin these days).

Ehm, nox / noctis

 

[London Geezer]

Ehm, nox / noctis

Hey i did say i'm rusty!! Where di i get Noctem from?!

 

[Basic]

It's "aluminium" in Swedish too.

And about the auto-incorrection in Word. The Swedish version still have the English rule to capitalize "i". But "i" is the Swedish word for "in", and it shouldn't be capitalized (other than in the beginning of sentence).

 

[Crisidelm]

Ehm, nox / noctis

Hey i did say i'm rusty!! Where di i get Noctem from?!

Complete declination (not plural), as I recall it:
nox
noctis
nocti
noctem
nox
nocte

 

[London Geezer]

It's "aluminium" in Swedish too.

And about the auto-incorrection in Word. The Swedish version still have the English rule to capitalize "i". But "i" is the Swedish word for "in", and it shouldn't be capitalized (other than in the beginning of sentence).

You leave you Word in Swedish, and it still corrects that?!

 

[Nick[FM]]

So what about "thru" and "through"? Is "thru" only word for the lazy ones? Google gave me 767 000 000 hits for "through" and only 12 500 000 hits for "thru".

 

[London Geezer]

]So what about "thru" and "through"? Is "thru" only word for the lazy ones? Google gave me 767 000 000 hits for "through" and only 12 500 000 hits for "thru".

Errr as far as i know "thru" is just the lazy version of "through". Though i wouldn't be surprised if it made the dictionary lately. I mean, if Bootilicious made it there...

 

[Gerry]

]So what about "thru" and "through"? Is "thru" only word for the lazy ones? Google gave me 767 000 000 hits for "through" and only 12 500 000 hits for "thru".

Not to mention the countless people who seem to spell it as "threw".

 

[London Geezer]

]So what about "thru" and "through"? Is "thru" only word for the lazy ones? Google gave me 767 000 000 hits for "through" and only 12 500 000 hits for "thru".

Not to mention the countless people who seem to spell it as "threw".

OUCH!! That hurt.

Like when people use "of" instead of "have", like "I should of done that"... It physically hurts.