Fight To Save English Spelling

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Fight to save English spelling
A campaign is being launched to protect English words from being replaced by American spellings.
Colchester MP Bob Russell wants to prevent youngsters from being shown words such as "utilize", "color" and "traveling".
He wants to force computer companies to install spellchecking software which offers English instead of American definitions.

"I also want the government to lead by example so all our schoolchildren, and the public generally, use the English spelling and not the American spelling."
Many operating systems, such as Microsoft's Windows, already allow users to select the language they use on the computer. But often popular web sites utilise American English.
The primary school at Eight Ash Green in Essex, in Mr Russell's constituency, is sticking up for traditional British English.

Headteacher Nick Rudman told BBC Look East that when pupils there leave the "u" out of the word labour, they are soon put right.

Story from BBC
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/england/essex/2967046.stm

Published: 2003/06/05 20:30:49 GMT
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"I also want the government to lead by example so all our schoolchildren, and the public generally, use the English spelling

The above is very different from the below:
The primary school at Eight Ash Green in Essex, in Mr Russell's constituency, is sticking up for traditional British English. Headteacher Nick Rudman told BBC Look East that when pupils there leave the "u" out of the word labour, they are soon put right.

The first quote is trying to force the public (at least under certain circumstances) to spell something correctly, which many might find offensive (I do). The latter is just teaching proper orthography to schoolchildren, something I think most people would agree is appropriate.

Incidentally, the MP's reference to "the English spelling" is offensive also. If he's refering to the English language, it's offensive to us Americans; if he's refering to England, to Scotsmen (inter alia).

(1) Why is it "the BBC" but just "CBS", "NBC", "ABC", "TNT", et al. (each sans the article)? Is it a BrE/AmE distinction? Or just tradiiton (the traditional name for the BBC is "the BBC" so it continues)?

Michael Hamm Since mid-September of 2003, BA scl Math, PBK, NYU I've been erasing too much UBE. (Email Removed) Of a reply, then, if you have been cheated, http://math.wustl.edu/~msh210/ Likely your mail's by mistake been deleted.
(1) Why is it "the BBC" but just "CBS", "NBC", "ABC", "TNT", et al. (each sans the article)? Is it a BrE/AmE distinction? Or just tradiiton (the traditional name for the BBC is "the BBC" so it continues)?

Just tradition, is my guess. Consider the WB Network, assuming it still exists: don't they call themselves "the WB"?
Actually, I think it may be more than just tradition. The structure of the names "American Broadcasting Corporation" and "National Broadcasting Corporation" (let's leave CBS aside FTM) resemble the structure of "British Broadcastiing Corporation". But there always was a difference: the BBC was a state monopoly, while ABC and NBC have always been privately-owned companies. So I think the "American" and the "National" started out as wishful thinking, like "We want to be the broadcaster for the US"; you see this in lots of private entity names in the US. But the "British" in BBC connoted "owned by the British state entity" from the get-go. No?
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snip re: why "the" BBC?
Just tradition, is my guess. Consider the WB Network, assuming it still exists: don't they call themselves "the WB"? Actually, ... names in the US. But the "British" in BBC connoted "owned by the British state entity" from the get-go. No?

In support of that, I'm fairly certain the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (also state-owned) tends towards "the CBC" rather than an unarticled "CBC".
(Or at least it used to be I'm not sure of the current practice.)

Cheers, Harvey
Ottawa/Toronto/Edmonton for 30 years;
Southern England for the past 21 years.
(for e-mail, change harvey to whhvs)
MC filted:
The primary school at Eight Ash Green in Essex, in Mr Russell's constituency, is sticking up for traditional British English. Headteacher Nick Rudman told BBC Look East that when pupils there leave the "u" out of the word labour, they are soon put right.

Next year, he hopes to return the thorn and yogh to their rightful place in the language..r
(1) Why is it "the BBC" but just "CBS", "NBC", ... name for the BBC is "the BBC" so it continues)?

Just tradition, is my guess. Consider the WB Network, assuming it still exists: don't they call themselves "the WB"? Actually, ... names in the US. But the "British" in BBC connoted "owned by the British state entity" from the get-go. No?

Actually no. The B.B.C. (period periods, there) was originally The British Broadcasting Company, a private company.
You can get a good idea of it all from here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/thenandnow/history/index.shtml

"The British Broadcasting Company, as the BBC was originally called, was formed on 18 October 1922 by a group of leading wireless manufacturers including Marconi. Daily broadcasting by the BBC began in Marconi’s London studio, 2LO, in the Strand, on November 14, 1922. This was followed the next day by broadcasts from Birmingham and Manchester."

Matti
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MC filted:

The primary school at Eight Ash Green in Essex, in ... out of the word labour, they are soon put right.

Next year, he hopes to return the thorn and yogh to their rightful place in the language..r

I heard on the radio today that woad is due for a comeback.

Matti
(1) Why is it "the BBC" but just "CBS", "NBC", ... name for the BBC is "the BBC" so it continues)?

Just tradition, is my guess. Consider the WB Network, assuming it still exists: don't they call themselves "the WB"? Actually, ... names in the US. But the "British" in BBC connoted "owned by the British state entity" from the get-go. No?

The BBC is not owned by the state. What a terrible idea. It is a corporation established by Royal Charter.

David
==
Fight to save English spelling A campaign is being launched to protect English words from being replaced by American spellings. Colchester MP Bob Russell wants to prevent youngsters from being shown words such as "utilize", "color" and "traveling".

Although I think British children should be taught British spelling, I don't think it matters that much if they use US spellings or if Britain drifts over to US spelling.
He wants to force computer companies to install spellchecking software which offers English instead of American definitions.

I do agree that much of the WP software being used in the UK has US spell/grammar checkers installed and this is leading to confusion, error and inconsistency. Whether the government should legislate to mitigate this problem, I'm not sure.
Adrian
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