It is of course more complicated than most people believe. The right is often wrong; the wrong often has long precedence. The British -ise ending is an early 20th century misguided respelling based on invalid theories of etymology. Programme is just something that came out of the blue, from Scotland I believe, replacing the older program again relatively recently (the occasional American pronunciation that rhymes with pogrom is a catastrophe of its own). And so on and so on. What is perceived as British and correct is often felt worthy through its Britishness but is in fact more recently constructed than, for instance theater replacing theatre.
Webster did indeed drop the colourful u's, with good reason (we are not French), and jail is a clear improvement over the ludicrous gaol, with similar favorable positions taken on draft/draught etc., but most of his adjustments never caught on as canon, thru being the closest to making it. Most of his attempts died on his tung (sic). Canada mostly follows the American (-ize, jail, tire, etc.) but keeps the French u's and re's. Australia is closer to Britain but sticks with jail and tire. I'm sure every English speaking country has its own set, and each is valid in place. Language is rich, English orthography perhaps richest of all. Don't cast aspersions, just be consistent. Most of all, don't believe that the Brits are always "proper". The Go team's spelling standard honors the modern American style. It needs to pick something to be consistent, but you are of course free to do as you will in your own world, and you should. -rob On Sat, May 18, 2019 at 8:08 AM Michael Jones <michael.jo...@gmail.com> wrote: > In addition to being a daily Go programmer, I'm also a corporate executive > in the US and a venture investment partner in the UK. This has me > constantly surrounded by "proper" English and has made me very aware of the > linguistic habits of my American upbringing. It seems that I've become an > amalgam of the two, I say that "I was in hospital" for example, but name > variables 'color' -- the result earning awkward glances on both sides of > the Atlantic. My ear now prefers English English, in part from my love of > the character of English people. > > On Fri, May 17, 2019 at 2:07 PM stíobhart matulevicz <ma...@madra.net> > wrote: > >> >> I know that a lot of what we think of as "American English" words are >> actually archaic forms of early 'English English'. Words like "gotten" >> instead of "got", for example. But there's also a lot of blame or credit >> (depending on your point of view) for the differences to be laid at the >> door of a certain Mr. Noah Webster: >> >> >> https://blog.oxforddictionaries.com/amp/2018/05/07/noah-webster-american-identity-simplified-spelling-movement/ >> >> I was kind of half-joking in my original post. But, as someone who >> considers himself highly literate, I do actually find it does grate a >> bit, having to (from my point of view) deliberately spell words wrong, >> when I'm coding. >> >> I get my revenge in the code comments though, where I resolutely stick >> to "colour", "centre", "programme", etc. >> >> I wonder if I'm am isolated case, or whether any other native English >> speakers are slightly irked by having to code in "bad spelling" too? >> >> >> On 17 May 2019 21:26:29 Michael Jones <michael.jo...@gmail.com> wrote: >> >>> I know that you joke here, but I had an interesting dinner conversation >>> in London last year with erudite, scholarly friends who shared with me that >>> recent research supports a different view of the "barbaric Americanised >>> false English" that is the prevailing sentiment you share. >>> >>> According to the scholars they mentioned, "American English" is indeed a >>> true, pure, "real" English; just one from a time-capsule, an English from >>> 1776 that did not advance significantly since American independence. This >>> view suggests that were a BBC presenter and an American to travel back to >>> meet with King George, it would be the American who sounded "right" and not >>> the other way around. >>> >>> This time-capsule argument is not an argument against modern evolved >>> English, but it is an interesting notion of a living language in the >>> homeland might become a historical artifact through cargo culting in the >>> breakaway colony. Insightful as to human psychology and something to >>> remember amongst the lessons of wisdom. >>> >>> Michael >>> (a barbaric American-English 1776 throwback ;-) >>> >>> On Fri, May 17, 2019 at 9:41 AM <ma...@madra.net> wrote: >>> >>>> Spare a thought for those of us who actually speak and write 'proper' >>>> English and not that American version used in all programming languages. >>>> >>>> We get to write in our own language but have to remember to spell half >>>> the words wrong! >>>> >>>>> >>>> >>>> -- >>>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google >>>> Groups "golang-nuts" group. >>>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send >>>> an email to golang-nuts+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. >>>> To view this discussion on the web visit >>>> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/golang-nuts/1e22042e-9ac0-404f-be30-eaa495ae11dd%40googlegroups.com >>>> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/golang-nuts/1e22042e-9ac0-404f-be30-eaa495ae11dd%40googlegroups.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> >>>> . >>>> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. >>>> >>> >>> >>> -- >>> >>> *Michael T. jonesmichael.jo...@gmail.com <michael.jo...@gmail.com>* >>> >> >> > > -- > > *Michael T. jonesmichael.jo...@gmail.com <michael.jo...@gmail.com>* > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "golang-nuts" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to golang-nuts+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > To view this discussion on the web visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/golang-nuts/CALoEmQwT4dY6tpHr5yp%3DnyQL4arLLRm7QjjUe_9rcV9jKGKC%2BQ%40mail.gmail.com > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/golang-nuts/CALoEmQwT4dY6tpHr5yp%3DnyQL4arLLRm7QjjUe_9rcV9jKGKC%2BQ%40mail.gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> > . > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "golang-nuts" group. 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