By using this site, you agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
Accept
Start Your Business Magazine
  • Topics

    Grow, expand and leverage your business..

    Grow your start up business with our experts and industry insiders…

    Get Started

    Quick Links

    • Finance
    • Marketing
    • Technology
    • Business Books
    • Wellness
    • Interviews
    • Franchise

    Our Newsletters

    Our website stores cookies on your computer. They allow us to remember you and help personalise your experience with our site..

    Read our privacy policy for more information.
  • Trending
    TrendingShow More
    Communicate Better
    Start Your Business Start Your Business
    Majority of UK Employees Looking for a New Job
    Start Your Business Start Your Business
  • How To
    How ToShow More
    Tips for Running a Restaurant in the Most Efficient Way Possible
    Start Your Business Start Your Business
    Becoming self employed…
    Start Your Business Start Your Business
    Vet Start up
    Start Your Business Start Your Business
    Builder’s Growth
    Start Your Business Start Your Business
    Market for Construction
    Start Your Business Start Your Business
  • Agenda
    AgendaShow More
    How to Keep Your Business Compliant When Selling Internationally
    Start Your Business Start Your Business
    What does the future hold for plastic packaging?
    Start Your Business Start Your Business
    How International Hiring Can Help Startups To Scale In 2023
    Start Your Business Start Your Business
    Creating and Maintaining a Culture of Equality in Your Business
    Start Your Business Start Your Business
    The Great Resignation or Quiet Quitting
    Start Your Business Start Your Business
Reading: Americanisms!
Connect
Start Your Business MagazineStart Your Business Magazine
Aa
  • Contact
  • Blog
Search
  • Agenda
  • Blog
  • Finance
  • Growing
  • Marketing
  • Opportunity
  • Starting Up
  • Technology
  • Wellbeing
  • Contact
Have an existing account? Sign In
Follow US
  • RSS
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact
  • Licensing
Copyright © 2014-2023 Ruby Theme Ltd. All Rights Reserved.

Americanisms!

Start Your Business
agenda
Share
3 Min Read

Brits get knickers in a twist over Americanisms: Over half find them frustrating

Over half (54%) of Brits find American spellings frustrating and think they are harmful for the British language (51%), according to new research from Oxford Home Schooling.

The research carried out by the online home education provider, looked into the importance people place on British spellings and attitudes towards Americanisms being used in everyday life.

Brits are passionate that our own standards are taught from an early age with over eight in ten (85%) stating it’s important for children to learn the importance of British spellings and over two thirds (67%) believing it’s unacceptable to use American spellings at school.

Other instances it is considered unacceptable to use Americanisms are on CVs (71%), in newspapers (55%), at work (52%) and even on greetings cards (43%).

The home education provider asked people which spellings they tend to make mistakes on, to create a list of the most difficult American spellings to identify.

The top ten most unrecognisable are:

  1. Encyclopedia (encyclopaedia)

  2. Skillful (skilful)

  3. Pretense (pretence)

  4. Offense (offence)

  5. Cozy (cosy)

  6. Sulfate (sulphate)

  7. Defense (defence)

  8. Meter (metre)

  9. Cesarean (caesarean)

  10. Appetizer (appetiser)

Just 10% of those polled correctly identified all the American spellings in the list.

Men are more accepting than women of the move towards American spellings as we adopt more transatlantic traditions in our culture (15% vs 20%). This is despite men also being better at adhering to British spellings standards, with more women failing to recognise mistakes in words such as ‘pajamas’, ‘favorite’, ‘theater’ and ‘diarrhea’.

The study found Brits feel TV shows (39%), Facebook and Twitter (36%) and American films (35%) have had the biggest impact on our British spellings. With eight out of ten of Netflix’s most binged TV shows originating from across the pond it’s little wonder their spellings and words are finding their way into our dialogue.

Another study by Oxford Open Learning Trust, Oxford Home Schooling’s sister company, explains further why some of us struggle to spot American spellings. Those surveyed say they use auto-correct (58%) most often to avoid spelling mistakes compared to 45% that use a traditional dictionary, despite auto-correct recognising both American and British variations.

Dr Nick Smith, principal at Oxford Home Schooling, said: “It’s clear Brits feel passionate about teaching children the importance of British spelling standards, however many of them failed to spot American spellings themselves.

“It’s relatively easy to brush up on spelling ability at any age through reading, lessons at school or distance learning as an adult.”

To test your own ability to spot American spellings, try Oxford Home Schooling’s quiz of some of the most common spelling mistakes: https://www.oxfordhomeschooling.co.uk/blog/americanisms-spelling-test/

TAGGED: header

Sign Up For Daily Newsletter

Be keep up! Get the latest breaking news delivered straight to your inbox.

By signing up, you agree to our Terms of Use and acknowledge the data practices in our Privacy Policy. You may unsubscribe at any time.
Start Your Business January 23, 2019
Share this Article
Twitter LinkedIn Reddit Email Copy Link
  • RSS
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact
  • Licensing

Get the latest from us delivered straight to your inbox

Start Your Business Magazine: The Ultimate Business Start Up Guide provides information advice and guidance for entrepreneurs and new business start ups. Get the latest from us delivered directly to your inbox.

Our website stores cookies on your computer. They allow us to remember you and help personalize your experience with our site..

Read our privacy policy for more information.

Copyright 2023 Gambit Interactive Media Limited – All Rights Reserved.

Manage Cookie Consent
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage vendors Read more about these purposes
View preferences
{title} {title} {title}
Join Us!

Sign up to our free newsletter and never miss a hot topic!

Zero spam, Unsubscribe at any time.
Go to mobile version
Welcome Back!

Sign in to your account

Lost your password?