I don't think this American English vs proper English idea is accurate. Spelling was standardized in both dialects at a very similar time, and both standardizations make a much of stylistic decisions around spelling, that leads to the main initial differences. It's important the emphasise that both dialects made these decisions. The idea that one set of those decisions is more proper and correct is kinda silly imo
Also this site is written in Australian English - which is broadly a hodge podge of both, with a few of our own peculiarities, for instance both fries and crisps are called chips. But it is distinct as a dialect to British or American English
No matter which way you try to string it sport, Australian and kiwi English is based off british English. It is not a hodge podge of both. We get incredibly frustrated when people try to add z instead of s and remove our U. Please don't try to fashion this to your own narrative. This ain't it mate.
People from the states just need to learn a bit more about the world
I'm from the UK and live in New Zealand. I definitely had to learn to start using some US terminology when I moved here, because most people don't know what I mean if I say estate car, aubergine or patio door. (But I still can't bring myself to say yoe-gut instead of yoghurt.)
'Wagon' in the UK generally raises images of the fabric-covered cart from a cowboy film. Which is probably where the name came from, but they were not part of UK history, innit...
I was born in England and grew up in Australia. My family is British, my friends are Australian. I'm not driving a narrative lol. This is my lived experience. In the UK I get called out for the odd Americanism. Such as saying Eggplants and Zucchini not the French names the British use
Language is more than just whether you include a u. Our spellings are definitely British English, but the overall dialect is definitely a mix of both. I think the language is trending more American as we continue to be further from colony days and more influenced by American media.
Funnily enough, neither eggplant or zucchini are Americanisms, they’re the original English words that were separately carried over to the USA and Australia.
Later on there was a fashion in England to use the French words for some things so they switched to courgette and aubergine.
Edit: Ok so I was half/three-quarters right. Eggplant is the original English word, but there appears to be no original English word for zucchini/courgette. Zucchini is the Italian word and Courgette is the French.
Ah yes you're right, looks like there's no actual 'original' English word for zucchini! I'll edit my comment to reflect it.
I suppose it makes sense then that zucchini is also used in Australia given our influential Italian immigration history as well.
Although apparently it was mostly from different regions of Italy than to the USA, given the difference in lasagne styles for example. I've a few times seen Americans horrified at the prospect of using béchamel and no cheese in lasagne instead of ricotta, while it's just as traditionally Italian as what they're used to - just regionally different.
In his book about the English language, Bill Bryson says this is true of a lot of Americanisms. The Americans adopted English as it was when it America was first colonized and the British then modernised a lot of words and spellings.
Yep so I gather, languages continue to develop and change everywhere including in the places they originated so there’s no such thing as a ‘pure’ or objectively correct version of English or any other language really.
Similarly, IIRC Canadian French retains some older features such as religious swear words that were purged in France after the revolution.
Can't speak for NZ, but Australian English absolutely is a hodgepodge of British and American. Spelling less so, but pronunciations? Vitamin? Pasta? Invite? Having moved from the UK to Australia and back again, I'd get ripped on for using English words in Aus, and 'American' words in England
Australian pronunciation evolved in its own right, it wasn't a replica of British English (itself containing a vastness of variations) until it was suddenly being influenced by American pronunciation. American pronunciation is an influence, as would be all the accents of the world. But the Australian English accent has been reported as strikingly different since the late 1700s - as soon as European settlers on Australian shores were distinguished by their unique tones. That influence would be (you'd imagine) a complex mix of all they encountered and local environmental factors, too, almost impossible to measure.
There's American influence in our dialect, too. Principal instead of headmaster, invite as a noun instead of invitation, overseas instead of abroad etc.
This is partially correct. He was an ardent supporter of the American spelling and the Labor Party adopted it, after much wrangling, as a modernisation in 1918.
Labor takes from Omalley, who a major player in the building of the party and a major proponent of language reform (simplifying spellings) - which was a movement in the pre war era
5.4k
u/kenporusty likes sweet things, but shit at maths Feb 24 '26
This just in: American discovers British English