Re: Aussie terminology question

On 7 Feb 2005, at 4.48 pm, Philip Newton wrote:

> On Mon, 7 Feb 2005 11:10:57 +1100, Tristan McLeay
> <conlang@...> wrote:
>> (I hold that
>> calling *anything* 'football' is deviant, because it always refers to
>> the dominant football code in your area: a linguistic variable.)
>
> Like "corn", which can mean "wheat", "barley", or "maize" depending on
> the region? (And probably other things in other places, too. Perhaps
> it means "rice" in India?)
Do people actually use 'corn' to mean anything other than 'maize'? (I
understand Brits call corn 'maize', but that's a different question.)
If so, perhaps sort-of like corn, but in Australia 'corn' means
'maize', but the dominant grain is wheat.

>> British criticism of American
>> spellings like 'behavior' and 'bastardize'.
>
> Heh. -ize is used in the UK, too, AFAIK.
So I understand, and it's even the recommended spelling by some
spelling recommenders, but a remarkable amount of Brits seem to treat
-ise as Theirs and -ize as the Defectors', at least on the Net.

> And it's the original
> spelling, etymologically -- just as "aluminum" is the original form of
> the word.
Mm, but 'aluminium' and 'aluminum' are pronounced differently, so it
ain't a spelling variant and don't belong in the same discussion!

> ...I still prefer -ise and "aluminium" because it's what I grew up
> with. I was just pointing out that criticising people for retaining
> the original spellings and claiming they corrupted them is...
> interesting :)
Hey, I never criticised anyone for those spellings---though I prefer
-ise, obviously, but also prefer -or---I never even said that
'bastardize' was a bastardised spelling. I just like the examples :) It
seemed fitting for the context.

--
Tristan.

Reply