The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #132437   Message #3018443
Posted By: Steve Shaw
29-Oct-10 - 09:07 AM
Thread Name: BS: True Test of an Atheist
Subject: RE: BS: True Test of an Atheist
[///Try quoting from your brain in future///

You mean "in the future." We don't want to be guilty of bad grammar, do we?]

Apart from the fact that this criticism is just completely silly, as with most things that emanate from joeyboy's keyboard, it does raise an interesting point about American versus British English. I usually defend the former for being often simpler, more logical and more direct, but in this case I think the Brits have the upper hand. Just think about this:

Humans will visit Mars in the future (one day we will go to Mars)

Humans will visit Mars in future (next time we'll go to Mars instead of wherever it is we've just been)

Any Brit will tell you that those statements mean two entirely different things, as indicated. By eschewing "in future," Americans have thrown away a useful nuance in the way in which "future" can be used.

In any case, bad grammar is what I was not guilty of. Stupidity spiced with spleen are, once again, what plague jojo.