BS:threat to English language from Americanisms

Subject: RE: BS:threat to English language from Americanisms
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 18 Jul 11 - 04:52 PM

Q ~ Can't quite see what your problem is with the word "standard". But, as you say, American police carry a card from which they, literally, 'read [an arrested man] his rights'. Our police, on the contrary, have to memorise and recite this "caution":

"You do not have to say anything, but it could harm your defence if you do not mention, when questioned, something which you later rely on in court. Anything you say may be used in evidence".

That is what I meant by the 'standard caution', which you seemed to find so difficult.

I repeat accordingly my main point, that our press &c more and more write in inaccurately adopted Americanese of an arrestee being "read his rights" [it occured in The Times this very morning, which is what prompted me to post]. This is anomalous, because nothing is read to our prisoners, they have the official caution repeated to them by the arresting officer, who is required to have memorised it.

~M~

Subject: RE: BS:threat to English language from Americanisms
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 18 Jul 11 - 04:24 PM

Could understand little of Kenneth Williams. I listened to his "Ma crepe suzette," and wondered if she(?) is any relation to 'lucious crumpet'.

Noticed he said 'they 'ung him instead of the correct they 'anged him.
A person can be hanged but a jury is hung. Can't explain how that came about.

Subject: RE: BS:threat to English language from Americanisms
From: Penny S.
Date: 18 Jul 11 - 03:58 PM

There will be a group of allotments in a field together, each one a standard measurement based on ancient imperial lengths - I believe 10 rods are involved, and a sixteenth of an acre - though they vary.

Visualise all these plots together, dotted with sheds, which may be constructed from odds and sods of timber etc, cold frames from old windows, and lines of beanpoles - bamboo rods about 7 ft tall tied together in pairs to form a sort of ridge structure - brassicas in various stages of life standing around to attract the cabbage white butterflies, and nowadays, plastic compost bins.

There will be an allotment association who buy in essential supplies in bulk for the members, and police the plots to ensure that no-one lets theirs run to weeds to affect the others.


Allotments from the air

Allotments with few veg but probably pigeon lofts

Well kept allotments

There is supposed to be a compulsion on local authorities to make allotments available.

There's a waiting list of 18 at my local allotments - no point in signing up, as I'll be too old if I got one. I'm having to put up with dealing with the slugs in my garden.

Penny

Subject: RE: BS:threat to English language from Americanisms
From: Bert
Date: 18 Jul 11 - 03:50 PM

Hi Mick,

'Cos I'm a Cockney myself I never miss a chance to claim that 'I' speak Correct English and that it is everyone else who has an accent ;-)

and MtheGM, knowing Spaw, when he says 'he had been watching the Japanese women's team in the WC' I suspect that he was just taking the piss.

Subject: RE: BS:threat to English language from Americanisms
From: Big Mick
Date: 18 Jul 11 - 03:36 PM

Bert, dear old friend, I wasn't complaining. Cockney, being the language of the working folks these days, is a tongue that is lovely to my ear. I won't get into the Parisienne v. Quebecois debate. Those French Canoodians don't take it well. ***ducking and running for cover behind a skid of Labatts***

All the best,

Mick

Subject: RE: BS:threat to English language from Americanisms
From: Bert
Date: 18 Jul 11 - 03:19 PM

...but I don't hear anyone complaining about the damage done to "their" language by Geordies or Cockneys...

OI! Mick, you know I've told you this before. Cockney is THE CORRECT VERSION OF ENGLISH. just as Parisian French is the definitive version of the French language.

The version of the language spoken by those living in the Capital City truly defines the language. Cockney is the true language of Londoners and not the ponced up version put out by the BBC that a lot of modern Londoners speak.

As for Geordies, (A word which my spell checker doesn't like) I think you might have a valid complaint, if you could understand them that is. Just don't let Bill Sables hear you.

Subject: RE: BS:threat to English language from Americanisms
From: Will Fly
Date: 18 Jul 11 - 02:55 PM

Spaw, an 'allotment' in the UK is a piece of land, usually owned by a local council, which can be rented by members of the community to grow fruit, flowers, vegetables, etc. for their own use. Set up many years ago to help people with little or no land in their property.

Subject: RE: BS:threat to English language from Americanisms
From: Amos
Date: 18 Jul 11 - 02:50 PM

I think this thread has attracted a lot of horse pucky. Surely individuals have a perfect right to choose how they wish to express themselves, and to enjoy the use of any vernacular they prefer? When did God die and leave pedants in charge?

Subject: RE: BS:threat to English language from Americanisms
From: Stu
Date: 18 Jul 11 - 02:43 PM

The full glory of English.

Subject: RE: BS:threat to English language from Americanisms
From: catspaw49
Date: 18 Jul 11 - 02:39 PM

I forget which thread the "flat" versus "apartment" was on but let me get in on that one. Sometimes here we use flat to describe a type of apartment but what I need to ask is what the hell an allotment is. So............

What the hell is an "Allotment?"


Spaw

Subject: RE: BS:threat to English language from Americanisms
From: Will Fly
Date: 18 Jul 11 - 02:22 PM

Well, I've just come back from 4 days away - and still this discussion goes on.

I have to tell you all that, despite the number of words written, the convoluted arguments, the assertions and counter-assertions, the favouring of this and the favoring of that (take note of that last sub-phrase), the spoutings of academics and the ramblings of the ill-educated, the English language will change - as it has always changed over hundred of years - and there's sweet fuck-all you can do about it. The forces that change language are huge, and you are few.

So, speak the version of the language that suits you, and accept other versions as you hear them.

Will Fly, CB (Certified Buffoon)

Subject: RE: BS:threat to English language from Americanisms
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 18 Jul 11 - 01:20 PM

The 'rights' are written on a card that many American policemen carry, and which they read to the apprehended person.

Perhaps others can make sense out of that 'standard' statement by M'Gm; I will no longer try.

Subject: RE: BS:threat to English language from Americanisms
From: kendall
Date: 18 Jul 11 - 09:16 AM

Water closet was a common term for privy when I was a boy.Even though there was no water in it.
The ship in which I served had WC and WR over the doors of the toilet and showers.

Subject: RE: BS:threat to English language from Americanisms
From: Big Mick
Date: 18 Jul 11 - 08:34 AM

Methinks you have it, autolycus. But it has been an interesting discussion. Even though it touches me in a different way, MtheGM central point is completely understandable and deserves to be addressed.

Subject: RE: BS:threat to English language from Americanisms
From: autolycus
Date: 18 Jul 11 - 06:09 AM

From: kendall - PM
Date: 17 Jul 11 - 12:46 PM

"As long as we understand each other, that's all that language was created for anyway. "


I wrote the following on a related thread.




"I don't think the problem is just about language.

"I think it's also about our relationship to language.

"It's also about our respective psychologies.

"As to the first, I think us Brits have a somewhat more formal attitude to our language whereas Americans are more freewheeling in their use.

"Regarding the second, The Brits are more down-to-earth, dour and phlegmatic. The Americans are more emotional in their use of language and often don't take well to be taken to task rationally."

So, insofar as there's much grief between Brits and Americans, it's because we often don't realise that we are a bit different from each other because we have what looks like a common language.

The differences in usage given throughout this thread are the more superficial manifestations of that paradox.

Imho.

Subject: RE: BS:threat to English language from Americanisms
From: autolycus
Date: 18 Jul 11 - 05:55 AM

"Lay the table" is common in my S.England experience.

Subject: RE: BS:threat to English language from Americanisms
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 18 Jul 11 - 03:23 AM

And here's another for you, Kendall. I just had to point out to Spaw on the Women's World Cup thread "Go USA" that he was unwise to say that he had been watching the Japanese women's team in the WC, as WC here = water-closet = privy, lav, restroom &c. I presume he really didn't know that, & has made something of a floater ~~ I mean, watching the whole of a women's football team there!!!!

{;~)

Subject: RE: BS:threat to English language from Americanisms
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 18 Jul 11 - 02:36 AM

Have you noticed that when people were arrested here they used to be "cautioned"? Now they are "read their rights" ~~ a complete misnomer, because nothing is actually *read*; the police simply repeat a standard rigmarole, informing them of their right to remain silent and cautioning them as to what its consequences might be if they exercise it unwisely. They are then said to be "under caution", which has certain legal implications. They are not under "read rights".

~M~

Subject: RE: BS:threat to English language from Americanisms
From: Ebbie
Date: 18 Jul 11 - 02:14 AM

pah, Michael. He was easily shocked, indeed. Methinks he was a bit disingenous.

'Set the table' is probably more common but 'laying a table' is certainly not uncommon.


Hmmmmm. Suddenly I suspect that 'lay the table' is regional, rather like 'carry me to town'. I remember them both from when I lived in Virginia.

Subject: RE: BS:threat to English language from Americanisms
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 18 Jul 11 - 12:27 AM

===small things I think and really don't cause a problem in communication between the UK and the USA===

Think so, Kendall? I remember a Cambridge academic friend much diverted by the shock expressed by an American visitor -- a university professor, no less -- when she announced that she was just going to lay the table...

I am not making this up.

~M~

Subject: RE: BS:threat to English language from Americanisms
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 17 Jul 11 - 06:10 PM

Q ~~ I was writing of what is the standard [i.e. usually recognised in English orthography] spelling of a word. That is not claiming any particular branch of the language as "Standard English", with caps ~ you will note that the word you hilite in bold in your cut&paste is NOT capitalised , is it?


If you propose to censor me to the extent of forbidding me to employ a common adjective of quality like 'standard', you might as well, while you are about it, throw a wobbly when I write 'the' ~~

~~ and then I suggest you take a guess at just what I think you can go and do to yourself.

~M~

Subject: RE: BS:threat to English language from Americanisms
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 17 Jul 11 - 06:08 PM

This time of year, it ain't dark here at 0600 hours.

Subject: RE: BS:threat to English language from Americanisms
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 17 Jul 11 - 06:05 PM

0600 hours where?

Subject: RE: BS:threat to English language from Americanisms
From: gnu
Date: 17 Jul 11 - 05:37 PM

Surely you meant to say zero six hundred dark hours?

Subject: RE: BS:threat to English language from Americanisms
From: kendall
Date: 17 Jul 11 - 04:49 PM

Mthe GM, what if I told you my car was on the bum? or that I was on the bum?

Those are small things I think and really don't cause a problem in communication between the UK and the USA. Most of us have traveled back and forth so if you said you were going to knock me up I would simply say "Not before 0600."

Subject: RE: BS:threat to English language from Americanisms
From: Ebbie
Date: 17 Jul 11 - 04:41 PM

"Detroit, Michigan has four, but Detroit, Oregon has one, 503."

Interesting that you should mention Detroit, Oregon, Q. Detroit, the last time I looked, has fewer than three hundred people. It's a small drive-through town on the way to the Santiam Pass in the Oregon Cascades.

Oregon as a whole, all my life had only one Area Code: 503 Beginning in the mid '90s it evidently now has four. sheesh Until this minute I didn't know about 971 and 458, although I knew about 541. This world is getting crowded.

Subject: RE: BS:threat to English language from Americanisms
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 17 Jul 11 - 04:28 PM

"17 Jul 11 01:31AM- Q, Do you honestly believe that 'recognise' is 'wrong' (rather than the standard, recognised English English spelling...."

Subject: RE: BS:threat to English language from Americanisms
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 17 Jul 11 - 03:45 PM

Where do you allege that I refd to Standard English, Q. I have simply refd to 'English·English' merely as a system of spelling different from the American.

Subject: RE: BS:threat to English language from Americanisms
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 17 Jul 11 - 03:17 PM

Nigel, perhaps because the 'ph' is a little smoother on the tongue.
-----------------

All numbers in Canada and U.S. are preceded by a three digit number. Toronto, Ontario has two, 416 and 647 (assigned to different parts of the metropolitan area).
Detroit, Michigan has four, but Detroit, Oregon has one, 503.

The emergency code U.S. and Canada is 911.

Subject: RE: BS:threat to English language from Americanisms
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 17 Jul 11 - 02:35 PM

Coming to this a little late:

From: Gurney - PM
Date: 15 Jul 11 - 02:42 AM

As Autolycus pointed out, kids are uncertain what the emergency number is, (even more awkward here as ours is 111) but I don't understand why all 3-figure numbers don't go to emergency services.
It isn't as if it is going to be anyone's ordinary phone, is it!
All phone numbers (of three or more digits) start with a three digit number. So every call you make would go to the emergency services as the first 3 digits of the number you dial would be recognised as an emergency call.
Of course, the switchboards could be set up to transfer any three digit call to emergency services if (and only if) a fourth digit was not dialled within a certain timescale.


From: Q - PM
Date: 16 Jul 11 - 06:18 PM

The Spanish have dropped that useless 'ph' in words from the Greek; fotographia for photograph, foton for photon.
Also gone is 'pn', so pneumonia becomes neumonia.
Presumably (in true Spanish style) they'll deal with the remaining 'ph' in 'fotographia' manana

Cheers
Nigel

Subject: RE: BS:threat to English language from Americanisms
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 17 Jul 11 - 02:19 PM

"Standard" English- surely M'GM knows that is wrong. The Oxford English Dictionary is the best repository of the language that we have since it has accommodated words from all parts of the English-speaking world.

I must refudiate M'GM: there is no "standard" English, only accepted English. Australians, New Zealanders, Canadians, Scots, English and Americans all speak the accepted English of their society. American English is dominant because of its acceptance in intercontinental communication by peoples speaking different languages.

In the pages of the OED, words are given in the accepted form first, variants second. Acceptance is based not only on frequency of use, but correctness of construction. Recognize is the first cited spelling because historically and linguistically it is the more 'correct' spelling, not just because it is the most used.
The spelling 'recognise' is the populist' version, the 'street' usage.

A new portmanteau word in U. S. papers is 'carmageddon', with reference to possible gridlock because of a highway closure around Los Angeles. Its meaning is expanding to discussions of highway congestion, and the word is a good bet for furure inclusion in dictionaries.

Finally, to repeat again, 'refudiate' has not been accepted by any major dictionary; as stated by the Oxford University Press editors, it must be accepted by a goodly sized number of people before it is included in the OED (or any other major dictionary). I like the sound, it has a Lewis Carroll feel, so I will use it.

Subject: RE: BS:threat to English language from Americanisms
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 17 Jul 11 - 01:07 PM

Mind you, Jack, I am an obstinate old sod, and, for all your well-meant attempts to help me in a dilemma, I must reiterate that I don't think you quite got my point. First, I wasn't complaining of being in a dilemma as I was not inconvenienced -- all that happened was that squiggly red lines appeared under some words but didn't delete them so I was able just to go on merrily anyhow. BUT these lines should not have been there in the first place, because a default English·English, that was promised 'on the tin', so I shouldn't have had even to think of SystemPrefs or reprogammings or whatever, JUST DIDN'T MATERIALISE. You can say that isn't a systems fault all you like, because it can't read my mind: in this instance I had told it what was in my mind by the method itself had demanded, but it still refused to read it.

That was an operational fault, or a design fault, or some sort of a fault, say what you will.

Best regards

~M~

Subject: RE: BS:threat to English language from Americanisms
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 17 Jul 11 - 12:52 PM

But the whole point is, do we? Suppose I said to a lady of your acquaintance, in all innocence, that I was passing her way next week & would drop by & knock her up?

~M~

Subject: RE: BS:threat to English language from Americanisms
From: kendall
Date: 17 Jul 11 - 12:46 PM

It doesn't matter; and it doesn't matter that it doesn't matter!

As long as we understand each other, that's all that language was created for anyway.

Subject: RE: BS:threat to English language from Americanisms
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 17 Jul 11 - 12:43 PM

Further to the above, when I read the last few posts I was like - this thread has so drifted to viruses.   ;-)>

Subject: RE: BS:threat to English language from Americanisms
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 17 Jul 11 - 12:24 PM

Jack ~ Thanks for your efforts to help, which are appreciated. However, my Systems Preferences doesn't show Language & Text!

I'm getting a new computer this week anyhow, so shall stop worrying & hope it will do what it promises.

Thanks again

~M~

Subject: RE: BS:threat to English language from Americanisms
From: Big Mick
Date: 17 Jul 11 - 12:16 PM

Then the thread title is erroneous. I think it can safely assumed that there is no one single and correct "English" language. The term "English speaking" is a general term which refers to a common base language that evolved in England and is now spoken in various forms over several continents. Perhaps you are referring to a "threat to the language of England from Americanisms". In that case the problem is the English adopting Americanisms. Also you seem to have a problem with manufacturers not catering to your preferences. Again the solution lies with English people demanding resolution.

Subject: RE: BS:threat to English language from Americanisms
From: GUEST,999
Date: 17 Jul 11 - 12:07 PM

I think it's all the fault of those people from Rhode Island. Why Rhode Island you may say.

Subject: RE: BS:threat to English language from Americanisms
From: Stu
Date: 17 Jul 11 - 12:06 PM

Just trying to help.

Try going to:

Apple menu > System Preferences

then on the top line

> Language and Text

Try changing the settings via the tabs at the top as follows:

Language: Everything says English and English is the top of the list.

Text > Spelling (drop down menu on the right hand side): set to British English

Formats > Region > United Kingdom

Input Sources: Make sure British is the only checkbox selected.


Give that a go, and don't forget to change your application preferences too.

Subject: RE: BS:threat to English language from Americanisms
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 17 Jul 11 - 12:02 PM

... and moreover, Jack, this is not thread drift of any kind, 'heinous' or other: for what could be more of a threat to English language from Americanisms [the title of this thread, in case you had forgotten for all the other drifts which really are drifts that have been going on] than the refusal of an American program to accept the English spellings that it has promised to accept by the options it has offered???!!!

Eh? I mean, wot-wot!? Hmmm?!

〠☠〠

Subject: RE: BS:threat to English language from Americanisms
From: GUEST,999
Date: 17 Jul 11 - 11:57 AM

PBS virus: Your PC stops every few minutes to ask for money.

Politically correct virus: Never calls itself a "virus", but instead refers to itself as an "electronic microorganism".

Richard Nixon virus: Also known as the "Tricky Dick Virus", you can wipe it out but it always makes a comeback.

Right To Life virus: Won't allow you to delete a file, regardless of how old it is. If you attempt to erase a file, it requires you to first see a counselor about possible alternatives.

Ross Perot virus: Activates every component in your system, just before the whole thing quits.

Ted Kennedy virus: Crashes your computer but denies it ever happened.

Ted Turner virus: Colorizes your monochrome monitor.

Terry Randle virus: Prints "Oh no you don't" whenever you choose "Abort" from the "Abort, Retry, Fail" message.

Texas virus: Makes sure that it's bigger than any other file.

UK Parliament virus: Splits the screen into two with a message in each half blaming other side for the state of the system.

Warren Commission virus: Won't allow you to open your files for 75 years.

Subject: RE: BS:threat to English language from Americanisms
From: GUEST,999
Date: 17 Jul 11 - 11:56 AM

That was me.


Federal bureaucrat virus: Divides your hard disk into hundreds of little units, each of which do practically nothing, but all of which claim to be the most important part of the computer.

Freudian virus: Your computer becomes obsessed with marrying its own motherboard.

Gallup virus: Sixty percent of the PCs infected will lose 38 percent of their data 14 percent of the time (plus or minus a 3.5 percent margin of error).

George Bush virus: Doesn't do anything, but you can't get rid of it until November.

Government economist virus: Nothing works, but all your diagnostic software says everything is fine.

Jerry Brown virus: Blanks your screen and begins flashing an 800 number.

Madonna virus: If your computer gets this virus, lock up your dog!

Mario Cuomo virus: It would be a great virus, but it refuses to run.

Michael Jackson virus: Hard to identify because it is constantly altering its appearance. This virus won't harm your PC, but it will trash your car.

New World Order virus: probably harmless, but it makes a lot of people really mad just thinking about it.

Nike virus: Just Does It!

Ollie North virus: Turns your printer into a document shredder.

Oprah Winfrey virus: Your 200MB hard drive suddenly shrinks to 80MB, and then slowly expands back to 200MB.

Pat Buchanan virus: Shifts all your output to the extreme right of your screen.

Paul Revere virus: This revolutionary virus does not horse around. It warns you of impending hard disk attack---once if by LAN, twice if by C:.

Paul Tsongas virus: Pops up on December 25 and says, "I'm not Santa Claus."

Subject: RE: BS:threat to English language from Americanisms
From: GUEST
Date: 17 Jul 11 - 11:54 AM

Types of computer viruses

Adam and Eve virus: Takes a couple of bytes out of your Apple.

Airline virus: You're in Dallas, but your data is in Singapore.

Anita Hill virus: Lies dormant for ten years.

Arnold Schwarzenegger virus: Terminates and stays resident. It'll be back.

AT&T virus: Every three minutes it tells you what great service you are getting.

The MCI virus: Every three minutes it reminds you that you're paying too much for the AT&T virus.

Bill Clinton virus: This virus mutates from region to region and we're not exactly sure what it does.

Bill Clinton virus: Promises to give equal time to all processes: 50% to poor, slow processes; 50% to middle-class processes, and 50% to rich ones. This virus protests your computer's involvement in other computer's affairs, even though it has been having one of its own for 12 years.

Congressional Virus: Overdraws your computer.

Congressional Virus: The computer locks up, screen splits erratically with a message appearing on each half blaming the other side for the problem.

Dan Quayle virus: Prevents your system from spawning any child processes without joining into a binary network.

Dan Quayle virus: Simplye addse ane ee toe everye worde youe typee..

David Duke virus: Makes your screen go completely white.

Elvis virus: Your computer gets fat, slow, and lazy and then self destructs, only to resurface at shopping malls and service stations across rural America.

Subject: RE: BS:threat to English language from Americanisms
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 17 Jul 11 - 11:52 AM

Jack ~ It tells me that selecting the Union Jack in preference to the Stars&Stripes in the menu bar will select English spellings. But when I spell something in English, it underlines it as an error. So I repeat, for all your saying -- IT IS NOT DOING WHAT IT SEZ ON THE TIN. It shouldn't have to 'read my mind', for heaven's sake ~~ it should know what is in my mind from the option I have chosen, according to its own instructions.

Subject: RE: BS:threat to English language from Americanisms
From: GUEST, topsie
Date: 17 Jul 11 - 11:51 AM

My Word documents have a box at the bottom saying 'English (United Kingdom)'. If you click on it you get a box with options for lots of different languages and language variations. You also can click on 'Do not check spelling or grammar' if you want to trust your own abilities.
Along the top of the document you can choose 'Review' and then choose 'ABC Spelling and Grammar' to turn off autocorrection.

Subject: RE: BS:threat to English language from Americanisms
From: Dave MacKenzie
Date: 17 Jul 11 - 11:42 AM

My favourite definition of a computer is a "machine which will do exactly what you know how to tell it to do".

Subject: RE: BS:threat to English language from Americanisms
From: Stu
Date: 17 Jul 11 - 11:00 AM

"But, not being a v techno type, is it unreasonable of me to expect the computer to have been so pre-programmed as to deliver exactly what it says on the tin, without my having to make my own way-beyond-my-abilities-and-understanding adjustments to get what the specification promised me from the off?

Yes. It is doing what it says on the tin, this is operator error. The spec didn't say it could read your mind, and the spec on my bouzouki didn't say it'd play all the chords Donal Lunny does without some input from me. A computer's a tool and it needs to be learnt how to use it like anything else. Your issue isn't with Apple, it's with any computer.

What applications are you having a problem with? Feel free to PM me and I'll help if I can as this represents rampant thread drift of the most heinous type :-)

Subject: RE: BS:threat to English language from Americanisms
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 17 Jul 11 - 10:32 AM

I am sure I do, Artbrooks. Can't you see that is just what I am complaining of. WHY should I 'have to' click on this & that & the other to get what should have been properly programmed in there right from the word 'go'?

~M~

Please observe that this animus is not directed towards you, who, I appreciate, are trying to be helpful, but against bloody . I am no messenger-shooter, me!

Subject: RE: BS:threat to English language from Americanisms
From: artbrooks
Date: 17 Jul 11 - 09:35 AM

->MtheGM & autolycus: the operating system (e.g., Windows 7) with which your computer was factory-loaded may well have UK-English loaded, but the same is not necessarily true of the programs you use on it. For example, I use Firefox for web browsing and Thunderbird for email. The protocol for changing the language preference in Firefox is Tools>Options>Content>Languages. In Thunderbird it is Tools>Options>Composition>Spelling; they are similar because both are from Mozilla. On the other hand, in Microsoft Word (2007), you have to click the ball in the upper left, then Word Options>Proofing>Custom Directories>Dictionary Language and choose the version of English you want. I think that works for the spell-checker, but I'm not sure how to adjust the auto-correct or even if that is possible.

Subject: RE: BS:threat to English language from Americanisms
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 17 Jul 11 - 09:08 AM

Thanks for the hint re the flags & the dictionaries, Jack. But, not being a v techno type, is it unreasonable of me to expect the computer to have been so pre-programmed as to deliver exactly what it says on the tin, without my having to make my own way-beyond-my-abilities-and-understanding adjustments to get what the specification promised me from the off?

~M~