As George Bernard Shaw pointedly observed: "America and England are two countries divided by a common language".
[courtesy of the Sheffield Star]
Apart from the use of different words entirely - eg boot vs trunk (car); bonnet vs hood (also car, or should that be automobile?); garden vs yard; motorway vs freeway; pavement vs sidewalk; alright vs OK; autumn vs fall - many spellings are different between the two countries.
[Collins Dictionary Language Blog]
Prime amongst these are words ending in "- our" in English and "- or" in American English (colour vs color); and "- ise" and "- ize" (realise vs realize).
Other examples include: tyre vs tire; kerb vs curb; and ass vs arse.
tyre vs tire [mycar]
When it comes to proverbs and sayings, it's a minefield. Do Americans understand the following expressions?
- "as queer as a nine-bob note";
- "after all these years he suddenly turned up like a bad like a bad penny";
- "as rough as a badger's arse";
- "put the cart before the horse";
[Geoff Merrit] [Reddit]
Returning to the title of this article, the question of how to spell waggon/wagon came up in relation to an article about giving up the booze, ie "being on the waggon/wagon".
Waggon is the original English spelling; wagon is the American English version.
In the early days of America's existence as a country, the covered wagon was a normal means of transport before the automobile was invented.
After that we got the station wagon, equivalent to an estate car in England.
An old station wagon [Univision]
Nowadays, English has tended to adopt the American spelling. Only "dinosaurs" like me insist on the double "gg"!
Links of interest
A country divided
A country divided by its accents
20 Countries Divided by the Same Language
© Diary of a Nobody
Pictures:
Collins Dictionary Language Blog, Geoff Merrit, mycar, Reddit, Sheffield Star, Univision
Thanks:
Language Matters, Paul Whitelock, Wikipedia
Tags:
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