An idle thought, and utterly trivial, but nevertheless -I must admit, I get slightly irritated (call it anal) when I see a word spelt in its American version (eg color for colour, center for centre), only because I was brought up in the Australian educational system which follows spelling in the British manner.
But spelling what is in the picture above as 'GAOL' has never sat well with me. The spelling just doesn't fit the sound of the word.
I've always preferred 'JAIL'. It looks like the way it sounds. So go the ol' USA on that one!
Small things for small minds I guess. On a tangent, it reminds me of a quote I read today:
Great truths will do great works upon the heart. Meditation on great and weighty truths make great and weighty Christians. (Richard Baxter)
5 comments:
Do you think the instinctive preference for 'jail' has something to do with the pervasive influence of Monopoly on our early exposure to the word?
What's Monopoly?
http://www.hasbro.com/monopoly/
Maybe - I certainly saw the word spelt this way plus on American programmes before seeing the Australian spelling.
The word was used by the Dean at a morning service not last Sunday but the Sunday before ... and when it came up on the screen the girl sitting next to me said - 'is that a spelling mistake?'
Was very difficult not to laugh at an inappropriate time!
Post a Comment