American English Professor hates British English

[Midnight Crossroads]

There are not enough faces for which to place hands to describe this thread and the responses within.

It's obvious the teacher wasn't calling him out because he was using British grammar. The professor was calling him out for bad grammar. Whether the OP even used British grammar or the teacher was just being ass isn't even certain. How many people in this thread even knew about the grammatical differences between British and American English? Either way, you don't fucking mix two dialects. That's poor English. That's poor language period for that matter.

 

[LorChan]

I was born and raised in Canada. I was taught that it didn't matter which I used (officially we use British, but school teachers will accept either), but I always use British since I know I'm more likely to look for work in the UK than in America. Also because American grammar and spelling sounds like 'cutting corners on the English language' to me.
You say color? I say piss off, it has a U.

The only shame I have in this is that I think there's two ways of spelling 'jewel' and I'm using the American way. I never bothered to learn the British way.

 

[WildFire15]

I wonder if this teacher would explode with uncontrollable rage if you spelt 'Color' with a u or refered to 'sidewalks' as 'pavements'. WAIT! don't call it horse back riding, just call it horse riding

 

[Treblaine]

I was an english teacher, and my american student wrote "mom" on his paper, i would be tempted to fail him, and he would get worce marks. If my german student wrote mum in german i WOULD fail him.

Your don't spell out a forigen languge in a languge class. its that simple.

Look, I know you were already called out on this, but seriously you're an English teacher.

And it's not just the blatantly wrong words that spell-check will fix for you, it's also your failure to use proper capitalization in proper nouns and the like. (Which spell-check will correct)

Spoiler: correct way to spell it

I was an English teacher, and my American student wrote "mom" on his paper, I would be tempted to fail him, and he would get worse marks. If my German student wrote "mum" in German I would[footnote]Personally, since you can underscore words, I would instead of "CAPS LOCK"[/footnote] fail him.

You don't spell out a foreign language in a language class. It's that simple.

He may be an English teacher (maybe) but this IS an internet forum.

Each post isn't a dissertation, this is supposed to be informal to a large extent.

I think he knows how is the proper way to spell, but missing capitalisation, omitting quotation marks and not proof-reading is not ignorance, mere laziness. Because why go to that effort?

I usually do go to that extra effort in perfect grammar simply because I am fed up of "grammar nazis" (as they are known) using things like that as a straw man argument against what I had so carefully thought about and argued for.

It is a logical fallacy as it "shoots the messenger" and distracts from the message:

"Your don't spell out a forigen languge in a languge class."

Now it doesn't really matter if he is or is not an English Teacher, is this statement agreeable in an of itself? OK, he may be using an inverse of the logical fallacy "shoot he messenger" by claiming to be a reliable source (whether he really is or not) to give truth to his position beyond what the position's value has in itself.

 

[Mcface]

So... he... what...

He is the first person to make my head hurt today, congratulations.

See if you can get him fired for possibly being a xenophobic prick.

That, or he just hates British English a lot, which takes irony to a whole new level.

How is telling someone to spell properly being xenophobic?
It's in America. He wants the American English version.

I would expect the same thing if I went to a British University and used American spelling.

 

[BlindTom]

"Theatre. Metre. Ogre."

I bet he ends all these words with "er."

 

[Mandalore_15]

I wish I were joking. I'm apparently beginning to blend some bits of American grammar with British grammar... and he hates it. I got a paper that I wrote back today with marks all over the damned thing with one large comment down at the bottom:

"We don't use British grammar here."

It's strange. You'd think that the English... know a thing or two about the English language.

Any other Escapists have experiences like this?

#1 don't argue with your Teacher, they are PAID to know what they are talking about.

If they ask you to use American dialect then you'd better do it, unless you think you know better than your teacher in which case why the hell are you being taught by them?

There is no "Universally correct" way to speak English, there are different dialect for different regions of the world and even within a country. Respect that.

This is the worst advice I've ever heard... I have a lot of experience in academia and I can tell you that the ONLY way to ensure good quality in education is to challenge your tutors CONSTANTLY. When people get complacent or introduce elitist hierarchies then the quality of teachers goes downhill. It's as much the student's responsibility as it is the faculty's to ensure they are being taught properly.

I don't appreciate your argumentative stance and resorting to hyperbole. Maybe you would like to rephrase your last post?

"to ensure good quality in education is to challenge your tutors CONSTANTLY."

There is a difference between demanding the best and overstepping your authority, telling your teacher how to teach. The OP's teacher has every reason to demand local vernacular and the OP has given no reason why he should be allowed to use British vernacular on submitted work.

By the way, I don't know how much you will be swayed by personal positions but I myself am British. Americans studying in British Academic establishments should use British vernacular if asked to, and the same inverse on the other side of the Atlantic.

I have lived in many many different and contrasting cultures, and it does no good at all to force foreign cultures where they are NOT WANTED! It's a matter of respect.

Remember the Teacher is not asking for them to stop using them altogether... just in the work submitted to him/her.

No thanks, I'm actually pretty happy with it how it is. If you don't like people being argument then internet forums aren't the place for you, my friend!

As for a teacher's "authority", this is completely the wrong stance to take. The OP is paying this guy's wages so he can get a good education. He's not paying money so he can be a pedantic jerk over vernacular spellings. The fact of the matter is he doesn't have a very good reason for demanding American spellings. Both spellings are equally correct: to take marks away from someone for using one or the other, no matter where you are, is unbelievably petty and, in my view, just being an arsehole. I study intellectual property law in the UK, and here it is more common for lawyers to write "trade mark", whereas in America they write "trademark". My supervisor, however, doesn't take marks away from my assignments if I write "trademark", because a) he's not a douche, and b) he realises that both are equally correct.

As for your comments about "respect", no offence but that's just bullshit. If you want to write in British English there's no reason you can't. If I was writing a report to give to an American company and they see that I've written it in British English, they don't respond to me saying "why haven't you changed it to American English? That's just offensive!" If they did, I'd probably stop dealing with them on account of the fact that they're morons.

Besides, at the end of the day, it's much more difficult to change the way you spell words than you're implying. If you're writing a long piece of work you don't want to have to check over it to make sure you've dropped the "u" from "colour". It's a pointless waste of time. If he were spelling words completely incorrectly then yes, take marks away, but if it's a correct vernacular then deal with it. In the UK we've been used to it for decades, so this guy can suck it up too.

 

[Something Amyss]

Wow. That's... yeah. Well, tell him we're sorry for misspelling the English language that Americans must've come up with.

Also, my Captcha has a word with an umlaut. This bugs me, 'cause I don't have a German/other language with umlaut privileges keyboard.

Yeah! How DARE that professor teach you the proper version of the language of the country in which you live! The nerve of him!

Oh, sorry, I assumed we were making wild statements devoid of fact, given the whole "language Americans must've come up with" deal.

Also, US International language settings for the win.

 

[Something Amyss]

So... he... what...

He is the first person to make my head hurt today, congratulations.

See if you can get him fired for possibly being a xenophobic prick.

That, or he just hates British English a lot, which takes irony to a whole new level.

How is telling someone to spell properly being xenophobic?
It's in America. He wants the American English version.

I would expect the same thing if I went to a British University and used American spelling.

My French professor always got all pissy when I spoke Spanish in class. God, how lame is that?

 

[darksakul]

Some of you hit the nail on the head, while I feel like most of you are missing the point of this AMERICAN English Prof. He (the Professor) is there to teach American English not British or Queen's English. Most of you who taken a College level English course would agree, English teachers/ Professors are very anal on the subject and will nit-pick at the smallest things. English teachers/ professors are alot like Magazine/ new paper Editors, but alot more demanding.

 

[Death-of-Penguins]

Snip to save space.

Yeah! How DARE that professor teach you the proper version of the language of the country in which you live! The nerve of him!

Oh, sorry, I assumed we were making wild statements devoid of fact, given the whole "language Americans must've come up with" deal.

Also, US International language settings for the win.

No, we were making sarcastic remarks based on a teacher's points against British grammar. Sorry if that flew past you.

That aside, the minor differences could be brought up and picked at. However, considering they are changed spellings in the first place... It seems slightly unreasonable for his professor to give him into trouble when both languages are English.

 

[Something Amyss]

No, we were making sarcastic remarks based on a teacher's points against British grammar. Sorry if that flew past you.

Wow, Ummm...Hope you didn't say that with a straight face. You know, since the irony would be earth shattering.

But that aside, sarcasm doesn't immunise you from criticism regarding dumb comments.

Far as it goes, grammar and spelling are taught as part of a curriculum that uses American sources. Measured against those sources, the British system is wrong.

I say this as an American who uses predominantly British/Canadian spelling. I'm not saying you can't use it, but demanding use of American English in an English course in America is not unreasonable.

 

[UltraDeth]

I us American grammer a lot and if no-one likes it they can talk to the knife concealed in my shoe

 

[demoman_chaos]

"Ze" is not German at all, not even "fake" German.

It sounds German when you say it with a fake German accent.
"Ze Windows on mein computer has a virus and is now kaputzen."

 

[The Cake]

*snip*

He may be an English teacher (maybe) but this IS an internet forum.

Each post isn't a dissertation, this is supposed to be informal to a large extent.

I think he knows how is the proper way to spell, but missing capitalisation, omitting quotation marks and not proof-reading is not ignorance, mere laziness. Because why go to that effort?

I usually do go to that extra effort in perfect grammar simply because I am fed up of "grammar nazis" (as they are known) using things like that as a straw man argument against what I had so carefully thought about and argued for.

It is a logical fallacy as it "shoots the messenger" and distracts from the message:

"Your don't spell out a forigen languge in a languge class."

Now it doesn't really matter if he is or is not an English Teacher, is this statement agreeable in an of itself? OK, he may be using an inverse of the logical fallacy "shoot the messenger" by claiming to be a reliable source (whether he really is or not) to give truth to his position beyond what the position's value has in itself.

Personally, if someone goes through the trouble of saying they're an English teacher, they should go through the trouble of making the effort to hold their own standard.

Regardless, I wasn't trying to "shoot the messenger", I have absolutely nothing against his argument and agree with it, I just have a problem with his spelling, because if you were to read out what he said, it would sound stupid.

 

[Treblaine]

I wish I were joking. I'm apparently beginning to blend some bits of American grammar with British grammar... and he hates it. I got a paper that I wrote back today with marks all over the damned thing with one large comment down at the bottom:

"We don't use British grammar here."

It's strange. You'd think that the English... know a thing or two about the English language.

Any other Escapists have experiences like this?

#1 don't argue with your Teacher, they are PAID to know what they are talking about.

If they ask you to use American dialect then you'd better do it, unless you think you know better than your teacher in which case why the hell are you being taught by them?

There is no "Universally correct" way to speak English, there are different dialect for different regions of the world and even within a country. Respect that.

This is the worst advice I've ever heard... I have a lot of experience in academia and I can tell you that the ONLY way to ensure good quality in education is to challenge your tutors CONSTANTLY. When people get complacent or introduce elitist hierarchies then the quality of teachers goes downhill. It's as much the student's responsibility as it is the faculty's to ensure they are being taught properly.

I don't appreciate your argumentative stance and resorting to hyperbole. Maybe you would like to rephrase your last post?

"to ensure good quality in education is to challenge your tutors CONSTANTLY."

There is a difference between demanding the best and overstepping your authority, telling your teacher how to teach. The OP's teacher has every reason to demand local vernacular and the OP has given no reason why he should be allowed to use British vernacular on submitted work.

By the way, I don't know how much you will be swayed by personal positions but I myself am British. Americans studying in British Academic establishments should use British vernacular if asked to, and the same inverse on the other side of the Atlantic.

I have lived in many many different and contrasting cultures, and it does no good at all to force foreign cultures where they are NOT WANTED! It's a matter of respect.

Remember the Teacher is not asking for them to stop using them altogether... just in the work submitted to him/her.

No thanks, I'm actually pretty happy with it how it is. If you don't like people being argument then internet forums aren't the place for you, my friend!

As for a teacher's "authority", this is completely the wrong stance to take. The OP is paying this guy's wages so he can get a good education. He's not paying money so he can be a pedantic jerk over vernacular spellings. The fact of the matter is he doesn't have a very good reason for demanding American spellings. Both spellings are equally correct: to take marks away from someone for using one or the other, no matter where you are, is unbelievably petty and, in my view, just being an arsehole. I study intellectual property law in the UK, and here it is more common for lawyers to write "trade mark", whereas in America they write "trademark". My supervisor, however, doesn't take marks away from my assignments if I write "trademark", because a) he's not a douche, and b) he realises that both are equally correct.

As for your comments about "respect", no offence but that's just bullshit. If you want to write in British English there's no reason you can't. If I was writing a report to give to an American company and they see that I've written it in British English, they don't respond to me saying "why haven't you changed it to American English? That's just offensive!" If they did, I'd probably stop dealing with them on account of the fact that they're morons.

Besides, at the end of the day, it's much more difficult to change the way you spell words than you're implying. If you're writing a long piece of work you don't want to have to check over it to make sure you've dropped the "u" from "colour". It's a pointless waste of time. If he were spelling words completely incorrectly then yes, take marks away, but if it's a correct vernacular then deal with it. In the UK we've been used to it for decades, so this guy can suck it up too.

You are rude and I find your reasoning utterly arbitrary and unfounded.

Read the forum rules, particularly the part on not being a jerk.

"As for your comments about "respect", no offence but that's just bullshit."

That is NOT acceptable, you can't just call people's argument "bullshit" with the empty qualifier of "no offence". You don't even explain yourself, you just hurl insults and move on.

"The OP is paying this guy's wages so he can get a good education... not to be pedantic over vernacular spellings."

Now you are contradicting yourself, as what is an education if not extending to spelling and informing of appropriate vernacular? You seem to be asserting through "pay his wages" that the student is somehow the boss and can tell the teacher what he wants to be taught. No. The student (may) pay a fee to the University but the Dean or Chancellor pays his wages, that person is the boss.

You should realise there are many many vernaculars of English beyond American and British:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_dialects_of_the_English_language

You can see why its best to say they should use the local dialect, rather than saying one dialect is "wrong" or having to learn all the dozens of English dialects.