American English Professor hates British English

[RobCoxxy]

Well, cor blimey, he's rogered your paper principally because he's a Charing Crosser?

 

[MightBeWrong]

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.

I'm an American at a British university, and I always use American spellings. Not because I think it's somehow more 'right', but because for all of the obvious spelling changes there are, I know there's some I'd miss, and it's really just consistency they're after. Even as an English major I've never had a problem.

I don't think it's xenophobic either, but if it's technically correct grammar and you're still making the content perfectly clear, why get hung up on it?

 

[fordneagles]

Technically, it is English and British English (English by itself being American English).

Only if you are American I reckon if you were British, you'd probably say English and American English. But since I'm neither, I can't be sure

Language evolves and changes, even your precious English language. You would struggle a bit to understand someone from your own country even 300 years ago.

Given that Australia had hardly any white people 300 years ago, yes I probably would struggle. However, given that there are so many people from so many other countries living in Australia now, the same could be said about present times And I do realise that language changes, but change isn't always good.

 

[internetzealot1]

I personally don't have a problem with it but trust me: I have been on this site longer than you, I have posed far more often than you, I know what I am talking about it.

Congratulations. I'm sure you must be very proud of this life achievement! I do love forum elitists...

Also could you keep your post more concise. A key element of structured debates is a time limit, as an all too effective strategy is to talk your opponent to death bringing up such an incredible quantity of points rather than a quality argument.

"As for reading the forum rules, I can assure you I have. The word "jerk" isn't mentioned anywhere... I even ctrl-F'ed it. Not that I feel I have acted like a jerk."

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/codeofconduct

How can you miss that, it's right there in huge blue letters:

[HEADING=2]Don't Be a Jerk[/HEADING]

Yes the page may be labelled Cod of Conduct but I followed the link of "Forum Rules" at the top of this very page.

Keeping my posts more concise would entail not responding to some of the points YOU have sent my way. If you want me to be concise, lead me to be concise. Don't fire off a huge number of points that require a response. And please don't lecture me on how to debate, I actually have lot of experience debating (NOT, I might add, on the internet, but in real-life scheduled debates in universities).

I looked at the stickied thread "The Banhammer and You: A User's Guide to the Forums" in the Off-Topic Discussion boards. The word "jerk" is never mentioned there. I am hardly to blame for this. Once again, I don't even think I have been a jerk, so it hardly matters to me anyway.

If anyone is offended because you spell thing "the British way" in America, or "the American way" in Britain, they're a complete moron.

Straw man argument, who says this is a matter of personal offence? This is clearly a matter of Academic Standards.

If you say those Academic standards should be far looser and give consideration to all possible English dialects well that's a very nice opinion you have there but it doesn't stand much on its own. Decisions of these standards are left down to people who have proven themselves, like the Professor in question, they have worked damn hard for a long time to get where they are, I'd value their opinion more than yours.

Who says this is a matter off offence? You said it. How about you re-read some of your previous arguments and try to keep up with yourself!

You also seem to be making a huge number of assumptions about this professor. You assume he is reputable. You assume he is promoting good academic standards. You honestly haven't a clue who he is, so how can you even comment on anything in more than the general concern? The fact of the matter is, none of the top 10 British Universities (one of which I attend) are going to get pissy and reduce your marks over vernacular spelling. End of.

A good teacher is someone who... They don't nit-pick about vernacular grammar and spellings.

Well you say that with a lot of conviction but why should I take your word over a reputable University Professor? I'll go with the professional opinion if you don't mind. I think not only correct but APPROPRIATE spelling and grammar are relevant throughout teaching.

Correct depends on Context.

Again, you're making assumptions about reputation. Every university has a bad professor. The fact that you don't even seem able to fathom this suggests a very "school-boy" outlook on your part. That's what you SHOULD think in the class-room because it's where children are shaped by their superiors. The point of the lecture theatre is that everyone there is an adult, i.e. equal. As such, professors are open to challenge, as they should be. It's an essential part of higher education, without which it would stagnate and become confined to increasingly irrelevant old traditions. If the lecturer can justify a reason why they should use American English then fine, they should. If he can't, as appears to be the case, they should be able to use whatever vernacular they like.

"Most "Brits" honestly couldn't give a flying fuck about America." Oh, so is that why this thread turned into a free-fire zone? Because you don't cared. And I didn't contradict myself. I said there weren't big differences, but there are still differences. OP's teacher was being picky becauese he's a teacher and he has to be. If he's not then he's being a shitty teacher.

Your concept of a "teacher" seems horribly skewed. So in your eyes a teacher is an anally retentive perfectionist rather than a broadener of minds? This is the point where I ask you what the highest level of education you've achieved is.

So every teacher should spend their time trying to be Socrates instead of actually teaching their subjects?

 

[T8B95]

"You say 'ore´gano', we say 'orega´no'. You say 'tom a to' we say 'toma´to'. You say '[]erb' and we say herb because there's a fucking h at the beginning."

Paul Bettany, everybody.

I use mostly British English and mix it with a bit of Canadian English (eh).

 

[Mandalore_15]

Your concept of a "teacher" seems horribly skewed. So in your eyes a teacher is an anally retentive perfectionist rather than a broadener of minds? This is the point where I ask you what the highest level of education you've achieved is.

So every teacher should spend their time trying to be Socrates instead of actually teaching their subjects?

You're avoiding the question and making flippant and unfounded comparisons. If the degree the OP was taking was called "How to Correctly Use American Vernacular" then maybe you'd have a point. As it stands, you don't. You don't have to be Socrates to understand what elements of teaching are important and which ones are actually inhibitive.

So I'll ask you again: What is the highest level of education you have attained? Is it a degree? High school? What?

 

[bojac6]

What a narrow minded ****. That's all I have to say on the matter really. While we're on the subject as well: it's 'aluminium'. Pronounce the second I.

Fixed. No need to thank me. Though curiously neither spelling is considered wrong.

Actually, its no mystery why both spellings are accepted. Aluminum was first discovered by Humphrey Davy, a chemist. He isolated the element from a mineral called "Alumina." His first writing about this newly isolated element referred to it as "alumium," which he changed in his next few papers to "aluminum" as the naming convention was for the element isolated from a mineral with the name "--na" to become "-num" (such as Lanthana becoming the element lanthanum) and elements found from minerals with the name "--nia" to become "-nium" (such as magnesia becoming magnesium). However, as time progressed, elements simply all began to end in the suffix "ium" and Davy lived through this change. So his later works called in "aluminium" to fit in with the more modern naming convention.

By the time this change in spelling came about, Charles Martin Hall in America had already patented a method of cheaply extracting "aluminum" and the spelling stuck in America and Canada. The British, on the other hand, didn't have a sudden booming aluminum industry, and therefore easily adopted the change to aluminium.

In any event, as of 1993 or so, both are officially recognized international spellings.

 

[Rorschach II]

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?

Well, tell him when Americans can spell 'Colour' right then you can take the time to learn American Grammar. :3

 

[gabe12301]

Wow so he hates English english?

 

[Blitzwarp]

"We don't use British grammar here."

I wasn't aware there was much of a difference except for a few extra words and a few different spellings?

There's some punctuation differences, too.

Such as?

He gave me a bit of a lecture on how quotations are used and how they relate to other punctuation. Apparently, Americans think it's right to always stick punctuation inside the quote, without exception. According to him, that's not always the case for British English.

Personally, I'd like both sides to be consistent. It's the same fucking language, for Christ's sake.

...I'm British and I was always taught by my British teachers to put punctuation inside the quote. But hey, I only have a 2:1 BA in English Literature, so what do I know. Your Professor might be Webster in a cunning disguise.

 

[DonMartin]

Being part scottish, part finnish in a school in Finland:

Teacher: Right, excellent, but would you mind speaking like the rest of us? We are supposed to learn proper english here.


Wanker.

 

[aenimau5]

what a tosser/nobhead/wanker

 

[FightThePower]

Honestly the amount of people living in England that hate American English far outweighs the opposite. We're much more picky about English, generally.

Tell the stupid old bastard (and anyone that gets snooty about it) that it doesn't matter which 'English' you use, both are acceptable; it is literally just personal preference. I was brought up to spell colour with a u and to spell centre with the r before the e, so that's what I'm going to do.

 

[CharrHawk164]

All I can say is he shouldn't be an English teacher if he's marking you for actually using proper English grammar that came from the birth land of English itself.

 

[adderseal]

I guess that as he teaches in America, he's trying to teach the American English standard, which is different to British English. I wouldn't take it too personally.