Opinion of American posters who post in British English

[Cassius]

If by 'British English', one means being able to spell things correctly, then certainly FF.

[Mr. Smith]

None, it's a bloody waste 'o me own time to get petty over the wee difference between "skeptic" and "sceptic".

I don't use it much personally (beyond creative writing assignments and being facetious) and I find it bizarre and unseemly to overuse it...but it's hardly something to get worked up about.

Imagine if all the Minnesotans, Iowans, and Californians [the states responsible for the "smart" American accent as non-Americans know it] decided to sick it on you Euro posters for embarrassingly wrong of American slang.

[Gustaf]

Not something I thought much about, but I get why it would seem affected. Swedish schools generally teach British English but pop culture is of course dominated by American English so I've personally ended up a bit confused.

[Sprouts Farmers Market ✘]

None, it's a bloody waste 'o me own time to get petty over the wee difference between "skeptic" and "sceptic".

I don't use it much personally (beyond creative writing assignments and being facetious) and I find it bizarre and unseemly to overuse it...but it's hardly something to get worked up about.

Imagine if all the Minnesotans, Iowans, and Californians [the states responsible for the "smart" American accent as non-Americans know it] decided to sick it on you Euro posters for embarrassingly wrong of American slang.

I don't know what this means. I relentlessly mock the upper Midwestern accent on a weekly basis - it does not come across as intelligent. See: Sarah Palin.

[Joe Republic]

[Sol]

General American is actually native to Iowa.

[politicus]

Imagine if all the Minnesotans, Iowans, and Californians [the states responsible for the "smart" American accent as non-Americans know it] decided to sick it on you Euro posters for embarrassingly wrong of American slang.

Southern accents are the only smart ones.

[retromike22]

I always have to make an effort to not spell defense "defence."

[Antonio the Sixth]

General American is actually native to Iowa.

Really? Tell me more, I'm interested.

[Sol]

General American is actually native to Iowa.

Really? Tell me more, I'm interested.

Here's the range of it traditionally:


It's a bit of a mystery to me why it became the standard--it's a fairly conservative dialect though, and so presumably it can straddle that line between other dialects.

Of course, now large swaths of its traditional range have gotten swallowed up by the Northern Cities Vowel Shift, which, according to Wikipedia, has this distribution:

And it's gaining ground every day. English vowels tend to be ridiculously unstable from dialect to dialect, and several North American English dialects are undergoing vowel shifts of some type.

[Panda Express]

If by 'British English', one means being able to spell things correctly, then certainly FF.

The moment England lost the American War of Independence is the moment British English ceased to be the "correct" English.

[Murica!]

As someone who does this, FFs.

[Associate Justice PiT]

     I don't use it, though considering that I vociferously maintain the superiority of Castellano to all other forms of Spanish, it would be rather hypocritical of me to aggressively campaign against the use of British English.

[Antonio the Sixth]

As someone who does this, FFs.

Why the hell is your display name Murica, then?

[Murica!]

As someone who does this, FFs.

Why the hell is your display name Murica, then?

Your serious?

[Oakvale]

As someone who does this, FFs.

Why the hell is your display name Murica, then?

Your serious?

I'm pretty sure he could care less.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

It's an amusing affectation. Partly because they often aren't all that well aware of the rules and structure of English prose...

[Brewer]

None, it's a bloody waste 'o me own time to get petty over the wee difference between "skeptic" and "sceptic".

I don't use it much personally (beyond creative writing assignments and being facetious) and I find it bizarre and unseemly to overuse it...but it's hardly something to get worked up about.

Imagine if all the Minnesotans, Iowans, and Californians [the states responsible for the "smart" American accent as non-Americans know it] decided to sick it on you Euro posters for embarrassingly wrong of American slang.

I don't know what this means. I relentlessly mock the upper Midwestern accent on a weekly basis - it does not come across as intelligent. See: Sarah Palin.

Haha, yeah, the typical Midwestern accent is hardly something I would describe as "smart".

[Mr. Smith]

None, it's a bloody waste 'o me own time to get petty over the wee difference between "skeptic" and "sceptic".

I don't use it much personally (beyond creative writing assignments and being facetious) and I find it bizarre and unseemly to overuse it...but it's hardly something to get worked up about.

Imagine if all the Minnesotans, Iowans, and Californians [the states responsible for the "smart" American accent as non-Americans know it] decided to sick it on you Euro posters for embarrassingly wrong of American slang.

I don't know what this means. I relentlessly mock the upper Midwestern accent on a weekly basis - it does not come across as intelligent. See: Sarah Palin.

Haha, yeah, the typical Midwestern accent is hardly something I would describe as "smart".

I was aiming for the Newscaster accent (which at least Iowans appear to have), and smart here means "not a George W. Bush style drawl which pegs you as stupid off the bat"/ sounds somewhat believable and objective because of the flatness, not necessarily intelligent....should've cleared that up.

@Sibboleth: Exactly why I don't use it often, and exactly why it's better to laugh at it than silly polls like this.

[Хahar 🤔]

I fail to see why Antonio would be expected to write in anything but American English, seeing as that he has no native dialect of English and that he has lived in America in the past and will again in the future. Obviously I have no problem with foreigners using whatever version of English they feel most comfortable with.

Obviously for Americans to type in non-American English is a hideous affectation. I have made my feelings on this very clear in the past. If Americans hate their own native culture so much that they are unwilling to use its language, they are free to find some other place to live.

[politicus]

I fail to see why Antonio would be expected to write in anything but American English, seeing as that he has no native dialect of English and that he has lived in America in the past and will again in the future. Obviously I have no problem with foreigners using whatever version of English they feel most comfortable with.

Obviously for Americans to type in non-American English is a hideous affectation. I have made my feelings on this very clear in the past. If Americans hate their own native culture so much that they are unwilling to use its language, they are free to find some other place to live.

It is not that I don't think Antonio should be allowed to write whichever way he likes, but it is a bit ironic that he as a European dislikes Americans writing in British English and use American English himself.

In Europe - and in the majority of the world outside of the Americas - the English version of English is English. It is the norm among educated people and using American English signals you mainly have your knowledge of English from US pop culture. So even if Antonio has lived in America it is a bit weird for me that an intellectual French guy writes in American English (I associate European academics using American English with faux solidarity with the working class. It is the kind of thing rich Trots do).

Your intolerant view of Americans that use British English ("love it or leave it") is a bit funny since your parents immigrated from a country that uses British English. It comes off as a bit over the top.

[Antonio the Sixth]

I'm very flattered that you consider me an intellectual, but, as a matter of fact, I did learn to properly speak English through American sources (not really pop culture though, but mostly a combination of this forum, NYT articles and Wikipedia). Had I relied on the French education system, I would be speaking horrendous British English rather than mostly-correct American English.

Besides, as Xahar noted, I have a direct connection with the United States and none with Britain. And I admire the former as a country much more than the latter.

[TDAS04]

Indifferent. 

[Хahar 🤔]

British English is British, not European. I certainly recognize that the pedagogical norm in Europe is to use British English, but that does not make it native to the continent. Antonio's experience with English-speaking societies tends unusually to the American for a European, and furthermore he is posting on an American forum. As I have said, it makes no difference to me what language a non-native speaker chooses if they are not part of an anglophone society.

As for my parents, obviously they received their secondary and tertiary education (through their Bachelor's degree) in Indian English using non-American spelling. Since they both have technical jobs, they rarely write in English, but when they do, it is American English because they have chosen to live and work in America.

[politicus]

British English is British, not European. I certainly recognize that the pedagogical norm in Europe is to use British English, but that does not make it native to the continent.

Being British makes it European per defintion.

The status in Europe is that British English is the language of school and American English the language of entertainment  (and IT). Choosig to express yourself in American English has a certain signal value, whereas British English is the neutral option in most contexts.