Just wondering if you guys down under spell Jewelry this way or like the post section Jewellery ? this is a serious question not meant as an insult or to stir up trouble, in the USA we spell it Jewelry
We spell it as per the forum heading... The word jewellery itself is derived from the word jewel, which was anglicized from the Old French "jouel", and beyond that, to the Latin word "jocale", meaning plaything. In British English the spelling can be written as jewelery or jewellery, while in U.S. English the spelling jewelry. [source - Wikipedia]
We also spell behaviour with a "u" (along with a whole lot of "our" type words), Defence with a "c" (along with a whole lot of other words using "c" while Americans use "s") etc. One of the most painful things about computors is when American based programs inflict spell check on non-American English speakers. If I was a conspiricy theorist, I'd think it was just another form of cultural imperialism. Likewise, I'm not insulting or stirring up trouble. Just re-enforcing your point that Americans are different in their spelling/use of the English language. We Australians like to also "add" to the expression of English language with our own colloquialisms (likely spelt wrong) and slang. But when using established traditional English words, the Oxford dictionary generally comes in handy (not discounting the Macquarie as useful). I wonder how many people these days actually use a dictionary rather than spell check???!!
We also spell apologise with an s, not a z. Recognise not recognize , maximise not maximize , etc. We follow Oxford English not Harvard .
EuroEnglish The European Commission have just announced an agreement whereby English will be the official language of the EU rather than German, which was the other possibility. As part of the negotiations, Her Majesty's Government conceded that English spelling had some room for improvement and has accepted a 5 year phase-in plan that would be known as "EuroEnglish": -- In the first year, "s" will replace the soft "c". Sertainly, this will make the sivil servants jump with joy. The hard "c" will be dropped in favor of the "k". This should klear up konfusion and keyboards kan have one less letter. There will be growing publik enthusiasm in the sekond year, when the troublesome "ph" will be replaced with the "f". This will make words like "fotograf" 20% shorter. In the 3rd year, publik akseptanse of the new spelling kan be expekted to reach the stage where more komplikated changes are possible. Governments will enkorage the removal of double letters, which have always ben a deterent to akurate speling. Also, al wil agre that the horible mes of the silent "e"'s in the language is disgracful, and they should go away. By the 4th yar, peopl wil be reseptiv to steps such as replasing "th" with "z" and "w" with "v". During ze fifz year, ze unesesary "o" kan be dropd from vords kontaiining "ou" and similar changes vud of kors be aplid to ozer kombinations of leters. After zis fifz yer, ve vil hav a reli sensibl riten styl. Zer vil be no mor trubls or difikultis and evrivun vil find it ezi tu understand ech ozer. ZE DREM VIL FINALI KUM TRU! :lol:
I have never seen the word jewelery used in British English. It must be a USA centric wikipedia thing.
