British and American English

And if you pop out of a meeting in an American company, saying "I'm desperate for a fag" don't be surprised if people give you funny looks.

Also a significant percentage of people living in South East UK are employed by American companies, and unduly pick up American phrases/meanings one way or the other

i recently learnt all about the meaning of "Chapter 11"

What do you mean by 'chapter 11' ?

I think I saw it somewhere but I'd like to know what it means too. :D

Also, when in America, ask for an eraser not a rubber.

~~~MM~~~
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I heard that a hummer meant something in England but I'm going to keep this discussion below a PG-13 rating. Here a hummer is just the vehicle. An English transfer student laughed at me when I said, "I once drove my auntie's hummer." He heard me and was the only one to think that was funny.
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By the way, Happy Friday the 13th!
MP & BB, Kiani!

Chapter 11 is a chapter of the US bankruptcy law that gives company protection from creditors for a limited period.
You should have encoutered it many times if you read American newspapers over the last two years.

I agree with Jim's statement that Webster was an American nationalist who had nothing better to do than reform the English spelling and create a gulf between the United States and her mother country. Clark says that the English language would be a whole lot easier if all the other English-speaking countries went along with Webster's spelling reforms. I say the language would be as easy if everyone stuck to the original spellings. If you've learnt "cheque" and "theatre" ever since you were born, you would find nothing wrong with those spellings, which are borrowed from French, in which those words are pronounced phonetically (phonetically French, of course, i.e. "shek" and "tay-ah-trra").

When I was little, I always looked at the spelling "color" thinking that the "or" would be pronounced like the "or" in "lord" if the word is spelt the American way. Some American children I have met looked at the spelling "colour" thinking that the "or" would be pronounced like the "our" in "pour" (same pronunciation as the "or" in "lord") if the word is spelt the British way. It's simply a matter of habit. Neither spelling is easier or more difficult than the other.

Webster had more changes that just the "-or/-our" and "-er/-re" changes. He had changes lined up like "becuz" and "temptashun" and things like that. These are not his exact examples, but you see what I am saying.

If we conformed all of the English accents into one spelling system, yes, that would be easier, but why not go a step fursther and have a better outcome, then to go a half a step, and not get very far ahead of where we already are?

Anyway, Webster's changes cannot be de-changed and British tendencies cannot be changed. The American and British variants are here to stay and we simply have to accept all of them. I just believe it would be better if Americans and Britons learn about the other country's variants in school. Long live Anglo-American cooperation and mutual knowledge.