AFriendlyFace Posted September 13, 2007 Share Posted September 13, 2007 Hi all! We were having a debate about this recently in the Domaholic's Forum, so I thought it might be fun to "definitively" (what could be more definitive than a poll after all? ) find out what the majority of members preferred. My choice is "Colour". I've always thought the "ou" spelling looked more formal, complete, and all around nicer. What do you think? -Kevin **Hurries to get helmet before Sharon sees this post ** Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bondwriter Posted September 13, 2007 Share Posted September 13, 2007 This is only a UK VS. US issue. My spell checker is set to either according to what I write. In business, I tend to go for UK spellings, because that's the language used by others. Some of my stories are US English, some British English. It's just a question of consistency. If you go for colour, you've also got to go for humour, pavement, lorry, kidney pie, mint sauce, the Queen, etc. By the way, as someone reminded me in another thread, this comes from the Norman/ French spellings used in Britain -- colour comes from couleur--, and the Americans (Mr. Webster) simplified it in the early 19th century. I didn't vote in the poll. I don't mind either. Camy, Nexis or Irony's colour is great. CJames, Steve or Nick's color is equally great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colinian Posted September 13, 2007 Share Posted September 13, 2007 I like colorful polls. They are fun. Colin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeaStKid Posted September 13, 2007 Share Posted September 13, 2007 Since Indians usually follow British English, I prefer colour. But then, if I'm using a computer language, then I have to use color. I don't mind using any... The BeaStKid Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Menzoberranzen Posted September 13, 2007 Share Posted September 13, 2007 Having been born in Canada and considering I live in London, I want to say colour. Except that four years at an American university has utterly beaten the tendency out of me, so I often write color instead. Menzo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Site Administrator Graeme Posted September 13, 2007 Site Administrator Share Posted September 13, 2007 Colour is the preferred option for me because that's what I grew up with, though I have been told that schools in Australia will accept either spelling. The preference is for the UK spelling, but there is so much American influence in Australia that the US spelling is deemed acceptable. In a story, it would depend on whether it is set predominantly with a USA focus. If so, I would use American spellings. Otherwise, I'd use the UK spellings. I have a handful of short stories that are set in the USA and these use American spelling. I can get away with that because my editors are American and they'll correct any mistakes I make Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
old bob Posted September 13, 2007 Share Posted September 13, 2007 I prefer "colour". Its more "english" At least, we Europeans have to stay together Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sat8997 Posted September 13, 2007 Share Posted September 13, 2007 **Hurries to get helmet before Sharon sees this post ** Oh you are so in trouble, young man. Sharon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benji Posted September 13, 2007 Share Posted September 13, 2007 I prefer "colour". Its more "english" At least, we Europeans have to stay together ......You use whatever your brought up with I guess, it doesn't make any difference to me, although I might add when I first noticed "colour" I thought it was a spelling error. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ieshwar Posted September 13, 2007 Share Posted September 13, 2007 ......You use whatever your brought up with I guess, it doesn't make any difference to me, although I might add when I first noticed "colour" I thought it was a spelling error. And when I saw 'Labor' instead of 'Labour', I thought that was a mistake! I prefer Colour! Ieshwar Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rknapp Posted September 13, 2007 Share Posted September 13, 2007 As has already been pointed out, this should prove to be a very colorful thread. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D Writes Posted September 13, 2007 Share Posted September 13, 2007 I don't know as I use both the spellings. Colour for school and official work, Color in my stories and in forums etc (that's what's set in my computer) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liddy Posted September 13, 2007 Share Posted September 13, 2007 Do you have any idea how much you confuse us poor foreigners with discussions like that :wacko: . Whenever I wrote colour I'd go back and change it color, thinking it was wrong and whenever I wrote color I'd go back and change it to colour... ...so which SHOULD I use? (Especially if I don't know if the other person is British or American (I learned Australians don't care . Aussies rule. *runs to not get lynched by everybody else*) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rknapp Posted September 13, 2007 Share Posted September 13, 2007 Do you have any idea how much you confuse us poor foreigners with discussions like that :wacko: . Whenever I wrote colour I'd go back and change it color, thinking it was wrong and whenever I wrote color I'd go back and change it to colour... ...so which SHOULD I use? (Especially if I don't know if the other person is British or American (I learned Australians don't care . Aussies rule. *runs to not get lynched by everybody else*) Color is the correct spelling Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benji Posted September 13, 2007 Share Posted September 13, 2007 Color is the correct spelling ......Don't labour too much over it!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Posted September 14, 2007 Share Posted September 14, 2007 Color is the correct spelling Not what the vote says *Andy is English, and so likes his extra U's in words* The above in OTT english is *Anduy ius Engluish, Aund Suo Likues Huis Extura U'us Iun Wourds.....* Ahem.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Krista Posted September 14, 2007 Share Posted September 14, 2007 Color. Even if it's losing in the votes it doesn't make it less "correct." And, if you have Firefox Spell checker, you will see that COLOUR is underlined in red (which is a color). Krista Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Site Administrator Graeme Posted September 14, 2007 Site Administrator Share Posted September 14, 2007 Even if it's losing in the votes it doesn't make it less "correct." And, if you have Firefox Spell checker, you will see that COLOUR is underlined in red (which is a color). Not for me I use an Australian English dictionary.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glomph Posted September 14, 2007 Share Posted September 14, 2007 I held forth on this in the Domaholics forum, so I won't rehash that here. When I think of "labor," I think of work. "Labour" to me is a political party. Otherwise, when given a choice between work and a party, I'd choose the latter. when I first noticed "colour" I thought it was a spelling error You mean "errour." What I really can't get used to in Britspeak is the use of plural verbs with collective nouns, z.B.: "NBC are announcing their new programme lineup next week." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lugh Posted September 14, 2007 Share Posted September 14, 2007 what i want to know is --- does it really matter?' I mean we all know that color and colour both MEAN the same thing... Honestly I think that if the story is "American" then use color, if it is "any-of-the-other-countries-that-speak-English-other-than-American" then use "colour". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Site Administrator Graeme Posted September 14, 2007 Site Administrator Share Posted September 14, 2007 When I think of "labor," I think of work. "Labour" to me is a political party. And just to complicate thing, in Australia labour is work, while Labor is the political party.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ieshwar Posted September 14, 2007 Share Posted September 14, 2007 *Andy is English, and so likes his extra U's in words* The above in OTT english is *Anduy ius Engluish, Aund Suo Likues Huis Extura U'us Iun Wourds.....* Ahem.. And if Andy was from USA, If yo're from SA, yo sholdn't se extra '' in yor words. Ieshwar Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colinian Posted September 14, 2007 Share Posted September 14, 2007 Color. Even if it's losing in the votes it doesn't make it less "correct." And, if you have Firefox Spell checker, you will see that COLOUR is underlined in red (which is a color). Krista The Google Toolbar spell checker accepts both color and colour. The MS Office spell checker accepts color or colour based on which language dictionary/dictionaries you select. Colin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheZot Posted September 14, 2007 Share Posted September 14, 2007 Yeesh, such a debate. Time to break out the bike sheds! I think the important thing is to pick either US or UK spelling and stick with it consistently. And that means more than just color or colour -- it means all the other variant spellings. If you're going for colour you want memorise and aluminium, if you choose color then it's memorize and aluminum. There are a dozen or two of these, so it's probably best to set your spelling checker to US or UK and trust it when it complains. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Site Administrator Graeme Posted September 14, 2007 Site Administrator Share Posted September 14, 2007 ...so it's probably best to set your spelling checker to US or UK ... *cough* or Australian.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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