What is the Australian English spelling?

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spakkat

i gave up thinking that i knew how to spell in english ,when i learned that gaol was the same as jail . i had spent 13 yrs or more thinking that jail was the correct spelling . after all i studied english at school. well i didn't .i studied a mix mash of english and american but they called it english class. colour , aeroplane , behaviour ,gaol , and many other words are now spelt incorrectly. i'll try and spell in english but the american language is sneaking in and we don't seem to be able to stop it.

David A

Hi Baba,

Like you I hate the American spelling, I want a 'u' in colour, the 'z' (zed not zee) is redundant, unless it is for zulu or zone. Microsoft Word has even acknowledged that there is a difference between UK/Aust/US lexicography. You can change the default dictionary from US spelling to Australian English. Go to TOOLS and then LANGUAGE and select from the list provided.

I use the Macquarie Dictionary as a starting point and then the Oxford dictionary as a support resource.

Unfortunately the media seems to pick up these shocking American spellings... I make sure they know my dissatisfaction when I see examples of poor Australian spelling.

A great question.... thanks

David

PS even YQ is locked in to American spelling and I have notification of 5 misspellings in this answer.

Mel

One of my biggest pet peeves is when I am typing and assignment, report, etc.. and the automatic dictionary changes my words to American spelling. It annoys the hell out of me.

Even as an Australian, I prefer the British spelling. aluminum is not even pronounced the same and just sounds stupid.

oscnspike

This is such a great topic to bring up, because I think that while we have been more British than American, things are changing.
While programs like Word do have an Australian dictionary built in, I don't really think that 'Australian English' really does exist. To my honest recollection, I don't think there's a difference between Australian and British. There are still obvious differences between Australian and American though.
What I find interesting is that I'm studying a medical science course at the moment, and our lecturers who are currently employed in our field of study have basically said to us that when it comes to medical terms, we in Australia are adapting the Americanised way of spelling - e.g. the American term fetus is preferred over the Australian/British word foetus.
But I do agree with the points above - I hate it when different programs try to correct my 'ise' as 'ize' and my 'mum' is definitely not a 'mom' (and she would argue with anyone who says otherwise!!).
With America supposedly the most powerful country, it's bound to happen that we'll be using their spelling before too long. It'll be our generation that fight it. "In my day, we had our own method of spelling." Hehe, I can see it now.
So, short answer, right now it's more British, but it's beginning to revert to more Americanised/Americanized spelling.
:o)

Bev M

P***es me off no end. I am sick of typing what I know to be correct English and have the computer underline it and say I have an incorrect spelling. I DO NOT have incorrect spelling. We thought in Australia that we were lazy in our speech, hell, look at the Americans, not only in their speech but also in their spelling. Everything seems to be for expediency. Just ignore them and spell the words how you know them to be right.

Barking_Dog

The Americans speak English they just have some difficulty when it comes to the spelling
Please do not forget English has a base in Latin
I say let them have there spelling mistakes we can just smile and move on
Have you noticed they also can not get the date right , what is more important the days date or the month to go first ?

biff.1145

As a student (many years ago, I might add) I was taught spelling to British standards. My children at school seemed to be taught no standards at all - 'as long as we know what they mean' was the catchcry! - I have always instilled British standard in my children ,even if their schooling did not - there is no excuse for slackness in my opinion.

It should not be a case of 'follow the money' but follow your heritage and ours as Australians is British, not American.

turner

The English language, unlike some others, is dynamic. English is used widely throughout the world and is not limited to Australia, England or the US. What this means is that you can now notice places like Singapore for example, having their own twist on English. There is no 'correct' English as such.

Having said that, I do get annoyed that American English seems to be the default. I also get super annoyed, when using yahoo answers, at the ethnocentric responses I sometimes get when I spell a word like catalogue as catalogue instead of catalog. I can't believe the ignorance, arrogance and or ethnocentricity of people (usually Americans it must be said) who correct my spelling.

thirumal

British spelling and American spelling are somehow different.....
for eg:color and colour...that's it.
i think the Australians are using one of those words mentioned above.

mandyj67

I asked this question myself a while ago. I noticed teachers in Australian schools are starting to let the American spelling pass unnoticed. I was also wondering if in American scrabble they get more ZED's (not zee's) and if they're worth less. Even cheese is cheeze and on one notices. You see it everywhere. I got a letter from my sons high school regarding the music program! When I went to school it was programme. I've got an Australian spell check on my computer though, and it picks up Americanis(z)ed spelling as incorrect, so to the people that are being driven crazy by the computer not recognising recognise unless you misspell it, change the spell check to Australian. And yes in response to your question it drives me bonkers, I think we should stick to the correct spelling, how else are we going to teach kids to spell correctly? And surely the correct one is the 'English' way since the language is called English not Unitedstatesian!

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