"What version is used in Australia and New Zealand, just out of interest?"

Officially we use the Queen`s English. but the world is now so `small` that I think anything goes. Personally, the silly side of spelling was never my strong point, so I don`t even know what is the Queen`s English for this one. Nor for `disc` and `disk`. But I do have a fascination for language, even though I got lowish marks at school.

I should have been Spanish, Italian, or Maori, or even German.

my computer has a coronary when I try to use the NZ version dictionary, so I am not even sure what I am using at present. I think different parts of my computer use different dictionaries. Of course in a certain forum when I wanted/needed to post more anonymously, I used a USA checker.

I agree that anything - be it language or setting out, or spelling - that is done to make it simpler for the writer, but more difficult for the reader, is discourteous.

It is like the long-wait queue to get the phone answered in govt departments etc, which give me the insulting message that a receptionist`s work time is far more valuable than my own... indeed my own is practically worthless.

As an enthusiastic user of the Queen`s English when it suits me (and Scots the rest of the time) I get very annoyed when my MSWord reverts automatically to American English. To my eyes, it just looks WRONG. I cherish the little quirks that make English English- it`s one of the richest languages in the world.

I also have an insane passion for languages. I wish I`d been born bilingual- apparently if you`re bilingual your brain function is retained for longer into old age!

Well whoopdy doo for you! Who cares?

Me. I care. I care very very much.

I also care very much about grammar and spelling, Mark. In fact, it`s almost an obsession.

Words are spelled the way they are for a reason. I, too, see plenty of people misspelling many words, including "embouchure" on this forum. It`s a bilingual word, people. You don`t have to go and buy a french-english dictionary in order to find out its correct spelling. You don`t even need an english dictionary - just go to the website below:

http://dictionary.reference.com/

If it`s that easy, then nobody here should be making spelling errors.

Thomas

Thomas, I was talking about what MrsCarbohydrate had posted. She goes on and on about herself. Like we care.
I think that spelling is important too and I never said that it wasn`t/

Mrs C: " I get very annoyed when my MSWord reverts automatically to American English. To my eyes, it just looks WRONG."

Mrs. Carbo you SHOULD get annoyed with that, it would really tick me off if the same thing (in reverse) happened to me. It would look wrong to me also.

I wish I could hear everyone`s (from these posts) voice/accent/dialectal differences. I enjoy that.

Mark, when Mrs C writes, she writes something of substance, that is at least of interest to a significant number of people who have brains which harbour some activity, such as interest in the world outside their own tiny bubble - general interest and curiosity.

By contrast, your last two posts are simple negativity, without even content. I cannot see how ANYBODY with a functioning mind would really want to read them. So perhaps it is simply discourteous to even write them.

Perhaps consider having something meaningful to offer when you write, otherwise you are just an empty vessel making a lot of noise.

maybe mark is somebodys alter-ego identity?

This is a forum and people are going to say what they want, like it or not Arak.

Maybe we should all check with you before we post anything? Just to make sure it meets your standards, of course.

Mark was a bit unfair, but not everyone is going to like everyone else. So what. I am sure by now, people know where you and I stand.

I wish that I could take credit for Marks posts, but he is not my alter-ego identity. I am not sure if I am the one being accused or not.

I admit, I have posted under a (more cheerful) different name on occasions, just to through you off.

I wonder if you even have a clue.

Have a wonderful day, Arak!

"
I admit, I have posted under a (more cheerful) different name on occasions, just to through you off."

Most of the time nobody bothers commenting though.

I think that is pretty obvious to most of us here. Your content and style are as individual as my own.

It is difficult to change one`s fingerprints!

Kara, I think most of us with a brain know when you`re changing user names.

Mark, I don`t care what you think, becuase you are very, very boring.

I wish I could hear everyone`s (from these posts) voice/accent/dialectal differences. I enjoy that.

It`s funny, because I hear you all in my head as a bland, BBC English accent. Even the Americans and Even Arak who is as far away from England as you can get.

I seriously doubt it if you know who my other identity ever was. They are like night and day.
But, whatever, I really don`t care what a you two snobs think.