Re: [OT] British vs. American English
On Sun, 02 Oct 2011 14:01:55 -0400 (EDT), Lisi <lisi.reisz@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Sunday 02 October 2011 18:43:50 Stephen Powell wrote:
>> On Sun, 02 Oct 2011 11:34:23 -0400 (EDT), Lisi <lisi.reisz@gmail.com> wrote:
>>> ... the length came over form [from] France,
>>> but a good deal more recently than 1066, and is spelt metre ...
>>
>> Is "spelt" a typo, Lisi? Or is that the way you spell it? We
>> would use "spelled", not "spelt". To us, "spelt" is a grain
>> (wheat, rye, spelt, etc.). And to the best of my knowledge, that
>> is the only meaning of "spelt" in American English.
>
> No,it wasn't a typo. We spell both spelt and spelt s-p-e-l-t. I.e., both the
> past participle of spell and the early form of wheat. We also pronounce both
> the same way. I imagine that spelled is pronounced differently from spelt.
Well, I learned something. I've never ever heard an American use that
word in that way. But I decided to check my dictionary, "Webster's New
World Dictionary of the American Language, Second College Edition",
copyright 1972. (I guess that dates me.) Anyway, there it was on page 1369:
spelt - alt. pt. & pp. of spell
And yes, spelled is pronounced just like you would think, similar to called.
--
.''`. Stephen Powell
: :' :
`. `'`
`-
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