The reason I ask this is because I just had a hub edited to change one comma, placed outside quote/speech marks, as per correct British punctuation, to reflect US style. That was the only edit.
I don't mind in this case because it is an American-leaning hub. However, I wonder if British English on the web is in danger of being assimilated and, eventually, wiped out in favour of US English?
What is HubPages stance? I know previously that British English was acceptable... is that not the case any longer? And... do you think it's a good thing to wipe out national and regional variations, even if they are perfectly correct?
I believe that most, if not all, of the editors are Americans. That could explain their preference for American English. Being American myself, I am not familiar with a lot of the British spelling and punctuation.
I've had the same kind of edits. I just leave the alterations in as this is a US based website. I don't think it's a Google thing, just HubPages.
I assume it is over-zealous editors who are probably not even aware that British English places full stops (periods!) and commas in a different order.
I have the same kind of edits, too. It is a habit of mine writing in British English since I came here in Germany more than 3 decades ago but when I remembered I am in a US based site, I wrote in American English. When I let my hubby read my hub, he usually said my spelling was wrong. It should be flavour instead of flavor. I keep on reminding him I have to write in the American language. LOL! Sometimes, it is confusing to me.
I recently had an email saying one of my hubs could be featured if I check grammar etc and it gave me an example of 'drink driving' - well I ignored it as drink driving is a perfectly correct term but now I think about it maybe they want me to change it to the American term of 'drunk driving' which actually is not the term used in the country that the article refers to!
Exactly, and, of course in Britain, you don't have to be drunk to be prosecuted for drink-driving. However, I always look at who are likely to be my readers and write accordingly. Yet there are certain 'neutral' articles, such as art, crafts, etc. that I might prefer to show that I am a British writer.
And, yes of course I realise that HP is American, but in the past, they have stated that they are happy to accept English variants as long as they are correct. That's why I'm wondering if they have changed their stance. I'm not complaining, just asking.
At the same time, I think if Google penalises British English, that's not a good thing at all. Homogeneity is not a desirable attribute.
Does HP have to accept all English variations? As I understand Indian English, from the numerous contributions that we see here, it is acceptable to write without using an article.
That is a variant. We find it incorrect, but is it? Living languages like English and Portuguese are changing all of the time.
Does Google have to accept all of the variants too?
(I am about to click on the "opine" button!)
I would be inclined to argue that American English is the variant in this instance and not British English.
In response to Bev's opening statement, I tend to accommodate the spelling differences when writing on HP. However, I really struggle to accept the punctuation differences which are fundamentally alien to me.
We allow British English. However, we need to think of the sites holistically. An extreme example is publishing in multiple languages on a domain. This would be majorally problematic unless very specific technical precautions were applied.
The case of using more subtle variations in language is less problematic, but it would likely be better if we had a single standard across sites.
We try and encourage folks to think about the overall health of our community sites than as individual articles.
Consistency helps everyone.
It does, and I'm glad you guys are trying to implement this.
"Is Google stamping out British English?"
Someone's got to do it.
Just kidding.
Is that Googles new "Brexit for the rest of us" campaign? I think I read a blog on it.
What do you all say? Para? Alooooominum? LOL! its Aluminium! best to keep to the British me thinks!
Yes, this is one that they have edited for me. Aluminium... I hate it.
The fact is, the real word is Aluminium. For some reason American English has totally ruined it.
I have always found it extremely peculiar that Americans say math instead of maths.
I had to google this to figure out what you meant. Made me feel a little twp, you know?
So Hubpages official allows direct but you also have to be "consistent".
That's really not clear at all. If we are meant to be consistent we need to know: with what?
The comma thing really is stupid, and it's one that I've been rallying against since I was a teenager.
Ending a sentence on quotation marks is silly. The punctuation should be outside...unless it actually belongs on the outside.
If I ask a question, and use a quote inside the question..but the quote is not actually question, then why on earth would I put the question mark inside the quotes? That makes no sense. And what about parenthesis? We are specifically supposed to put the punctuation after them, even if the sentence ends before the parenthesis (such as in this very example). So then, why put it before the quotes?
Silly...and not worth the editor's time, imho. Focus on more important things like the plethora of unreadable grammar on this site.
I'll bet they edit out the Oxford comma too.....
It's generally silly if you were educated in the US style, and logical if you are not. In most cases the punctuation is part of the quote, when it is not it does go outside even by British rules.
A serious note regarding serious miscommunication for decades or whatever. Has caused more chaos and misunderstandings than one can imagine. The word is "quite". Not kidding. Sort it out.
And then there's Australian English (my home language). It leans more towards UK English although many people combine US English with Australian English in Australian business writing. For example programme (Australian and UK) versus program (US and what most Australians actually write).
I used to not care what language I wrote in, though I've become more conversant with US for online writing and then flick back to Australian proper for literary endeavours. I'm always switching dictionaries on my computer. It is confusing at times.
Thanks for pointing out the differences with " xxxx." and "xxxx". I've always used the latter too, no matter what language I was writing in. (In Australia, we also use single parentheses but I was aware of this difference.) And I struggled recently with an edit to this in a Hub. Now, I know why! I was starting to think I was going cuckoo and just had it wrong.
Nah... it's colourful/colorful, messy and diverse. Lots of fun to be had. Gonna get me some, right now. Okay, well, it's just walking the dawgs, but never mind. Was that American enough?
Just realised/realized I missed out the dratted Oxford comma in the first sentence, but I don't care. I'm a rebel, I am.
My goodness, you are turning Welsh, Dr Mark. Be careful you now, we will muck up your grammar big time, isn't it. Boyo
I just finished an email to a reader in the US and when she described her dogs giardia diarrhea I wanted to respond "Ach y fi".
Vixi Maria! I dont think she would understand.
I just read a news story about a woman who has never been out of the U.S. who went to sleep with a headache and woke up speaking British English. And after two years, she still does. [ https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nat … 332714002/ ]. She's a victim of Foreign Accent Syndrome (FAS) - and yes, it's a very rare but real medical condition. I just wonder if she now puts the comma outside the quotation mark, and buys her soda in cans made of aluminium rather than aluminum.
Tut, tut Ron...us Brits don't buy soda, only soda water!
It's typically referred to as 'pop' over here.
by Ness 12 years ago
Do you write your hubs in British English or American English?Being from Australia, generally I only write in the British English way, but do other hubbers who were taught in the British English way ever change their spelling to the American English way? Since most of my traffic comes from...
by Bev G 2 years ago
Just had to go through a ton of edits made by HP editors. A lot needed correction. For example, the editor changed the word 'over' to 'cover'. And in another, they'd capitalised 'tarot' throughout. As I have Grammarly, it became obvious that they accepted Grammarly's suggestions willy-nilly without...
by Miebakagh Fiberesima 3 years ago
Has any experienced this? It's a punctuation issue. Which should we use? British or America? I'm at home with the British model from childhood.But getting online on HubPages, we meet the American standard.Seriously a problem arose when I used an online editing software called Grammarly.The...
by Kyler J Falk 3 years ago
I've come to notice that there is a stark unspoken conflict between authors and editors alike as it concerns the use of single quotes in place of regular quotations. I was always taught that single quotes are never to be used outside of a quotation inside of a quotation, but I also see the inverse...
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Hi Hubbers,I'd like some help with passing the Quality Assessment Process. Will you please give feedback on my Hub Working harder makes you smarter (must be signed in to view). What can I do to improve? Thanks!
by Poppy 6 years ago
I guess this is fine. Well. Not really. It's slightly irritating. My cheesy meatball recipe just got moved to Delishably (yay) but was edited; words like "flavour" and "favourite" being 'corrected' to their American counterparts.Shoud I just let it go? Would it be...
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