My hub was "edited" into American English

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   poppyrposted 5 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 passive-aggressive to change them back? lol

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      GA Andersonposted 5 years agoin reply to this

      It's all about the traffic market poppyr. The United States is about 41% of Hubpages.com traffic, (should we assume the same holds for the niche sites?), and the next largest traffic segment is India, (about 7% (you Brits are about 5%)).
      
      So yep, your readers will most likely be American English readers - and spellings like; "flavour" and "favourite" jump out as mispellings to the reader's eye.
      
      So there you go. Your mission poppyr, should you decide to accept it, is to accept American English as your ticket to fame and fortune, or choose to insist on national pride and hold your grammar high as ticket holders pass you by. ;-)
      
      GA

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         poppyrposted 5 years agoin reply to this

         I suppose I can make the sacrifice haha. Thank you

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      Glenis Rixposted 5 years agoin reply to this

      Mmm. I find it very irritating, especially as I have a Degree in English. But I choose my battles and this one isn’t worth fighting. Final word from me -  American English is corruption of our native language - when all is said and done, it was we who took it across the pond.

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         MizBejabbersposted 5 years agoin reply to this

         Loved your answer, Glennis. But as an American, I find myself mispronouncing some "English" words because the English have a tendency to drop syllables. I just don't get all the silent letters and syllables in English-style English (or French either, for that matter). One word in particular we've Americanized is "Worchestershire" because it's one of our favorite (favourite) sauces.

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            Glenis Rixposted 5 years agoin reply to this

            Yes, we do drop syllables. And,  considering we inhabit such a small country, our regional accents are very diverse. You would probably have great difficulty understanding a person with a broad accent.( PS. If you are ever in England ask for Wuster sauce).

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               MizBejabbersposted 5 years agoin reply to this

               Glennis, well, I'll be darned! My very southern aunt and uncle used to say "wooster sauce" and I wondered where they got that. Nice to know. My area usually pronounces it "woostershire sauce" (some people say "woostersheer"). There's an accent difference between "Wuster" and "wooster," you know. Our northern neighbors say "wuster", "wustah" if you're Bostonian.
               I'm wondering if the authorities have it wrong. Yes, the first settlers from across the pond did bring the language with them. The "authorities" claim that our southern dialect came from the inability of the African slaves to pronounce their "r's", but I wonder if it is because some areas of England do not sound the r when it appears in the middle or at the end of a word (wuhd). I find that quite similar to the Southern pronunciation of words like "floor" (floah) and "earn" (uhn) as much as it is blamed on the African influence.
               Conversely, the hills of Arkansas where I've lived most of my life are mainly Scots, and we harshly pronounce the "r" but not as prominently as the Spanish.

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                  Glenis Rixposted 5 years agoin reply to this

                  That’s intruiging. I am fascinated by linguistics.
                  
                  Wuster, with the ‘u’ pronounced as in ‘up’ is ‘received’ English. If our Queen ever partakes of the delicacy it is how she would pronounce the word.
                  
                  My daughter-in-law is a Scot and I envy her ability to roll her “r”. I’m sure that such tongue agility would make it easier for people to understand my attempts to communicate when in Spain!
                  
                  Many years ago a watched a tv documentary about people would live(d) in a remote area of the US ( I believe it was the Blue Ridge Mountains
                  ) who to this day talk with a Brummie (i,e. Birmingham, England) accent. It was astonishing. Unfortunately, Brummie is regarded by many as an assault on the ear of the listener.
                  
                  But you know that it’s now proven that we are all originally out of Africa, so however we speak (or spell) we are all brothers and sisters under the skin. Diverse  accents add to the spice of life.
                  
                  (It’s my birthday today and my son has just forwarded a link to a utube video of Bart Simpson singing ‘Happy Birthday” ).

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      Eurofileposted 5 years agoin reply to this

      Coming to Hub Pages from the UK, I was advised by another writer that American English was necessary. I struggled a little at first until Aesta suggested that I download a free version of Grammarly. It has been very helpful. I now worry that I shall be Americanizing my UK communications!

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         theraggededgeposted 5 years agoin reply to this

         Don't you mean Americanising?
         
         I have mixed mine up for years. And, to make matters worse, some little bits of Welsh phraseology get in there too, isn't it?

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            poppyrposted 5 years agoin reply to this

            I’ve always written my articles in British English and it hadn’t been an issue before. If they’re the new rules then fair enough. It isn’t worth potentially having the hub removed from the niche site and maybe even having it unfeatured for the sake of some spelling differences

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               theraggededgeposted 5 years agoin reply to this

               Indeed. I let the editors have their wicked way with mine.

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            Eurofileposted 5 years agoin reply to this

            I was tempted to Anglicanise it! But as it was on Hub Pages I stuck with the Americanization.

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      MizBejabbersposted 5 years agoin reply to this

      I would let it go. I proofread an online newsletter after the editor finishes putting it together and editing it, and a lot of the news comes from Australia. This letter is published in the U.S. by Americans, but I was advised to leave the Australian spellings (British English) alone. It is published in both American and British English, and owner likes it that way. (Regardless of the fact that my spellcheck and autocorrect go crazy.) Perhaps HP should be a little more lenient in this area. After all, English is English. Remember studying Chaucer and other Middle English literature? I would hate to see our language changed that much.

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   paradigmsearchposted 5 years ago

   Let it go. I've been learning to do that on a lot of things lately.

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      poppyrposted 5 years agoin reply to this

      Awwh, fair enough

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   lobobrandonposted 5 years ago

   I've finally given in to this and when I write here, I use American spellings now.

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      poppyrposted 5 years agoin reply to this

      I think it depends on the editor. Never mind, eh! (I mean, never mind huh!)

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   Will Apseposted 5 years ago

   I can't imagine a cheesy meatball recipe in anything but American English.

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      poppyrposted 5 years agoin reply to this

      Meatballs are Italian and cheese originated in Poland/France, and those countries tend to use British English, so why not?

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         lobobrandonposted 5 years agoin reply to this

         probably because he's used to it being in American English.

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   samanthacubbisonposted 5 years ago

   As per our Learning Center, "Currently, HubPages is an English-only site and requires that articles are written in a natural style that recognizes the American English standards of grammar, syntax, and diction." So it's not that someone has a personal vendetta against your meatballs it's just how we format our site!

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      Will Apseposted 5 years agoin reply to this

      Cultural imperialism of the worst kind? Or American parochialism?

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      poppyrposted 5 years agoin reply to this

      Got it, Samantha. Thank you!

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   psycheskinnerposted 5 years ago

   I seem to remember that UK English used to also be considered acceptable?  Is it a change or a false memory?

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      chasmacposted 5 years agoin reply to this

      I remember that, too, so it must be a change. One time when an article was edited and my British spellings were changed to American, I enquired and got a nice apology from an editor and an invitation to change them back.

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   PaulGoodman67posted 5 years ago

   It might be irritating, but let it go, if you want views and earnings. The US is a much bigger market than the UK. I am a Brit in Florida, so am kind of bilingual(!) but I try to do all my hubs in US English

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   psycheskinnerposted 5 years ago

   Google treats the spellings as interchangeable, so that is not an aspect of dialect that limits things.  And when it comes to more subtle phrasing the US market is big but also oversupplied--I doubt it makes much difference.

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   shanmarieposted 5 years ago

   Oh, MzB, you just made me laugh!  I hadn't had anything to add to this thread because the spelling makes no difference to me. I figured it's just a preference of the editors. Either that or just HP catering to the larger market. Both thoughts were stated by others so I was just reading. And then you started talking about Worcestershire sauce and I remembered having fun trying to say it as a kid. It was a funny tongue twister to us with all the syllables pronounced. I've never heard it said any other way.

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      Rochelle Frankposted 5 years agoin reply to this

      Worst - er- sure

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         Glenis Rixposted 5 years agoin reply to this

         Oh, no! That is so wrong. Wuster - see above. For clarification - Worcestershire is a county in England and Worcester is the county town. This strange concoction was presumably first produced there. It has never ever graced the shelves in my kitchen and I wouldn’t know how to use it. Perhaps someone should write a hub All About Worcester Sauce and How to Use  it. But not me.

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            Rochelle Frankposted 5 years agoin reply to this

            It was always in my mom’s cupboard, and I still use it, when pan broiling beefsteak in an iron skillet, or in meatballs.  Yes,someone should write it.
            We have an American brand version, which is less expensive, but I don’t think it tastes as good as the original L&P brand.

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    Robinposted 5 years ago

    While we do prefer consistency across our sites as Sam states, when editing, we attempt to leave British spelling if it's consistent with other British conventions in the writing, e.g., in your case, Poppy, the editor wasn't 100% sure because you also use the oxford comma, which most Brits don't.  However, I think in this case, we should have left your spelling, so if you'd like to add it back, you are more than welcome to.  Sorry about the inconvenience.  And in the future, if you do want to use British grammar/spelling, you are more than welcome to.  .

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       poppyrposted 5 years agoin reply to this

       Hi! I don't actually mind either way. I do love the Oxford comma; I have done ever since someone pointed out that "I hung out with the strippers, George Bush, and Barack Obama" is clearer than "I hung out with the strippers, George Bush and Barack Obama" which makes it sound as though they ARE the strippers.

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       paradigmsearchposted 5 years agoin reply to this

       Uh-oh. Now the Australians are going to come after you, mate.

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    Nell Roseposted 5 years ago

    lol! I have got so used to using American words and grammar that I tend to use it in everyday use. The only time it drives me mad is when someone reads one of my books and moans that its 'written in British' and they can't understand it! LOL! we over here read American books all the time, its only spelling that's different! )

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