You are viewing a single thread.
View all comments
42 points

In most cases, the American spelling of English words compared to the rest-of-the-world spelling is pretty much a wash. A matter of personal preference.

But “metre” is a hill I will die on. “Metre” and “meter” mean different things, and by spelling them both “meter”, as the Americans do, you’re just making communication worse.

permalink
report
reply
11 points

Also gas which can either be petrol or natural gas.

permalink
report
parent
reply
11 points
*

In America “gas” is short for gasoline, which is petrol.

It’s still shit because our lazy asses do still call both types “gas”, but there is a distinction.

permalink
report
parent
reply
2 points

No… Gas is sort for “gasoline”, which is a refined byproduct of patroleum.

Gasoline is “refined petroleum used as fuel for internal combustion engines.”

Petrol is short for “patroleum”, which is a product you should never put in your car.

permalink
report
parent
reply
1 point
Deleted by creator
permalink
report
parent
reply
4 points

Can also be a state of matter.

permalink
report
parent
reply
3 points

Or a digestion issue

permalink
report
parent
reply
3 points

I find this one funny, and it’s a great response to the above. Petroleum is an unrefined product. It makes no sense for the Brits to call gasoline by that name.

permalink
report
parent
reply
10 points

Here’s my hill to die on: If two words are pronounced the same way, thay should be spelled the same was. That whole -re/-er and -le/-el this is needlessly confusing

permalink
report
parent
reply
4 points

The thing is, while “meter” and “metre” are pronounced the same, when you use them in compound words they’re not. Thermometer or odometer are pronounced with stress on the second syllable (the syllable immediately prior to “meter”), but kilometre and centimetre are pronounced with the stress on the third syllable (“MEtre”).

permalink
report
parent
reply
9 points
*

Kilometer has the same stressed syllable as odometer in American English.

Easier just to distinguish pronunciation as -ometer vs -meter.

permalink
report
parent
reply
5 points

I see metre and my brain says Meet-ray at best met-reh

permalink
report
parent
reply
3 points

If there’s anything learning another language has taught me, it’s that most languages (including subsets) are full of seemingly inane rules.

At least Americans have a great excuse: Freedom to do whatever we want.

permalink
report
parent
reply
2 points

Here is an alternative Piped link(s): https://piped.video/UnX_2ayy3Dc

Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.

I’m open-source, check me out at GitHub.

permalink
report
parent
reply
2 points

Ah, thank you! Good bot. For the record, I use ReVanced, so I never see ads on YouTube. I highly recommend this to everyone on Android (sorry, iOS, no easy solution for you due to Apple’s walled garden), but it is a really good idea to put a piped link in there as well.

permalink
report
parent
reply

Memes

!memes@lemmy.ml

Create post

Rules:

  1. Be civil and nice.
  2. Try not to excessively repost, as a rule of thumb, wait at least 2 months to do it if you have to.

Community stats

  • 13K

    Monthly active users

  • 12K

    Posts

  • 259K

    Comments