Talk:Comparison of American and British English

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This article is about both British and American English and as such quotes both. The narrative sections that are not quoting British or American usage should avoid all forms that are not common to both varieties of English (summarise, summarize, etc.). According to the relevant style guide, this should not be changed without broad consensus.

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"I couldn't care less"

The article says 'Both BrE and AmE use the expression "I couldn't care less" to mean the speaker does not care at all.'

But, we very often hear Americans using "I could care less" when they really mean "I couldn't care less". The former, which is heard often (e.g. on US TV and films) is logically incorrect, and confusing to British ears, so possibly worth mentioning?— Preceding unsigned comment added by 212.44.19.62 (talk • contribs) 17:51, 7 November 2011‎ (UTC)[reply]

Ridiculous Reversion

User:BilCat has decided to start a nuclear conflagration over my adding half a sentence to this article. He provides zero reason for doing this and is tendentiously reverting the article. He also attempted to vandalize my page since he started the "edit war." I have reached out to this individual but he refuses to engage.

There's no reason to remove the example that I added. It adds additiional information and is an amusing example of Shaw's observation of "two peoples separated by a common language."

I conclude this person is acting as a Page Troll, sitting upon a page possessively attempting to own it.

I'm know for my thousands of edits improving hundreds of articles. This person's harassment is both unwarranted and farcical.

PainMan (talk) 07:25, 18 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]

See WP:LEAD. FDW777 (talk) 07:53, 18 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]

TPS - that addition wasn't appropriate and the 3RR warning on your page entirely appropriate. W C M_email 08:15, 18 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Commas

Escape Orbit has removed several commas added by Rolltide689. Neither user provided an edit summary for these changes. However, I support most of the commas because they improve the cadence when I read the article. On that basis, I would let them stand. The missing edit summary, then, would state “I improved the cadence for the reader“.

As a fairly new user, I am so far unaware of a Wikipedia standard which covers commas. I am also inexperienced with editing protocol. To me, in the absence of a standard, it seems incumbent upon the reverting editor to justify the removal of an edit made in good faith.

I invite both editors to provide supporting arguments for their positions. Otherwise, I could change punctuation whenever I think it improves readability.

I thank you both, in advance, for helping me to learn more about editing Wikipedia. Humphrey Tribble (talk) 02:11, 2 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Confusion over section title

What do you mean by "holiday" as in the phrase "Holiday greetings" used as heading for section 2.3? I mean, don't Americans say "vacation" instead of "holiday"? --Fandelasketchup (talk) 11:37, 16 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Add section on pronunciation

It's easy to open this article on a mobile phone, see the various sections (grammar differences, spelling differences) and then wonder where's the "pronunciation differences" section. After this, you may read the notice on top that says:

"For a comparison of typical American versus British pronunciation differences, see Comparison of General American and Received Pronunciation."

Since inadvertently skipping that notice is easier than it seems, I think a brief section with a high-level view of the pronunciation differences should be included (maybe some basics on rhoticity and the LOT vowel), and then a link added to the main article with more information. In that way, someone that reasonably expects a section on pronunciation differences would see it beside all the other sections. It's easier to miss it as a message on top. 2A0C:5A81:4303:2100:28C5:6307:223B:77D (talk) 01:08, 6 August 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Re: Bill

The noun: Bill, in AmeE means a discussed, formulated, composed & drafted suggestion of/for a piece of legislation-I am not sure what the BritE equivalent is/would be.

Also, a bill is also an animal's beak (again, amnot sure which one would be/is used in BritE! There's also the document called: a bill of goods/bill of laden. Where is it used & is there a Bolddifferent dialectal/regional to it?

Lastly, in the U.S., when in restaurant, one may ask for the bill or, for the check-whereas, in BritE, I am quite certain, only the noun: bill can be/is used in this context...

AK63 (talk) 00:17, 14 September 2023 (UTC)[reply]