Do Americans really spell cheque (the bank kind) "check"?
Or is that that people can't spell properly?
I asks because I wonders.
Thanks
Or is that that people can't spell properly?
I asks because I wonders.
Thanks
Spelling check
- Thread starter Willowmound
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Yes, in the US, you'd write a check from your bank account.
Now if you'd like to address it to "TheIT" and add a few more zeroes to the amount, just send it this way.
Now if you'd like to address it to "TheIT" and add a few more zeroes to the amount, just send it this way.
Thanks, that's good to know. And I'll be happy to send you a cheque with a bunch of zeros. (No other numbers on it though though )
)
Do Americans really spell cheque (the bank kind) "check"?
Or is that that people can't spell properly?
I asks because I wonders.
Thanks
We have a letter shortage in America, so we're always looking for ways to shorten words. That's why we don't use all those extra U's the English are so find of.
Most of these differences (including the dropping of the "u" in words like color and honor) can be directly attributed to the famous American lexicographer Noah Webster. He had explicit interest in promoting an "American" language, in part to distinguish the newly-free nation from its oppressive old parent country. So, in his first lexicon, he altered spellings, commonly simplifying by dropping what he considered to be superfluous letters, and by reducing the number of variant spellings to a single uniform one.
And besides, "cheque" isn't British, really. It's obviously derived from French, n'est-ce-pas?
Another oddity, not fully understood by moi, is that Canadians fall somewhere in between the U.S. and Britain in their spelling conventions.
caw
And besides, "cheque" isn't British, really. It's obviously derived from French, n'est-ce-pas?
Another oddity, not fully understood by moi, is that Canadians fall somewhere in between the U.S. and Britain in their spelling conventions.
caw
Canadians use, almost exclusively, British spelling, except in journalism, where space is at a premium and extra letters just fall away (this doesn't apply to the word cheque, by the way; it's always spelled that way in Canada). I suppose it might be due in part to Canada's sovereignty and in part to our French/English bilingualism. A lot of the words, colour, honour, valour, are derived from the French. Although, in French, the words are: couleur, honneur and valeur.
British use both check and cheque but they find reason to use each for separate meanings. Americans simply use one spelling for all meanings. Here is the etymology:
exchequer (n.) c.1300, from Anglo-Fr. escheker "a chessboard," from M.L. scaccarium (see check). Its government financial sense began under the Norman kings of England and refers to a cloth divided in squares that covered a table on which accounts of revenue were reckoned with counters. Respelled with an -x- based on the mistaken belief that it was originally a L. ex- word.
check (n.) c.1314, from O.Fr. eschequier "a check at chess," from eschec, from V.L. *scaccus, from Ar. shah, from Pers. shah "king," the principal piece in a chess game (see shah). When the king is in check a player's choices are limited. Meaning widened from chess to general sense of "adverse event, sudden stoppage" and by c.1700 to "a token used to check against loss or theft" (surviving in hat check) and "a check against forgery or alteration," which gave the modern financial use of "bank check, money draft" (first recorded 1798), probably influenced by exchequeur.
It is a pity most Americans allow themselves to be cowed by a few pompous British (including Prince Charles) who denigrate perceived changes made by Americans to the holy British English as though nothing has changed in British English for a thousand years. The dropping of "u" from many French derived words should not infuriate the British who often have less appreciation for the French than do Americans. And let us not blame it all on Webster. The British changed many French words themselves to their liking. Why did the British add a u to devoir, parleor and saveor, all French words? Why do both British and Americans have an added "o" in transferring ardeur, armure, candeur, faveur, honneur, labeur, odeur, rigneur, rumeur, splendeur, tumeur and vapeur from French to English? And what of rigour? Is it rigor mortis or rigour mortis?
In fact, some spellings and pronunciations have changed in British English since Shakespeare's time while they remain the same or nearly the same in some or all regions of American English. We have differences but, as both forms have changed over the centuries, neither SBE nor SAE is sacred or the only correct form. Even having said this I realize it is usually futile to argue against prejudice and rationalization.
exchequer (n.) c.1300, from Anglo-Fr. escheker "a chessboard," from M.L. scaccarium (see check). Its government financial sense began under the Norman kings of England and refers to a cloth divided in squares that covered a table on which accounts of revenue were reckoned with counters. Respelled with an -x- based on the mistaken belief that it was originally a L. ex- word.
check (n.) c.1314, from O.Fr. eschequier "a check at chess," from eschec, from V.L. *scaccus, from Ar. shah, from Pers. shah "king," the principal piece in a chess game (see shah). When the king is in check a player's choices are limited. Meaning widened from chess to general sense of "adverse event, sudden stoppage" and by c.1700 to "a token used to check against loss or theft" (surviving in hat check) and "a check against forgery or alteration," which gave the modern financial use of "bank check, money draft" (first recorded 1798), probably influenced by exchequeur.
It is a pity most Americans allow themselves to be cowed by a few pompous British (including Prince Charles) who denigrate perceived changes made by Americans to the holy British English as though nothing has changed in British English for a thousand years. The dropping of "u" from many French derived words should not infuriate the British who often have less appreciation for the French than do Americans. And let us not blame it all on Webster. The British changed many French words themselves to their liking. Why did the British add a u to devoir, parleor and saveor, all French words? Why do both British and Americans have an added "o" in transferring ardeur, armure, candeur, faveur, honneur, labeur, odeur, rigneur, rumeur, splendeur, tumeur and vapeur from French to English? And what of rigour? Is it rigor mortis or rigour mortis?
In fact, some spellings and pronunciations have changed in British English since Shakespeare's time while they remain the same or nearly the same in some or all regions of American English. We have differences but, as both forms have changed over the centuries, neither SBE nor SAE is sacred or the only correct form. Even having said this I realize it is usually futile to argue against prejudice and rationalization.
Do Americans really spell cheque (the bank kind) "check"?
Or is that that people can't spell properly?
I asks because I wonders.
Thanks
Yes. The 'cheque' spelling looks snooty to this 'merican.
To me it looks exotic and like there must be a lot of money involved.
"Your cheque is in the mail" just reads, well, exciting.
I have no idea why.
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