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Would you like to take part in a research study open to all you wonderful Gardeners' World Viewers?

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  • philippasmith2philippasmith2 Posts: 3,742
    I'm guessing that the spelling of such words as colourful, flavour etc. are automatically altered to reflect the Americanised version - missing out the U - due to most programs being US biased ?
    Just typing this, both colourful and flavour are underlined in red which presumably means there is a spelling error according to the computer.
    Language does evolve over time - if we had been posting on a forum some thousands of years ago, presumably we would be having to trust to grunts initially and then maybe we would have refined our grunts to include snorts as well - someone somewhere at sometime must have thought - bugger this for a lark - can't make head nor tail of this - and a new form of communication came into use.
    I'm joking of course - language is a tads more complicated than that but even tho the verbalising of every word under the sun is extremely irritating to many of us, it does seem to be used widely.
    I shudder at Gifting and Wilding but once in common usage, there is little we can do to turn the clock back.
  • B3B3 Posts: 27,505
    You can change your spellchecker to UK English. It's the first thing I do when I buy anything that has one , otherwise it would drive me😵
    In London. Keen but lazy.
  • philippasmith2philippasmith2 Posts: 3,742
    TBH I jwouldn't even know whether I have a Spell Checker or not ( unless red underlining is it ) I just ignore it.  If I am unsure of a spelling when posting . I usually put a ? in brackets or get the dictionary out to check.
    If I make a horrendous boob, someone will point it out I hope :D
  • steveTusteveTu Posts: 3,219
    It's interesting when language is changed intentionally - didn't Webster intentionally change some words for his US dictionary to both simplify the spelling and to emphasise the difference of the language for the fledgling States? - I'm nearly certain I read that somewhere.
    Looking at check again - it seems the original was check - that moved to cheque to distinguish a financial cheque from any other check. So now check is perceived as American, but it's not really - just an older spelling of the same thing from what I can gather.
    I still can't get my head round 'soccer' (I really thought it was an Americanism)- maybe it's an accent thing and the pronunciation of sockerrrrr in American that wrankles more. But then my son, who never really knew his 'er'ford born grandad, says 'oi' for 'I' when he's not on his guard - 'e goes right rural.
    And I much prefer dafter to daughter when talking about my own child. So apt.


    UK - South Coast Retirement Campus (East)
  • BenCottoBenCotto Posts: 4,718
    These days most style guides advocate ‘a’ for aspirated words beginning with h and ‘an’ for the rest.

    This form of yours, @B3, is it concise responses or ones padded out?
    Rutland, England
  • B3B3 Posts: 27,505
    I don't know @BenCotto but I never ever fill out a form ever.
    In London. Keen but lazy.
  • philippasmith2philippasmith2 Posts: 3,742
    panfordl said:

    I suppose that's one perspective but what about people with no gardens or accessible green space? who cannot garden or do not want to garden? or perhaps watch the show because it helps them switch off from whatever else is going on in their lives? Rather than assume the reasons, I'm trying to ask why.
    I can understand people with no gardens or accessible green space but have an interest in gardening want to watch a gardening programme but those who don't want to garden ? ?  What would you include in a gardening programme if they have absolutely no interest in that aspect of life ?
    For those people to switch on and continue to watch, the programme must contain something to entice them.  How do you ascertain their diverse interests in order to make the programme watchable ?  If you include other aspects are you not in danger of losing your core audience ?

  • hatty123hatty123 Posts: 125
    BenCotto said:
    These days most style guides advocate ‘a’ for aspirated words beginning with h and ‘an’ for the rest
    Is it just me that finds this really irritating? I first noticed this with "an 'otel" when I was in my teenage years (40's now 🙈) and it just seems to be getting more prevalent and spreading to other words. Feels very affectatious to me, since when did we dropped h's in English?
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    And there’s the irritating ‘erb in the USA. Hope that doesn’t spread 🙄

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • hatty123hatty123 Posts: 125
    @Dovefromabove Yes that's the other one that really annoys me! Ive heard a lot of 'erbs on British TV cooking programmes 😖
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