Comments on: “Amongst” among us

By: Justin 'English Pedant' Roux

Justin 'English Pedant' Roux — Mon, 18 Sep 2006 14:58:43 +0000

Dear all,

it’s so nice to hear true English being embraced. Here are some top bits from the latest survey of the tongue over here on ‘the little island off the coast of Europe’.

‘Program’ is, officially, a piece of software, whereas ‘programme’ is a sequence of events.

‘Z’ is now recognised as a legitimate alternative to ’s’ in ‘organise’, ‘realise’ and suchlike.

‘Color’, ‘center’, ‘theater’ and ‘behavior’ remain abhorrent.

Please use ‘Britishisms’ - if only to sound twee. They’re ever so nice.

Justin

By: Tish

Tish — Fri, 18 Mar 2005 22:00:31 +0000

Hurrah for monstrous programmes! I will continue to subvert the culture here with as much british colour as I can muster. If it makes you giggle, so much the better ;)

Zed’s dead, baby, zed’s dead

By: Ned

Ned — Fri, 11 Mar 2005 01:59:54 +0000

I think amongst is pretty darn funny. Years ago, Microsoft’s American English spell checker disallowed it, but that doesn’t seem to be the case anymore. Aluminium always makes me giggle. Organise is dreary, programme is monstrous, but W-X-Y-Zed, that’s funny.

By: Summer Blues

Summer Blues — Fri, 11 Mar 2005 00:01:35 +0000

I use the word “whilst” because it is a funny word. There is nothing funny about “amongst”.

By: Lynn

Lynn — Thu, 10 Mar 2005 17:28:55 +0000

Are you picking on me again? I can’t get rid of some of the things I got over there.

By: Bob Gilmore

Bob Gilmore — Thu, 10 Mar 2005 14:15:50 +0000

No, I think that it’s because a new generation has discovered The Spanish Inquisition.

“AMONGST our weaponry are such diverse elements as fear, surprize, ruthless efficiency, an almost fanatical devotion to the Pope, and nice red uniforms - oh, damn!”