Most of the time these types of misspellings start out as marketing ploys. The auto industry started adding "Z's" to their products (280z, etc..) because a "Z" sounds much faster than an "S". Just say it a few times..... zzzzzzzzz or ssssssss.... which sounds faster? It's also the last letter in the alphabet, so nothing else could possibly be better than it. Other industries then picked up the habit - so light from a "Lazer" moves faster than light from a "Laser" (or so it's perceived by impressionable people). It's also perceived to be better or cooler in some undefinable way. (Dude, it's not just any laser, it's a "LAZER"! ) The same logic applies to product names such as Infiniti (nothing bigger or better), Probe (goes where other cars can't), Lumina (radiant as the moon), Tundra (imagine the Northwest Territories - wide open spaces). You get the idea. It's really just clever use of language to manipulate the population. Did you never wonder why so many successful business people go into politics later in life?
To put it simply, Z is so much cooler then S. That's why we like to use it more. realize>realise , we also don't like U's that much either... Color>Colour I think subconsiously we don't like the extra U because it sounds too french. And anyone that puts LASER as LAZER is a f-ing tard, where ever you are from.
The meanings of words seems to always change to how people see fit to use them most people just use a word because its un usual and they don’t realize the true meaning 2 instances would be the words Putz and Dork I hear kids use these all the time in front of their parents and nothing is ever said to them. Its because the parents don't truly know what the terms meaning. Putz is a yiddish term and dork is just slang both mean similar vulgarities and if I ever hear my child use them she will be punished for it and told how truly vulgar the terms are. I know when I was in school I called everyone a dork and I was never told what it meant it was just accepted as a goofy word to call someone.
I am sorry I wasn’t trying to start anything about UK Vs. USA. I was only asking a question. Also anyone know where bonnet and boot come from on the cars? Ares’ are hood and trunk. Thanks.
It has nothing to do with Americans. If you spell it wrong: (A) you don't know how to spell it right. (B) you did it wrong to be like the cool kids. I think it's fun to have a different English language everywhere. Adds a little variety. I remember a friend from England getting quite a chuckle out of "Fanny Pack."
That one makes me laugh everytime as well espcially as all the Americans I have met are oblivious to what it means over here.
Is it possible that this entire thread is moot and the reason that people are replacing Z’s for S’s is that they don’t know how to spell the words and therefore are spelling them phonetically? Look at the pronunciation from Merriam Webster Pronunciation: 'lA-z&r The pronunciation has a Z. As for marketing, I personally am sick to death of seeing words intentionally misspelled for “coolness”. If they want to make up a word then fine, but spell everything correctly. By the way, a spell checker in this forum would be very handy. I resort to using word for most posts to make sure I am spelling correctly.
For that I say: respect. If everyone would go through the hassle of checking their posts for spelling mistakes, this forum would be even nicer. Edit: Samurai75007 you too!
Agreed. My roommate just bought a new toaster and the box calls it a: Toast-R-oven wtf is that? Spell it out!! And if i see the word "X-treme" on one more package I swear...
I tend to keep a word document open when I will be answering a lot of forums. Makes me see how bad I spell and it helps sometimes. There are some things that still come up wrong but I can then re word it.
Both IE & Firefox have good checkers that work on the post box. Plus you can pick a UK English dictionary and get the correct spelling. Some American-style words come unchanged from early English (most of the -ize words), some have probably developed from non-Brit immigrant spellings of the same word, others ('color' IIRC) deliberate changes approved by Congress to simplify spelling. Read Bill Bryson's 'Mother Tongue' Shakespeare probably spoke with an American accent. Google 'The Great Vowel Shift' - which is why Derby and clerk are pronounced as they are, and left the more backward conservative States with eye-rack and ewe-nike while we moved on.
actually a pedophile would be someone who loves feet another yankification to add to the list. I dont have a problem with languages changing. I just think the problem is that it was our language first, and we are so exposed to american media it makes us cringe everytime we see words that have been changed for no particular reason..... in some cases they even stayed the same and we changed them... But that is still annoying What also annoys me slightly is how things like "Men of Valor" isn't changed to "Men of Valour" for the uk release. I mean, seriously, how hard can it be....
