Variants in English on the English Citizendium.

[Royalist0007]

It must be remembered that there are actually 2 spelling conventions that would have to be accommodated on the English-language Citizendium - the British Commonwealth spelling convention (derived from French) & the American spelling convention (derived from Latin).A classic case is 'labour' & 'labor'.

As I live in a British Commonwealth country,I always stick firmly to the British Commonwealth spelling convention.

Aidan.

[Zachary Pruckowski]

I don't think that spelling is nearly as big of a deal as language-specific words.  Americans might have issues with "lift" and "lorry" or "tubes", and I'm sure there are American-specific words you guys might miss.  I mean, I totally ignore labour vs. labor, because I've mentally "handled" the word before I notice the spelling consciously.  Sort of how you can dramatically misspell words, but as long as all the letters are there, and the first and last letters are right, and you can use context, the average person is fine.

[Trakgalvis]

I agree with the last post.  Avoiding confusion is the most important thing.  I live in the UK but am happy to use with UK or USA English, as I already have to do for my research, papers depending on the journal.

[Royalist0007]

I agree with the last post.  Avoiding confusion is the most important thing.  I live in the UK but am happy to use with UK or USA English, as I already have to do for my research, papers depending on the journal.

Trakgalvis,I always stick to using British Commonwealth English,as that is my native tongue anyway.American English is too foreign for me though.

Aidan.

[Trakgalvis]

The difference between UK and USA English is small, and clearly what matters most are the ideas, and that they can be understood by all.  I would guess that USA English will win here, though even some science journals are happy for either form of English, provided it is consistent throughout the article.

[Simen Rustad]

The difference between UK and USA English is small, and clearly what matters most are the ideas, and that they can be understood by all.  I would guess that USA English will win here, though even some science journals are happy for either form of English, provided it is consistent throughout the article.

Well, I don't see a problem with using either variant. In fact, I'm not certain consistency is easily maintained even withing a single article! I for one, as a non-native speaker, doubt even my own ability to maintain this consistency in an article if I should write it alone. Then what will a collaboration like this imply?

In the end, is it important? Should we spend resources on keeping articles at least internally consistent? And if so, who should decide the variant?

(I guess my answer is that I certainly can't check for consistency, and I'm not really certain if it's worth the extra work unless there is some automated tool to do so.)

[Trakgalvis]

A simple check is to run it through either a UK or a USA spelling checker.  However, I agree this is not really a very important issue at this stage.

[Larry Sanger]

I like the idea of being able to set preferences and then have the server decide whether to display 'colour', or "color."

[Zachary Pruckowski]

I like the idea of being able to set preferences and then have the server decide whether to display 'colour', or "color."

Seems like a major PITA from the technical and editorial perspectives.  I mean, either the editors need to flag the word as having two spellings, and include both of them, or we need to check each word in the article against a database of words with dual spellings.  Maybe if we check each word as the author/editor saves changes...

[Chris Day]

I like the idea of being able to set preferences and then have the server decide whether to display 'colour', or "color."

Seems like a major PITA from the technical and editorial perspectives.  I mean, either the editors need to flag the word as having two spellings, and include both of them, or we need to check each word in the article against a database of words with dual spellings.  Maybe if we check each word as the author/editor saves changes...

It's probably not worth worrying about since any global changes, such as flaging words, can easily be automated when the time arrives for such decisions.

[Trakgalvis]

I like the idea of being able to set preferences and then have the server decide whether to display 'colour', or "color."

That does not solve the problem of say "momentarily" which to people in the UK means "for a moment" and in the USA seems to mean "in a moment".

Very few people from the UK would object to USA English for this project.  Surely, what matters is that it is clear and interesting.

Also in words like "generalize" the "ize" ending has always been the first spelling in the Oxford English dictionary, and the "generalise" the second.

[Marek_Zyskowski]

There is also Canadian English.

[Trakgalvis]

And others!

[Royalist0007]

There is also Canadian English.

Marek,Canadian English actually follows the British Commonwealth English spelling convention more than the American English spelling convention.This is due to the very strong Francophone minorities in New Brunswick,Newfoundland,Quebec,& the other provinces.

I believe that articles in relation to Canada & the constituent provinces must use British Commonwealth English at all times,unless a brand name uses an American English term.An example of this is 'Canadian Tire',which is famous for its issues of 'tyre money'.

Aidan.

[christian liem]

The difference is too small to actually implement a software that changes "color" to "colour", much less two entirely separate CZ versions. It's not like American and British English are that much different, like Norwegian Nynorsk and Bokmal or Chinese Traditional and Simplified.