So when did we lose "might" as the past tense of "may"?

> If it hadn't rained, they might never have met.

> If it hadn't rained, they may never have met.

Only the first construction sounds correct to my ear, but I rarely read anything but the second these days. Is this a #BritishEnglish vs. #AmericanEnglish distinction? Is it just the language marching on and leaving me behind?

#English #grammar #language #lingusitics #usage

I never feel more British than when a spell checker rejects the word "wazzock" :D
#amwriting #britishenglish

A weird thing about learning French on DuoLingo is that Britons must not only dodge the mispronunciations in the French examples ('dos' and 'bus' are annoying - former wrongly "doss", latter wrongly "bu" ) but also translate via a third language, ie American English. Freeway for motorway, couch for sofa/settee, soccer for football, parking lot for car park, grade for (school) class, etc. It's not critical but it's a significant additional challenge.
#Duolingo #BritishEnglish #AmericanEnglish

@cstross

The Kobo page for the UK:
https://www.kobo.com/gb/en/ebook/season-of-skulls-1

It doesn't say no DRM - and since I'm in Canada, it probably won't let me buy it anyway, though I haven't tried.

Does the UK version come in a no-DRM format, and is there anyplace that'll sell it to someone who's probably covered by Tor's presumably-exclusive contract area?

#BritishEnglish

wait - to Brits really say 'on the cards' instead of 'in the cards'??

#linguistics #judgment #idiom #english #britishEnglish #NorthAmericanEnglish

#Mad #MadMan #MadWoman #Africa #Britain #BritishEnglish #Language #LanguageManners #Wording #MentalHealth #MentalIllness #Education #Humanity #HumanRights #HumanRightsEducation #Spazz #ChangeTheLanguage #AfricanContinent #SuicideRate #MentalHealth #SuicideAwareness

https://tbhenry.medium.com/british-people-can-call-out-the-word-spazz-can-they-stop-using-mad-to-describe-living-with-df0b32805050

I owe #NealStephenson an apology.

In Diamond Age, he makes a big deal about the impact a high-quality voice artist can have in education narration. I've always thought that a lazy excuse to rope in a crucial character.

Then I heard #PawPatrol dubbed into #BritishEnglish. Merciful biscuits.

Don't know if it is the voice artists or the direction but – and I say this as someone who finds many American accents terribly grating – it is awful. Much worse than the original. Borderline unwatchable.

I really enjoyed Lynne Murphy's book 'The Prodigal Tongue'. It's about how American and British English clash and how often people are wrong about it.

#english #linguistics #LynneMurphy #AmericanEnglish #BritishEnglish @bookstodon

TIL that some speakers inflect the “on X's behalf” construction for plural, labiodental voicing and all, and it's truly blown my mind

#BritishEnglish never ceases to amaze #morphology #syntax #dialectology #LanguageVariation #linguistics

I've taken over this project after Darmeth has moved on. Seems pretty basic on the surface but actually, British-English standards have been eroded. There is no British-English equivalent of the French Académie Française, for example. The aim of this project is to reintroduce some reference point of the root language; how words are spelt, to be precise.

https://cybrkyd.com/post/british-english-language-tools/

#English #Language #BritishEnglish #Linux #Unix #SpellCheck #SpellChecker #Dictionary #OpenSource #FOSS #FLOSS

The British-English Language Tools project provides Linux-based users with the ability to conduct system-wide spell-checking based on the well-established British Standard English convention.

https://cybrkyd.com/post/british-english-language-tools/

#English #Language #BritishEnglish #Linux #Unix #SpellCheck #SpellChecker #Dictionary #OpenSource #FOSS #FLOSS

Really Microsoft Word 2021, you don't have the word "odor" in your dictionary? gonna underline that in red as if to make underhanded remarks about my literacy? Well my literacy may be questionable, but that's definitely a goddamned word you jumped up Paperclip assistant host. You're set to the US English dictionary and everything (Piece is set in the USA, with American characters, thus correct spellings are the American ones.) #MicrosoftWord #BritishEnglish #USEnglish

Interesting piece from @naomiohreally (sub req). Is #HibernoEnglish going mainstream across the #EU?

Is the case of the #Latvian PM’s #Irish inflections an accident or intentional?

Might #BritishEnglish be falling out of favor because of #Brexit?

#GlobalIrishNation

https://www.irishtimes.com/world/europe/2022/12/21/europe-letter-latvian-prime-minister-mysteriously-develops-an-irish-accent-but-sure-its-grand/

#BritishWriters advice needed. For a scene set in a school, does one check for someone in the “girl’s room?” “Toilets”? “Rest room” like in the US? #Thanks #amwriting #writingadvice #BritishEnglish

#BritishWriters advice needed. For a scene set in a school, does one check for someone in the “girl’s room?” “Toilets”? “Rest room” like in the US? #Thanks #amwriting #writingadvice #BritishEnglish

🤣🤣😂 us provincial sorts are going to be fine for a long while.
#ChatGPT...

If the machines start coming for use switch into Pirate Bumpkin immediately 😂

#Westcountry #Somerset #Bumpkin #WheresItToo #Pirate #Farmer #Language #MachineLearning #Funny #BritishEnglish #Dialect #Colloquialisms #LifeHack #MachinesCantDoSnark