Hmm, well...I believe I'm what you might call your friendly local anomaly. ::waves:: Which is why I did my best with your polls, but can't say as I answered them 100% accurately (also, kinda skipping the icon thing since I've known you for...a week? Not really enough time to build up an association, though I think 8 was the first one I saw, for what that's worth).
Commas: I am a vehement believer in the serial comma, as I feel it's far more clear. As an example, I once heard of a court case in which an inheritance was to be divided equally among Bob, Sue, Joe and Mary. The reason it went to court was because the Bob and Sue each wanted the cash to be divided into thirds, while Joe and Mary wanted it divided into quarters. The whole thing hinged on the serial comma, or lack thereof. In my ever-so-humble English teacher role, I firmly believe that it never should have been considered optional.
That said, your poll refers to spelling as well as grammar, and honestly, having lived in the UK for a while, and marinated myself in imported UK television and literature for the last 20 years, I use whichever. Sometimes I'm not even aware that I'm switching back and forth, or if I happen to type realise or organise, I just don't bother to switch it back. (This is a fairly recent development since I basically got tired of fighting it--in high school I used British spelling pretty exclusively and was the only kid in my class to have words like "color" on their misspelled-words quiz--I'd spell them the US way on the quiz and then happily go on my merry way doing whatever I liked--and so it's even odds now which one you'll get from me. I do pay more attention for "official" documents, but otherwise, I just don't care.)
As for the dressing/stuffing thing, I'm from PA Dutch country, where nobody talks about "dressing" unless it's something you put on a salad. At Thanksgiving, you have "stuffing" or "filling," and in my family, they both mean the same thing. I have heard that in some areas, "filling" is cooked in a dish and "stuffing" is cooked in the bird, but I can't speak to that from my own experience.
And that had to be at least twice as much information as you were looking for! :)
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2006-06-08 03:39 am (UTC)Commas: I am a vehement believer in the serial comma, as I feel it's far more clear. As an example, I once heard of a court case in which an inheritance was to be divided equally among Bob, Sue, Joe and Mary. The reason it went to court was because the Bob and Sue each wanted the cash to be divided into thirds, while Joe and Mary wanted it divided into quarters. The whole thing hinged on the serial comma, or lack thereof. In my ever-so-humble English teacher role, I firmly believe that it never should have been considered optional.
That said, your poll refers to spelling as well as grammar, and honestly, having lived in the UK for a while, and marinated myself in imported UK television and literature for the last 20 years, I use whichever. Sometimes I'm not even aware that I'm switching back and forth, or if I happen to type realise or organise, I just don't bother to switch it back. (This is a fairly recent development since I basically got tired of fighting it--in high school I used British spelling pretty exclusively and was the only kid in my class to have words like "color" on their misspelled-words quiz--I'd spell them the US way on the quiz and then happily go on my merry way doing whatever I liked--and so it's even odds now which one you'll get from me. I do pay more attention for "official" documents, but otherwise, I just don't care.)
As for the dressing/stuffing thing, I'm from PA Dutch country, where nobody talks about "dressing" unless it's something you put on a salad. At Thanksgiving, you have "stuffing" or "filling," and in my family, they both mean the same thing. I have heard that in some areas, "filling" is cooked in a dish and "stuffing" is cooked in the bird, but I can't speak to that from my own experience.
And that had to be at least twice as much information as you were looking for! :)