On 6/12/06, Mark Gallagher m.g.gallagher@student.canberra.edu.au wrote:
By the way, could we kinda stop using "Br" or "BrE" or "British English" to refer to variants of English that aren't American? There's a big, wonderful, English-speaking world out there that aren't American, and we aren't British, either.
Got a better term? Wikipedia sometimes uses "Commonwealth English" but I've never heard it outside that context. Probably the best would be something descriptive, like "ize" English vs "ise", sort of like Languedoc and Languedoïl in France (or zezeo (sp?) in Spanish).
I don't think Australia really uses British spelling...we use a variety of spelling generally closer to the British end of the scale, but we're not that fussy.
Steve