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In Article Syndication, Do U.S. Editors of Major Sites Avoid Articles Using British Spelling?

by Sebastian
16 replies
I am Canadian. I have built an article syndication site and I am about to begin article promotion. My niche topic uses a primary word that happens to have two possible spellings- one in standard English (“British English”) and the other in the alternate American-English spelling. Selecting which one to chose was not much of a problem as the available .com URL using the niche topic only had the standard English spelling available. I didn’t think it much mattered. So, I’ve been using standard English throughout.

Then a friend suggested that I should use only American spelling at least in my article promotions (if not actually on my website) because she feels American editors will automatically reject articles that use standard English spelling. Another friend said the good quality of my articles would preclude their rejection just because I did not use standard American spelling. Another friend told me that American spelling is completely unimportant. Question: In Article Syndication, do U.S. editors/publishers of major sites avoid articles using British spelling?
#article #articles #avoid #british #editors #major #sites #spelling #syndication
  • Profile picture of the author DJL
    American spelling is, or should be, the standard of the world, as is driving on the right side of the road.
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    • Profile picture of the author Thomas
      Originally Posted by DJL View Post

      American spelling is, or should be, the standard of the world, as is driving on the right side of the road.
      You want the whole world to spell everything wrong!?
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      • Profile picture of the author PatriciaJ
        I mostly use the correct English spelling and have never once had an article refused by admin of a US site. Nor have I ever declined any articles with American English for that reason on my directories.
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    • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
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      Originally Posted by DJL View Post

      American spelling is, or should be, the standard of the world
      That's not an easy perspective to argue, when there are far, far more countries (and far, far more English-speaking population, too) using British-style spellings than using American ones.

      For those believing in "unification", rather than in "diversity", there's always the possibility of arguing that the habits and culture of the majority should be imposed on the minority, but it's not quite so easy to make out the case for the converse, I think?
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      • Profile picture of the author PatriciaJ
        Originally Posted by Alexa Smith View Post

        That's not an easy perspective to argue, when there are far, far more countries (and far, far more English-speaking population, too) using British-style spellings than using American ones.

        For those believing in "unification", there's always the possibility of arguing that the habits and culture of the majority should be imposed on the minority, but it's not quite so easy to make out the case for the converse, I think?
        That too ^^^
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        • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
          I can't speak for the major sites, but I don't think my own practices are all that deviant from them.

          Most of the markets I work in are well-enough educated that either spelling is acceptable. What is more likely to garner a rejection is use of some particularly odd local idiom. The meaning of that idiom may be gin-clear in the author's locality but clear as mud to anyone else.

          That said, when someone does submit an article, they agree to minor edits (such as fixing typos or punctuation). In the editing process, if I'm not paying close attention, I am prone to converting the British spelling to the one I learned in school (e.g., 'tire' vs. 'tyre' or 'color' vs. 'colour').
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    • Profile picture of the author AnniePot
      Originally Posted by DJL View Post

      American spelling is, or should be, the standard of the world, as is driving on the right side of the road.
      What an arrogant statement..

      British spelling is the standard in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Singapore, and many other significant worldwide countries where the populous probably doesn't give a jot about America's *******ised spelling. And all those countries, with the exception of Canada, also drive on the left hand side of the road, as do Japan, India, the West Indies, and many others.
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      • Profile picture of the author myob
        Originally Posted by AnniePot View Post

        What an arrogant statement.
        Perhaps you should realise it may have been intended in the sense of dry humour, which is one of my favourite qualities of British wit, but seems to have been more of an offence by those of a less colourfully playful nature.
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        • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
          Banned
          Originally Posted by myob View Post

          Perhaps you should realise it may have been intended in the sense of dry humour, which is one of my favourite qualities of British wit, but seems to have been more of an offence by those of a less colourfully playful nature.
          Hmmm, "humour" and "offence" in the same post? We're gradually Anglicis(/z)ing the natives, it seems.
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          • Profile picture of the author Paul Hooper-Kelly
            HI Guys and Gals,

            The plain truth is the USA is the largest market in the world for internet sales. Therefore, you need to follow the first rule of marketing, which is:

            'Give the market what it wants'.

            And, in this case, it's American spelling.

            What's more, you also need to aware of the difference in colloquial expressions between the two countries.

            For example, if you 'Do a bomb' in the UK - that's a rip-roaring success. But in the USA, if something 'Bombs' - it's a failure.

            Warmest regards,

            Paul
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            • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
              Banned
              Originally Posted by Paul Hooper-Kelly View Post

              The truth is the USA is the largest market in the world for internet sales.
              The largest single-country market, I don't doubt. But it's far from clear to me that the US represents the majority of the online English-speaking market. It may - I just don't know; my point is simply that they're two very different assertions.

              I admit that I use US-style spelling here (when I remember) just because the majority of English-speakers here probably are American. I'm much less sure that that's true of "the internet" in general, though? As with so many marketing-related issues, what's true - overall - of marketers isn't necessarily true of customers.
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              • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
                Originally Posted by Alexa Smith View Post

                The largest single-country market, I don't doubt. But it's far from clear to me that the US represents the majority of the online English-speaking market. It may - I just don't know; my point is simply that they're two very different assertions.

                I admit that I use US-style spelling here (when I remember) just because the majority of English-speakers here probably are American. I'm much less sure that that's true of "the internet" in general, though? As with so many marketing-related issues, what's true - overall - of marketers isn't necessarily true of customers.
                If this projection turns out to be accurate, which English spelling is used may be a moot point.

                Industry Statistics - Global e-commerce sales will top $1.25 trillion by 2013 - Internet Retailer

                If we want the largest market by language, we may all be studying Mandarin and Cantonese...
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                • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
                  Banned
                  Originally Posted by JohnMcCabe View Post

                  If we want the largest market by language, we may all be studying Mandarin and Cantonese...
                  Yes, I was wondering about the Chinese languages and about Spanish-speakers, too ... good point. I know nothing about Mandarin/Cantonese, but I understand there are some significant differences between "South American Spanish" and "Spanish Spanish"?
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                  • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
                    Originally Posted by Alexa Smith View Post

                    Yes, I was wondering about the Chinese languages and about Spanish-speakers, too ... good point. I know nothing about Mandarin/Cantonese, but I understand there are some significant differences between "South American Spanish" and "Spanish Spanish"?
                    Also between "South American Spanish" and "Caribbean Spanish", I've been told...

                    Much like someone from backbay Boston trying to communicate with someone from backwoods Alabama. Both claim to be speaking English, but you could tell it by me.
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              • Profile picture of the author myob
                "I don't give a damn for a man that can only spell a word one way."
                - Mark Twain
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  • Profile picture of the author LarryC
    << Question: In Article Syndication, do U.S. editors/publishers of major sites avoid articles using British spelling? >>

    I don't know the answer to this question, but I would guess that U.S. editors and publishers would favor U.S. spelling.

    In general, however, I suspect that issues like this will soon become irrelevant. English may not be the #1 spoken language in the world, but it will probably be the #1 language of the internet for some time. This means that the majority of internet users who are reading and writing in English will not be native speakers of English. Will they really care about the differences between American and British spelling?

    Even among native English speakers, spelling and grammar are becoming less important (like it or not). With the spread of Twitter and texting, we're seeing more and more abbreviations and a very casual attitude about spelling, grammar and sentence structure.

    Add to this the fact that images and video are becoming ever more popular, and traditional rules of language are becoming even less of a priority. If current trends continue, the internet will most likely evolve into an extremely casual, English-based vernacular. Both American and English spelling is rather complicated, so more phonetic spellings will probably become accepted.

    This is similar to how people talk to each other in cities where there are many different nationalities. The only thing that really matters is that your message gets across. Of course, there will always be more literary and intellectual articles, books and so forth. For marketing purposes, though, I just don't see much of a future for strict rules of spelling or grammar.
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