why is this not one way or the other?

addendum: wow, thanks everyone. I truly never knew it was a British vs. American spelling thing.

  • TheFermentalist@reddthat.com
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    1 day ago

    E is the European version, A is the American version. This sounds trite, but is true, and makes it simple to know which one to use

      • Kalothar@lemmy.ca
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        13 hours ago

        Are you being like pedantic or just trying to make it more simple?

        (Otherwise North America and specially the United States has the majority of English speakers in the world, so there is a realistic distinction between U.K. / European English and American English and both are equally correct evolutions of their English roots )

        Edit: downvote all you want, but I was just asking for clarity

    • Em Adespoton@lemmy.ca
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      1 day ago

      . . . Unless you’re in the majority of the English speaking world, which includes India, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

      Of course, grey is the appropriate spelling for all of those but Canada, which uses both.

        • Em Adespoton@lemmy.ca
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          1 day ago

          What’s wrong with Canada’s weights and measures?

          Everything is in SI units.

          Unless you’re cooking, where heat is in Fahrenheit, solid measures are in cups teaspoons and tablespoons (but liquids are in litres and weights are in grams).

          Or in construction, where you work in feet and yards. Or measuring a person’s height.

          But while someone might be 6’ tall, their stride length will be in metres, as will their arm span.

          So yeah; simple. It’s not like Canada has tons of people weighing in tonnes.

          • Rentlar@lemmy.ca
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            1 day ago

            A “Pint” of beer served commercially in Canada must be 20 imperial (UK) ounces (aka ~568 mL), with a 2.5% margin of error permitted within the law, unlike a US pint (16 US fl oz ~473mL).

            Just for fun, “Une pinte” of alcohol in French served commercially is “a quart” of alcohol in English which is double that value.

          • Holytimes@sh.itjust.works
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            23 hours ago

            Canada said fuck it we use what makes the most sense for the scope and scale at hand. And then cherry picked everything.

            Unironically if you get your head out of your fucking ass for two seconds and stop being a fan boy for measurement systems.

            Canada has arguably the best worst solution! Its fantastic! And awful! I love it.

        • Otter@lemmy.ca
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          1 day ago

          No need to downvote this comment

          Even canadians agree that we have a weird mix of different systems in play

        • nondescripthandle@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          17 hours ago

          Hey at least you’re not still measuring weight in stone. Nothing makes me roll my eyes quicker. Oh you’re ten stone? How neat im 2 boulder and 3 pebble.

        • adarza@piefed.ca
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          24 hours ago

          henry gray, the author of the iconic medical text.

          albert grey, former governor general (ca). the grey cup (cfl championship game and trophy) takes its name from him.

    • OwOarchist@pawb.social
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      1 day ago

      But in certain circumstances, the Europeans will still use it with an a. Specifically, when referring to the color of a horse.