On 24/03/2011 17:28, Olin Lathrop wrote:
> RussellMc wrote:
>> We antipodeans also use 'maths' and not 'math'. The latter has never
>> been used here afaik, and would instantly identify you as a furriner.
> So you would actually say "I have to do my maths homework now."?  That wo=
uld
> definitely be wrong here.
>

Yes, in every circumstance you would say "math" we would say "maths",=20
e.g. "I'm pretty good at maths", "Who is your maths teacher?" and so on.=20
As Michael says, it's one of the few Americanisms that has not caught on=20
much over here.
As an aside, I was wondering about how e.g. Windows being set up for US=20
spelling affects literacy over here - I may be wrong in general, but in=20
my experience most PCs I have seen have it that way as standard even=20
though they are sold in the UK. I know it's no big deal to set it to UK,=20
just that probably few people actually bother to do this. In fact, that=20
brings me on to wondering about how the internet will affect language=20
(local dialects etc) globally over time - maybe we will head gradually=20
towards some sort of "universal" language (though you could argue we=20
already have one - English)
Enough random conjecture, back to doing something I actually know=20
something about... :-)

--=20
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