"Personally, what annoys me more than anything else in this regard is 'Americanized' English spelling!"

Well Fatbob, the population of the UK is approximately 50 millions, the population of the US 250 millions. I'm afraid the UK is outnumbered on this one. Plus, although this forum is UK based, the majority of users are of international origin. Therefore, they might feel equally annoyed with the British spelling.

Anyway, I am getting annoyed by the American way myself, but only because my former PhD supervisor told me off and trained me to write UK English. The language comes from England, so I symphatis(z)e. Nevertheless it has the air of British colonialism to make such a big fuss about it.

sorry, according to more recent sources the US population is estimated to be about 300 millions (probably plus 100 million illegal immigrants from the South)

"Plus, although this forum is UK based, the majority of users are of international origin"

How do you come to that conclussion? Just wondering. I would say if anything the reverse is true.

If you count all the daily weird requests for funding, the Masters students (most of them are international, has something to do with the nature of masters studies and the UK university system), I would definitely say that the majority of users is not from the UK. It is however, just an assumption. Just to return the favour, how do you come to the conclusion that the reverse is true? Is it based on any in-depth study?

Sorry to be the bringer of bad news, but the 'z's that appear in a lot of words (e.g. organization) are not of American origin but in fact Old English. Modern UK English has changed alot of the spellings to 's' (i.e. organisation). Don't believe me? Consult the OED which shows widespread use of 'z's in words before even the discovery of America!:

http://www.oed.com/

Similarly anecdotal. I think most of the 'users' (i.e. top posters) are UK based. I would also hazard a guess that the split between UK posters / other wise is still significantly in the formers favour. You are thinking in terms of threads started as opposed to number of posts?

'Alot' is actually a lot. There is no such word as alot.

Well spotted golfpro! I suggest, in light of the origins of this thread that recompense is required in the form of a mighty bribe in the pub!

Ah, but my "alot" was simply a typo (if typo exists that is), because I used "a lot" correctly earlier in the passage. So put that in your pipe and smoke it.

Apologies if you felt victimized. Alot is just a bugbear of mine, and your particular one jumped put and grabbed me.

It's alright, I'm only playing.

'Conclussion" = "Conclusion",

No offence o.stoll.... actually, yes offence, but you have no sense of humour, it's a bit pathetic.

Mr Fat Bob, I don't know what you're talking about. If you feel offended, it's your problem and shows that you got no sense of humour.

I agree with ostroll. When I first handed in my literature review to my supervisor and she critisized my American spelling saying if you ever want to graduate, you'd be better start writing "proper" English, this really annoys me some English are snobbish. In the other way, most Americans admire the English accent.