Theatre or Theater?

Keverian FireCry · Post by **Keverian FireCry** » January 15, 2004, 5:50 am

How do YOU spell it?

I think "Theater" is primarily an American thing...But I live in USA and have always spelled it theatre...

What's yo flavah!?

vn_Tanc · Post by **vn_Tanc** » January 15, 2004, 6:20 am

Theatre
Centre
Metre
Colour
Flavour
Armour

I could go on

Kguku · Post by **Kguku** » January 15, 2004, 7:11 am

Stupid Americans and their incorrect spelling! It's OBVIOUSLY Theatre!

Arborealus · Post by **Arborealus** » January 15, 2004, 8:25 am

Hrmmm yes is not an option!

Typically I use the er variant for places where films are played and the re variant when referring to most other usages...

Aslanna · Post by **Aslanna** » January 15, 2004, 8:47 am

I use both depending on my mood. No option for that!

Chidoro · Post by **Chidoro** » January 15, 2004, 9:13 am

I'm going to completely screw this up and say that when I'm referring to going to the movies, I would call it a movie theater. When I go to a play or musical, I'd use theatre.

So I'm "Both" as well

Syenye Squirrellyelf · January 15, 2004, 10:02 am

theatre refers to the art.
theater refers to the venue.

Zaelath · Post by **Zaelath** » January 15, 2004, 11:24 am

vn_Tanc wrote:Theatre
Centre
Metre
Colour
Flavour
Armour

I could go on

Unless it's a measuring instrument, then it's a meter...

a_guide · Post by **a_guide** » January 15, 2004, 11:37 am

Keverian FireCry wrote:How do YOU spell it?

I think "Theater" is primarily an American thing...But I live in USA and have always spelled it theatre...

What's yo flavah!?

Awesome avatar... I loved that movie!

Legenae · Post by **Legenae** » January 15, 2004, 12:17 pm

vn_Tanc wrote:Theatre
Centre
Metre
Colour
Flavour
Armour

I could go on

I spell these the same way as well... but so do a lot of Canadians. I do however, leave out the "u" once in a while with "colour, flavour.." etc.

brego · Post by **brego** » January 15, 2004, 12:26 pm

who cares lol, diffrent people diffrent things diffrent spellings LoL

masteen · Post by **masteen** » January 15, 2004, 12:40 pm

a_guide wrote:
Keverian FireCry wrote:How do YOU spell it?

I think "Theater" is primarily an American thing...But I live in USA and have always spelled it theatre...

What's yo flavah!?
Awesome avatar... I loved that movie!

What movie is it from?

Post by **Xouqoa** » January 15, 2004, 1:20 pm

"You pronounce herb like 'erb', we say 'herb' ... because there's a fucking h in it."

vn_Tanc · Post by **vn_Tanc** » January 15, 2004, 1:26 pm

And don't start me on "aluminium" neither!

Aslanna · Post by **Aslanna** » January 15, 2004, 1:51 pm

masteen wrote:
a_guide wrote:
Keverian FireCry wrote:How do YOU spell it?

I think "Theater" is primarily an American thing...But I live in USA and have always spelled it theatre...

What's yo flavah!?
Awesome avatar... I loved that movie!
What movie is it from?

Secretary.

http://www.espudd.com/articles/movie/se ... hp?cat=mov

Kilmoll the Sexy · Post by **Kilmoll the Sexy** » January 15, 2004, 2:25 pm

The worst is the hicks who call aluminum "all-oom-eeyum". Fuck I hate that.

Boogahz · Post by **Boogahz** » January 15, 2004, 2:59 pm

Actually wasn't there something regarding Aluminum around WW2 with the difference in the products produced by the British and the US? I could have sworn that there are actually two separate products with almost the same spelling and composition, but different pronunciations.

Post by **Xouqoa** » January 15, 2004, 3:07 pm

I dunno. The Allies dropped airplanes full of half inch tin foil strips over Germany though, which totally confused their radar. The half inch strips were just large enough to reflect back a signal to the radar, so they would empty out a bomber of the things, and the Germans would think there were like a million planes coming for them. Pretty funny! It was also was used for cover purposes, not just for the practical joke aspect!

Aslanna · Post by **Aslanna** » January 15, 2004, 3:23 pm

Boogahz wrote:Actually wasn't there something regarding Aluminum around WW2 with the difference in the products produced by the British and the US? I could have sworn that there are actually two separate products with almost the same spelling and composition, but different pronunciations.

From what I can gather it doesn't have anything to do with 2 different products. Mostly they just decided to be consistent with the other elemental metals:

Perhaps the most famous spelling variation is the name of the lightweight metal discovered by the English chemist Humphry Davy. He named it “aluminum”, which is still used in America. But the British, believing names of metals ought to end in -ium, altered it to “aluminium” and changed the pronunciation as well. Yet for some reason the British have never got round to correcting “platinum”.

And a chart for converting between common US and UK terms:

http://www.mtholyoke.edu/~chquay/text/dic.htm

Keverian FireCry · Post by **Keverian FireCry** » January 15, 2004, 4:56 pm

Oh and btw I meant to put this in the movie forum...hence theatre...but oh well

Zaelath · Post by **Zaelath** » January 15, 2004, 5:07 pm

Aluminium is my favourite word, just because it's one time the US had a word butchered by the brits instead of the other way around =)

My pet hate is goobers that think every verb can be made past-tense by the addition of "ed". It wasn't burned, it's burnt. But then at least most won't say "teached" or "fighted". OH!! And the past-tense of cast, is CAST. Nothing was ever "casted", fuckers.

archeiron · Post by **archeiron** » January 15, 2004, 5:11 pm

Davy proposed the name aluminum for the metal and later agreed to change it to aluminium. The name aluminium was adopted to conform with the "ium" ending of most elements. This spelling is in use in most countries. Aluminium was also the spelling in the U.S. until 1925, when the American Chemical Society officially decided to use the name aluminum instead.

Fizzlewhip · Post by **Fizzlewhip** » January 15, 2004, 6:11 pm

Zaelath wrote:Aluminium is my favourite word, just because it's one time the US had a word butchered by the brits instead of the other way around =)

My pet hate is goobers that think every verb can be made past-tense by the addition of "ed". It wasn't burned, it's burnt. But then at least most won't say "teached" or "fighted". OH!! And the past-tense of cast, is CAST. Nothing was ever "casted", fuckers.

I agre with most...just not the word "burned". The usage is situational.

A few verbs, like burn and spell, have both regular (burned, spelled) and irregular (burnt, spelt) past tenses and past participles.

http://www.bartleby.com/64/C001/067.html

The American Heritage® Book of English Usage. Copyright © 1996 by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

As for theatre vs theater. I am like some of the above. Theatre to me implies live actors, vs mass market movies for the theater.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » January 15, 2004, 7:46 pm

Need a both option as well. Where's the option for both in pronunciation as well?

"Come Buffy! Let us progress to the theatre (thee-ate-tah) after I remove this pole from my arse! Jolly good show!"

or

"Dude, movie theater (thee-ate-er) popcorn roXorz!"

Zaelath · Post by **Zaelath** » January 15, 2004, 7:54 pm

Fizzlewhip wrote:
Zaelath wrote:Aluminium is my favourite word, just because it's one time the US had a word butchered by the brits instead of the other way around =)

My pet hate is goobers that think every verb can be made past-tense by the addition of "ed". It wasn't burned, it's burnt. But then at least most won't say "teached" or "fighted". OH!! And the past-tense of cast, is CAST. Nothing was ever "casted", fuckers.
I agre with most...just not the word "burned". The usage is situational.

A few verbs, like burn and spell, have both regular (burned, spelled) and irregular (burnt, spelt) past tenses and past participles.
http://www.bartleby.com/64/C001/067.html

The American Heritage® Book of English Usage. Copyright © 1996 by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

As for theatre vs theater. I am like some of the above. Theatre to me implies live actors, vs mass market movies for the theater.

You are correct sir, just the example that came to mind at the time. That said, Americans seem to want to exclusively use "spelled" (putting a horse out to pasture would be a correct use) when they mean spelt.

Xzion · Post by **Xzion** » January 15, 2004, 8:28 pm

theater is the place theatre is the art

fucking stupid hippie stoner spoiled richboy brats

Keverian FireCry · Post by **Keverian FireCry** » January 15, 2004, 9:59 pm

wow...ok...thanks for your input...

/boggle

Arborealus · Post by **Arborealus** » January 16, 2004, 10:04 am

Xouqoa wrote:"You pronounce herb like 'erb', we say 'herb' ... because there's a fucking h in it."

And you spell Through T H R U and I'm with you on that because we spell it like thruff and thats nothing but cheating at fucking scrabble!

vn_Tanc · Post by **vn_Tanc** » January 16, 2004, 10:29 am

It cracks me up to hear septics pronouncing "herb" as "uuuurrrrb". It makes you sound fucking french!

Psyloche · Post by **Psyloche** » January 16, 2004, 11:37 am

vn_Tanc wrote:It cracks me up to hear septics pronouncing "herb" as "uuuurrrrb". It makes you sound fucking french!

After that comment, I will now and forever say the h.

Keverian FireCry · Post by **Keverian FireCry** » January 16, 2004, 4:59 pm

I've always said urb. It's a silent h damnit!

Zaelath · Post by **Zaelath** » January 16, 2004, 5:03 pm

And yet the same people don't necessarily say urbiverous.. or urbert.

archeiron · Post by **archeiron** » January 16, 2004, 5:05 pm

Zaelath wrote:And yet the same people don't necessarily say urbiverous.. or urbert.

Bad argument to use with the English language, even though I agree with your idea. Explain through, thorough, and rough.

Zaelath · Post by **Zaelath** » January 16, 2004, 5:08 pm

That's pretty irrelevant, given the words I'm using have the same root..

You have listed 3 completely different root words.

Keverian FireCry · Post by **Keverian FireCry** » January 16, 2004, 5:14 pm

i say urbert! an enry and arold!

Zaelath · Post by **Zaelath** » January 16, 2004, 5:18 pm

What a silly bunt I am!

VeeshanVault