What are you...

[aadarshinah]

7 days of the week. 7 "sins", 7 "virtues", 7 horcruces (which I contend is the proper plural), 7 books, 7 years at Hogwarts.... 7 is deeply ingrained into the background of western society. I swear, if they'd just made the movie 1/2 hr longer and cut out some of the inanity it would've all fit.... that being said...

...doing?

Collapsing after day 2 of the Great Garage Clean of '10. We went through a 2nd bottle of bleach, 1/2 bottle of ammonia, more gloves and scrubbies than I can count and, after declaring my dad's plywood-and-2-by-4 workbench to be a biohazard, I got to take a sledge hammer to it. That was fun, and I probably enjoyed it in a way that would make any pyscologist say I've daddy issues...

[Distracted]

...watching? "Swamp People". Is it worrisome that the lead performers remind me of certain relatives of mine?

[Enerdhil]

7 horcruces (which I contend is the proper plural), ...

Maybe, but I copied the spelling from the book... Author's rights, I believe...

[Alelou]

UK edition or US edition?

(I wouldn't put it past an American editor to change that one to the wrong thing because it's becoming common usage, which does, arguably, mean it's no longer the wrong thing.)

[WarpGirl]

Eating? Organic Cheerios... Which are almost identical than regular Cheerios but I am trying to be heathier, and it said that these Cheerios are better for the enviornment... Why do I have the feeling I was ripped off?

[Navigator]

Have you ever tried the inorganic cheerios? Sorry, couldn't resist.

[enterprikayak]

mmmMMMMMMMmmmmm......inorgaaaanic cheeeeriooooos

[Enerdhil]

UK edition or US edition?

(I wouldn't put it past an American editor to change that one to the wrong thing because it's becoming common usage, which does, arguably, mean it's no longer the wrong thing.)

The copyright page says it was printed in the US... (but remember the author is British)

[Distracted]

Inorganic Cheerios? What are they made of? Plastic?

[WarpGirl]

Who the Heck can tell about Cheerios, all I know is there are "regular" and Organic, I still think I might have been ripped off...

[Alelou]

UK edition or US edition?

(I wouldn't put it past an American editor to change that one to the wrong thing because it's becoming common usage, which does, arguably, mean it's no longer the wrong thing.)

The copyright page says it was printed in the US... (but remember the author is British)

Yes, but Scholastic has 'fixed' the British spellings in their editions, as an American publisher normally would. Americans aren't used to whilsts and naughts and zeds and lifts and such, and they usually use judgment instead of judgement and humor instead of humour, etc. etc.

[WarpGirl]

I'm just thinking of all the arguements my sis and I have over z's and zeds! It really is quite pathetic. Here's something that I've always wondered. Why is American english and British english so different? When did we stop having the same spelling and pronunciation. Was it a deliberate thing after the Reveloution? Or are we just lazy?

[aadarshinah]

Blame Webster. He tried to standarize/simplify regular english, and you got american english from the mix. Personally, I prefer british english, which is prob why I use it when I write, but the fact of the patter is that, no matter which version you're using, the spelling makes little/no sense. I mean, there are eight ways to pronounce the letters "ough". Eight. Bit excessive.

[Alelou]

English is a language that has evolved willy-nilly thanks to the many languages it draws on, ad hoc spelling decisions, new technology, whoever the heck decided it would be cool to write and publish a dictionary, and changes in usage over time (which becomes especially noticeable where it has continued to evolve across a great big ocean and separate business and national interests). We don't have an official board, like the French do, to declare what is officially English and what isn't. You could argue, however, that this makes English a very lively and inclusive and rich language, with lots of synonyms and shades of meaning to draw on.

And, yes, it's a total bitch to spell.

[WarpGirl]

So Daniel Webster, (I think he was also a senator) made things complicated... Well, why not? Okay thanks.