Quote:
Originally posted by
Raigne
Take this with a grain of salt, since I have little knowledge of style in terms of this site, but IRL I am a copy editor, so I figure I am qualified to give my opinion. UK spellings are not the writer's "voice" in the way you're
...
more
Take this with a grain of salt, since I have little knowledge of style in terms of this site, but IRL I am a copy editor, so I figure I am qualified to give my opinion. UK spellings are not the writer's "voice" in the way you're thinking of it, such as using spellings in a novel that express a person's dialect. They are accepted spellings that predate American English. Now, Wikipedia, for example, prefers all English articles to be American English spellings, but this is a site-wide stylistic decision.
As I said, Eden may have a different opinion, but I have to ask, how is that writer going to feel when you change those spellings? Is it worth alienating them just to make everything look the same, when the British English spellings of the words are the older variants?
less
My experience has been that every style guide I've been handed so far has said change British spelling to American spelling, unless quoting. I checked the EF Editor Guidelines but there is no mention of what to do about it in reviews. Since EF is an American website, it makes sense to change it for site-wide consistency, however I'm going to wait a few hours to see if an admin chimes in.
@Incendiaire
I'm sorry that you look at the editing done here in that manner. I don't think any editor changes British spelling to American spelling with the idea that American spelling is superior. It is more a matter of localization, than correctness.
To put it in perspective, no one is going to question J.K. Rowling's writing credentials, but each of her books had the British spellings changed when they were published for US audiences. Scholastic was even cheeky enough to change the title of the first book. The edits were not meant as a rebuke or insult to the writer, they were meant as a concession to the US reading audience.
