Doughnut or Donut?

[Masquerouge]

I actually prefer the English word doughnut to the French one, beignet, mainly because the French one is too generic.
(and good luck to English people trying to pronounce beignet )

 

[ParadigmShifter]

Isn't it a bit like "bayonet" without the "o", and that French thing whereby you may as well not bother with any letters at the end of words since they never get pronounced anyway?

 

[Masquerouge]

Isn't it a bit like "bayonet" without the "o", and that French thing whereby you may as well not bother with any letters at the end of words since they never get pronounced anyway?

that's actually correct. You've got French figured out, man!

 

[ParadigmShifter]

Merci, je suis un fromage grande, sur le table dans le jardin du Max Factor.

 

[Masquerouge]

Merci, je suis un fromage grande, sur le table dans le jardin du Max Factor.

Goes well with your title

 

[Perfection]

dog nuts

 

[ParadigmShifter]

That means "really good" in England. A corruption of the term "It's the bees knees" (the business) - "It's the ducks nuts" - "It's the dogs bollocks".

 

[StarWorms]

Doughnut... because it's made with dough. Donut is a misspelling, but that's what American English is, in a nutshell: A way to incorrectly spell English words correctly.

 

[Eran of Arcadia]

But who decides what is correct and incorrect spelling anyways?

 

[ParadigmShifter]

The Queen of course, duh. (EDIT: Her Majesty The Queen, sorry M'am)

 

[Eran of Arcadia]

Hmm, I seem to recall a war or something where we decided we wouldn't take any guff from her, and that includes spelling.

 

[ParadigmShifter]

The Queen has never been known to issue guff. Off with your head!

EDIT: Although I nominate the lovely Susie Dent of the OED and Dictionary Corner in Countdown to be the new overseer of correct spelling, just as Carol "a bit like Boudicca in Civ IV BtS" Vorderman should be minister of sums and arithmetic.

 

[GinandTonic]

Where is the "Hey I asked for croissant" option?

 

[StarWorms]

But who decides what is correct and incorrect spelling anyways?

The country that creates the language, and whoever creates the dictionary.

 

[Eran of Arcadia]

The country that creates the language, and whoever creates the dictionary.

Except that no country can lay complete claim to a language, and the writers of dictionaries are describing the language as much as creating it.

 

[ParadigmShifter]

Shouldn't it be "whomever" creates the dictionary?

 

[Eran of Arcadia]

Not now, but if it catches on, then eventually.

(Or maybe even now, darned if I can ever remember.)

 

[ParadigmShifter]

I think whomever is grammatically correct since it refers to a specific person rather than any suitable person. If only Susie Dent was here with me I could ask her.

 

[Eran of Arcadia]

Yeah, remember if you can substitute "me" or "him" then it should be "whom".

 

[ParadigmShifter]

That's a bit sexist Eran.