Theatre vs. Theater
McS Chris
From: Pam Boyd <pla...@asu.edu>
Date: 6 Jan 1996 15:42:25 GMT
On January 6, Pam Boyd wrote:
>>I usually use Theater for a Movie Theater and use theatre for live
>>productions... I don't know why, I just do.. Maybe it's a snob thing?
>>Pboyd
Yes, perhaps it is a snob thing.
But IMHO it is the tendancy to use the "theatre" spelling as
a way of setting the legit industry above other entertainment, says a
little too much about what we think about American culture.
"Theater" is the American spelling. Are the English who spell it
"theatre" better than us? Is their spelling somehow right, while
Americans are wrong? The willingness that some have to denigrate
American spellings in favor of English, speaks just as much of shame
for our American heritage as for theatrical snobbery. We do not do
each other "favours;" we do not take "colour" photographs; why do we
need to go to the "theatre?"
I'm sorry if my opinion is offensive to others in theater, but I had to
break those habits to get through English and journalism classes
and get a degree.
So long,
Chris McS
Jen3456789
do to make a performance.
i.e- I'm going to the theater to see ......
I'm in a theatre production......
I'm a theatre major......
jab...@ibm.net
>We do not do
>each other "favours;" we do not take "colour" photographs; why do we
>need to go to the "theatre?"
Because we don't like Webster? <g>
Justin Bacon
WSTRYE
for the performance or art. However; The 'er' spelling that americans
atribut to the English I believe actually dates back to the restoration
when the English had an obsession with all things french (You history
buffs know why and I won't bore the rest of you with the lecture.) I could
be wrong about this but I believe that 'er' is the original English and it
was dropped by them for the prefered French.
P.S.- When referring to a spacific Company or institution find out their
prefered spelling and use it. Never try to correct them because you feel
they use the wrong spelling.
William Strye wst...@aol.com
"When I begin to work on a play, I start with a deep, formless hunch..."
Peter Brook- The Shifting Point
Peter D. Smith
[snip]
>P.S.- When referring to a spacific Company or institution find out their
>prefered spelling and use it. Never try to correct them because you feel
>they use the wrong spelling.
This is the first *sensible* thing that I've heard in this thread (and I
include my own posts! <grin>)
PSmith
McS Chris
writes:
>P.S.- When referring to a spacific Company or institution find out their
>prefered spelling and use it. Never try to correct them because you feel
>they use the wrong spelling.
Certainly any organization may use any spelling for themselves --
Amerikan Theatre Phestivle, for absurd instance -- but when lowercased,
standardized spelling serves a function, particularly within academic
institutions and the press.
IMO it is not enough for the theater
industry/community to conform to a usage -- which they generally do
in spelling the art as 're' and the building as 'er' -- we should conform
with American spelling.
Chris McS
Colin Viebrock
>P.S.- When referring to a spacific Company or institution find out their
>prefered spelling and use it. Never try to correct them because you feel
>they use the wrong spelling.
Can I correct you on "spacific"? ;-)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Colin Viebrock serious cow productions
c...@inforamp.net http://www.inforamp.net/~cmv
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GEngene
with American spelling.
Just a comment about the origin of the "American" spelling....it started
with the first American dictionary, composed by Noah Webster, who hated
all things British, and thus changed the spelling of more than a few other
words ending in "re"; centre, metre, and litre just to name a few.
The French spelling came from the Greek, as did the Latin and subsequently
the Italian, German, Spanish, and on through the whole list of
Indo-European languages. Funny, what sort of controversy a little
Anglophobia has caused.
GEngene