Theatre/Theater: U.S. usage
Stephen Oles
spelling theatre with an "er". Okay by me.
But as an American, I've always thought we draw a distinction between a
"theater" (a building) and the "theatre" (an art form). While I believe in
England and elsewhere the two senses of the word are spelled the same way.
My fellow Americans, is this the practice you follow? Or am I confused
here. Perhaps there is no hard and fast rule (the dictionary lists both
spellings as proper.) I've always written:
That college has a beautiful theater. BUT ...
I love musical theatre.
What do y'all do?
Pedantic Steve in VB
L Chandler
ing to an art form I have always used theatre. God Bless.
L. Chandler
Gemi...@hotmail.com
Stephen Oles <mur...@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:7nkp00$r3d$1...@ash.prod.itd.earthlink.net...
Judy Harrison
> In the FAQ, I notice, it says that RATM eschews the American practice of
> spelling theatre with an "er". Okay by me.
>
> But as an American, I've always thought we draw a distinction between a
> "theater" (a building) and the "theatre" (an art form). While I believe in
> England and elsewhere the two senses of the word are spelled the same way.
>
> My fellow Americans, is this the practice you follow? Or am I confused
> here. Perhaps there is no hard and fast rule (the dictionary lists both
> spellings as proper.) I've always written:
>
> That college has a beautiful theater. BUT ...
> I love musical theatre.
>
> What do y'all do?
>
> Pedantic Steve in VB
I have always used "theater" for both the buildings and the art form. My
understand was that was the Americanized spelling. The only time I use
"theatre" is as a proper noun - part of the name of a theater that spells it
that way.
Karen Horn
: In the FAQ, I notice, it says that RATM eschews the American practice of
: spelling theatre with an "er". Okay by me.
:
: But as an American, I've always thought we draw a distinction between a
: "theater" (a building) and the "theatre" (an art form). While I believe in
: England and elsewhere the two senses of the word are spelled the same way.
:
: My fellow Americans, is this the practice you follow? Or am I confused
: here. Perhaps there is no hard and fast rule (the dictionary lists both
: spellings as proper.) I've always written:
:
: That college has a beautiful theater. BUT ...
: I love musical theatre.
:
: What do y'all do?
:
: Pedantic Steve in VB
In America, you can use "theater" for both the building and the
artform. The dictionary will confirm this for you.
K.
Pizzaman95
<mur...@earthlink.net> writes:
>In the FAQ, I notice, it says that RATM eschews the American practice of
>spelling theatre with an "er". Okay by me.
>
>But as an American, I've always thought we draw a distinction between a
>"theater" (a building) and the "theatre" (an art form). While I believe in
>England and elsewhere the two senses of the word are spelled the same way.
>
>My fellow Americans, is this the practice you follow? Or am I confused
>here. Perhaps there is no hard and fast rule (the dictionary lists both
>spellings as proper.) I've always written:
>
>That college has a beautiful theater. BUT ...
>I love musical theatre.
>
>What do y'all do?
>
>Pedantic Steve in VB
Steve,
I agree but the last time this came up (last year) someone pointed out all
those
buildings that spelled theatre with an "re" so even that usage is not
consistent.
Ken
Pizzaman95
writes:
>
>Stephen Oles (mur...@earthlink.net) wrote:
>: In the FAQ, I notice, it says that RATM eschews the American practice of
>: spelling theatre with an "er". Okay by me.
>:
>: But as an American, I've always thought we draw a distinction between a
>: "theater" (a building) and the "theatre" (an art form). While I believe in
>: England and elsewhere the two senses of the word are spelled the same way.
>:
>: My fellow Americans, is this the practice you follow? Or am I confused
>: here. Perhaps there is no hard and fast rule (the dictionary lists both
>: spellings as proper.) I've always written:
>:
>: That college has a beautiful theater. BUT ...
>: I love musical theatre.
>:
>: What do y'all do?
>:
>: Pedantic Steve in VB
>:
>In America, you can use "theater" for both the building and the
>artform. The dictionary will confirm this for you.
>
>K.
Yes, Karen, clearly you CAN use "er" for both but none of us regulars
tend to. I guess the real question is whether "re" is acceptable as an
alternative for both, either or neither? I still view "re" as acceptable
for the form but if I'm talking about a building (and not a proper name)
I use "er."
P-man
Michael Callery
includes a full quote.
As the person who wrote that first paragraph in the FAQ, it is a little
disquieting to see this issue come up again. Last year there must have been a
hundred posts on this topic. In matters such as these, you do not consult a
dictionary, you consult a usage dictionary or writer's style manual. There are
many; I have about 10 in my library. The only one (of those I have) that
addressed this matter was the Harper Dictionary of Contemporary usage. This
implies to me that this issue is not as important to the world at large as it
seems to be to some members of this newsgroup. You'll note that I included the
citation in the paragraph. Not to mention posted my wording to the newgroup for
comments. Neither Tim nor I got any significant criticism, so it went into the
FAQ as originally written.
So, spell the word however you like. As pointed out, most AMERICAN dictionaries
include both spellings, but this is an international group we have here. Be
aware, however, that the STANDARD AMERICAN USAGE is to spell it "theater," at
least according to the one source I could find. Go to your library and look it
up yourself, I'm sure Tim would add or edit what's there if you can find an
alternate reliable source. A FAQ is a living thing, it's supposed to change if
necessary or if better information can be found.
Can we talk about musical theater OR musical theatre now?
Mike
PS Thank goodness, I didn't volunteer to write the "Is Sondheim gay?" entry.
L Chandler wrote:
> When referring to a building I have always used theater. When referr-
> ing to an art form I have always used theatre. God Bless.
> L. Chandler
> Gemi...@hotmail.com
> Stephen Oles <mur...@earthlink.net> wrote in message
> news:7nkp00$r3d$1...@ash.prod.itd.earthlink.net...
Amanda Pressnell
For all other uses I use theatre - unless if I know for a fact that
the venue in question calls itself a theater (i.e. is part of the
proper name.)
Amanda
Bart Cosgrove
Stephen Oles <mur...@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:7nkp00$r3d$1...@ash.prod.itd.earthlink.net...
> ...as an American, I've always thought we draw a distinction between a
> "theater" (a building) and the "theatre" (an art form).
> What do y'all do?
For me this has always had the same "feel" as the "tamaytoe vs tahmahtoe" or
the "ahndeeve vs endeyeve" controversies.
Personally, I used "theater" for both [unless the "re" was specifically used
in a building's name] until I also, coincidentally, found myself saying
"tahmahtoe" and "ahndeeve". It seems to me "neyether" is technically
preferable; save on RATM, where the use of the "er" will "eether" start an
interminable discussion, or mark one as a "Fillessteen" [or is it
"Fillestine"?]
I believe it is really a matter of choice and fashion.
Mila
Deborah Overes
Karen Horn wrote in message <7nl3a1$s50$2...@nusku.cts.com>...
>In America, you can use "theater" for both the building and the
>artform. The dictionary will confirm this for you.
Hey ... what do you expect from a country that spells cheese KRAFT??? <g>
Deborah Overes
"Blame Canada!
With all that hockey hullabaloo
And that bitch Anne Murray too.
Blame Canada!
It's not even a real country anyway!"
LilysEye
> "theater" (a building) and the "theatre" (an art form).
> What do y'all do?
Personally, I do whatever strikes my fancy at the time - I'm not particular!
:-)
~Julie
Stephen Oles
I didn't intend any criticism of the FAQ, which is excellent. I was just
curious if other Americans made a distinction as I do. Re. the hundred
messages on this topic a year ago, some of us weren't members of RATM then.
Cut us a little slack, dude ... :-}
-- Steve in VB
Michael Callery <mcal...@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:379E5DF7...@earthlink.net...
> > Stephen Oles <mur...@earthlink.net> wrote in message
> > news:7nkp00$r3d$1...@ash.prod.itd.earthlink.net...
> > > In the FAQ, I notice, it says that RATM eschews the American practice
of
> > > spelling theatre with an "er". Okay by me.
> > >
> > > But as an American, I've always thought we draw a distinction between
a
> > > "theater" (a building) and the "theatre" (an art form). While I
believe
> > in
> > > England and elsewhere the two senses of the word are spelled the same
way.
> > >
> > > My fellow Americans, is this the practice you follow? Or am I
confused
> > > here. Perhaps there is no hard and fast rule (the dictionary lists
both
> > > spellings as proper.) I've always written:
> > >
> > > That college has a beautiful theater. BUT ...
> > > I love musical theatre.
> > >
> > > What do y'all do?
> > >
> > > Pedantic Steve in VB
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
>
CBoy1477
referring to the movie kind..i researched it all two years ago.
Peter Ellenstein
news:19990801233056...@ng-fm1.aol.com...
> Theatre is used when referring to the stage kind, Theater is used when
> referring to the movie kind..i researched it all two years ago.
Both spellings "Theater" and "Theatre" are used and acceptable. Language is
not fixed, but evolving. Common usage of both spellings, both for the arena
and the concept, regardless of the media, are now the norm.
Peter Ellenstein