1 post tagged “chicagotribune”

Nothing like an article to enforce the "people in the midwest are stooo-pid!" stereotype.

There's a brief piece in the Trib today about Sears Centre, the new sporting arena/thing in the suburbs. It's about the spelling of the word "Centre" - really - and includes this awesome, "No, we're being serious!" quote:

"We had a call the other day from someone driving on I-90, and [they] wanted to know what kind of appliances we sold," [Centre director Steve] Hyman said.

Yuk, yuk. Compare that with this quote:

"American linguistic history shows that many British spellings have been used to lend a sort of sophistication to our communication," said Colette Moore, an assistant professor of English at the University of Washington in Seattle. "Often there are different influences at play. Some spelling choices are motivated by a desire for distinctiveness. Other times, people use misspellings to avoid copyright issues. `Centre' can also be considered in the context of naming practices in newer subdivisions which evoke lifestyles of the British landed aristocracy: fox hunting, manor houses, drawing rooms."

Yep. I guess we're just dummies here, thinking that a sporting arena sells dishwashers while them "smart people" over on that coast there use them pretty big words.