Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2016 November 6

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November 6

Spelling

Hi, its really petty but I just joined as a contributor and made an edit which I thought completely appropriate. I know spelling is subjective however I changed the measurement meter to metre as the page is not referring to anything in america and everywhere else in the world (where the measurement is actually used), its spelt metre. I didn't expect to immediately get an entire diatribe and telling off by an editor here. Its not exactly welcoming to an all inclusive, informative search . Why are people out side the US not allowed to make corrections into our own spelling, which is I believe still more widely housed than the american format? Ie meter metre Neighbor neighbour Theater theatre etc etc Lisaleelyons1960 (talk) 01:23, 6 November 2016 (UTC)

@Lisaleelyons1960: See WP:ENGVAR for our policy on this issue. This sort of question would be better at the Teahouse or the Help Desk. Tevildo (talk) 01:32, 6 November 2016 (UTC)

For roughly the fourth time, please see WP:ENGVAR. For what it's worth, most articles on color/colour are written in American English, except for Orange (colour), whose first version happened to be written in British English, in which it remains. I periodically revert "corrections" by Americans, usually school children who don't know any better, or people who insist on a false consistency. It's a useful opportunity to teach them that there is more than one approach to English spelling and grammar, and that parochialism is to be avoided on Wikipedia. You're not making "corrections," it's not incorrect. As long as the article is consistently written in one form, please leave the national variety as is.Acroterion (talk) 01:59, 6 November 2016 (UTC)

There's an item labeled "hand-colored" rather than "hand-coloured", so consistency would indicate leaving "mater" as-is. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 08:52, 6 November 2016 (UTC)

Would + maybe

Hello, can I say: "Would it maybe be possible to...?"--Hubon (talk) 14:11, 6 November 2016 (UTC)

You can, but the "maybe be" is extraneous, and I suggest leaving it out. StuRat (talk)

(ec)In informal speech, sure. But it's pretty much a redundancy. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 15:06, 6 November 2016 (UTC)

"Would it, perhaps, be possible?" sounds much more normal. Wymspen (talk) 16:48, 6 November 2016 (UTC)

Thank you three! I was just wondering how to put in a more careful or rather polite nuance than without the "maybe"...--Hubon (talk) 16:55, 6 November 2016 (UTC)