Begone Than and Then, I proclaim Thaen!

[Ban]

Bit of a joke question here, but I am interested in your responses. I have a disagreement with the English language when it comes to a number of spellings, but the existence of both a "then" and a "than" irks me. In Dutch we only use a "dan" for both words. How would you as a reader respond if I simply refused to abide by the English language and consistently wrote both as "thaen" (or "dan")? On that note, how do you respond to an author choosing to use their own spellings in general? Does it bother you or is it part of the author's creative license? And what are your thoughts as a writer? Mind you, Tolkien himself chose to spread "dwarves" instead of "dwarfs" which was the spelling used at the time for the fantasy creature (still used in other areas, to my chagrin).

In short:"A lack of than and then in favour of thaen or dan suits Ban."

 

[Demesnedenoir]

That one would bug me. But then again, I don't even hear them as homophones. Different meaning, different words, different sounds to me. Changing up the spelling of nouns is more tolerable. Plus, elfs and dwarfs just sounds funny... in particular elfs, heh heh. Weird what happens to the brain when reading Tolkien at a formative age... fortunately I didn't read Clockwork Orange until college, heh heh.

 

[Ban]

Elfs and Dwarfs indeed look odd, though in Dutch the former is spelled in plural as "Elven", so the step to Elves instead of Elfs is a smaller one. Dwarves is dwergen so no language-based excuse from me there haha. As for then and than, how do they differ in sound to you or perhaps specifically in your accent? I can't discern any difference.

 

[Demesnedenoir]

The e as in hen or vet, and the a as in cat. So, "rather than" has the same "a" sound.

 

[Ban]

The e as in hen or vet, and the a as in cat. So, "rather than" has the same "a" sound.

Haha, I pronounce rather as the Brits do so that confused me more not less. I pronounce vet and cat with the same e as well, but if I go with "hen" vs "cat" I can hear a difference.

 

[Demesnedenoir]

LMAO. Damned Brits anyhow.

 

[Ban]

Perhaps, but they do make a good breakfast though so that's points in my book

 

[Demesnedenoir]

The first time I heard someone pronounce the "h" in herbs as a kid through me off... Herb should be a person, not a plant.

 

[Demesnedenoir]

Yes, but they have funny words for things like bangers.

Perhaps, but they do make a good breakfast though so that's points in my book

 

[Ban]

Oh I certainly pronounce the "h" in herbs. Far more egregiously it took me a little while before I stopped pronouncing the k in knight In my defence, the Dutch word knecht (squire) is related and does pronounce both the k and the n. Strange language English is.

 

[Demesnedenoir]

English K-N-igits... it took a while before I got the full joke in the Holy Grail.

 

[pmmg]

I would think thaen would be someone trying to cute with an archaic word—too cute.

As for the rest US is right, UK needs to fix it .

 

[Ban]

I would think thaen would be someone trying to cute with an archaic word—too cute.

As for the rest US is right, UK needs to fix it .

I think I can hear a bald eagle crying in the background. Alas, I do favour British spelling in most instances. One thing you lot across the pond do better thaen my island neighbours however is pronouncing lieutenant in a sane manner, instead of the ridiculous "left-enant" pronunciation they insist on. Silly buggers. As far as I know no one across all our languages on the mainland of Europe pronounces it that way. It's just they who decided that a lieu is a lef.

I do like how this discussion is developing. While I await more opinions pouring in, feel free to air your gripes with the English language, whichever variety you wish to loath

 

[skip.knox]

But than and then have two entirely different meanings. So, different spelling, different meaning, different pronunciation. Why try to muddle them? It would be like trying to turn dann and den into the same spelling. It would be terribly confusing. At least in German. I won't answer for the Dutch, whose language exhibits symptoms of having lived too long below sea level. <gdr>

 

[Finchbearer]

All of these non-British people arguing about the English language, tut tut

I use then and than without really thinking about it as you’d expect, so it would be weird if you changed those word to one homogenous ‘Dan’, although maybe you could go Irvine Welsh style and write the entire book as a very localised dialect, although there’s only so much of that style I can read without getting intensely annoyed.

 

[Prince of Spires]

So, different spelling, different meaning, different pronunciation.

Except that this doesn't really hold true for the English language of course.

Plenty of words have the same spelling but different meanings.
Or the same spelling but different pronounciations.
Or different spelling but the same meaning.

It's what you get when trying to sound posh by including heaps of foreign words into your language, and then conquer half the world and bring back more weird words.

 

[Ban]

But than and then have two entirely different meanings. So, different spelling, different meaning, different pronunciation. Why try to muddle them? It would be like trying to turn dann and den into the same spelling. It would be terribly confusing. At least in German. I won't answer for the Dutch, whose language exhibits symptoms of having lived too long below sea level. <gdr>

To me this objection seems based more on familiarity with the terms thaen the utility of than and then. In all my years of speaking Dutch the word "dan" has never made me scratch my head and think "does this dan indicate time or a comparison?" Your perceived "muddling" is my clarifying haha. As for the GDR, I don't acknowledge the German Democratic Republic's authority over this discussion, unless this is an acronym for something google cannot find

 

[Miles Lacey]

Except that this doesn't really hold true for the English language of course.

Plenty of words have the same spelling but different meanings.
Or the same spelling but different pronounciations.
Or different spelling but the same meaning.

It's what you get when trying to sound posh by including heaps of foreign words into your language, and then conquer half the world and bring back more weird words.

English is complicated further by the fact that every country that has English as a language uses terms unique to that country. For example, I use New Zealand English which uses British spelling conventions but it also incorporates Maori and other non-English words into it.

I might hear someone say, "I'm off to Macca's to get some kai for the mokopuna."

And wait until you encounter pidgin English for the first time!

 

[pmmg]

Obviously Maccas, Kai, and Mokopuna are non-sense words.

Which is why I propose the US as the international standard. We've done great work removing all those pesky 'U's and double 'L's, and even added some Z's. Far less confusion. We've even fixed some other ridiculousness, like establishing 'cookies' for 'biscuits' and 'soccer' for that sport no one watches.. And we've made things much easier by pretty much eliminating 'whom' and adding 'Ain't'. What else could anyone want?

Thaen, solidly rejected. Then and Than forever.

 

[Finchbearer]

Obviously Maccas, Kai, and Mokopuna are non-sense words.

Which is why I propose the US as the international standard. We've done great work removing all those pesky 'U's and double 'L's, and even added some Z's. Far less confusion. We've even fixed some other ridiculousness, like establishing 'cookies' for 'biscuits' and 'soccer' for that sport no one watches.. And we've made things much easier by pretty much eliminating 'whom' and adding 'Ain't'. What else could anyone want?

Thaen, solidly rejected. Then and Than forever.

You’re doing this to make my brain hurt