One more

Blah.

That about sums it up. Blah.

One last assignment and I'm done with the Professional Editing and Proofreading Course. Yeah, I've been avoiding this one - hell, I'm a professional avoider. In this instance, I don't know why. One more effort and it's done; what's to avoid?

Finding differences between Australian English, English English and American English, that's what. Twelve of 'em!

Okay, there's the 'our', 'or'; the 're' and 'er', 'ise' and 'ize', 'eck' and 'que', 'ough' and 'ow'; plus a myriad of expressions: torch versus flashlight, boot versus trunk, chips versus crisps, prawns and shrimps, biscuits and cookies. But what are the most common?

For both the editor and writer in me, it's important, but the slacker wants to know 'who really cares?'

Ah, the duality of man's (or woman's) nature. I'm one of those editors who likes to see everything is perfect, that goes to the writer as well. Then there's the country you're writing for: gotta get that right too.

English, no matter where it is written, is an ever evolving language and no-one can hold it back. From the cultivated aristocratic English to the colloquial slang of poverty, it's a language that is ever expanding.

What is right and what is wrong? While English evolves, it still retains it's rules - and there is always an exception - and somehow, I have to find the idiosyncratic aspects of three variations.

Oy. Just thinking about it is giving me a headache. Oxford, Webster's and Macquarie are my guides - they are the quintessential dictionaries of each nation.

Ack... now I've just got to put them all together and let 'em fight it out.