I was taught to double the consonant before adding a suffix if the vowel was short but Microsoft Word is very much in the single consonant category (I have to turn off the spellcheck sometimes!)
"Woolen" is one of those words I'd have to think about, as the vowel sound is not clearly short -- I think I'd definitely write "Woolly", though...
I can get the OED at work (I'm a librarian) if I remember to. I knew about the vest and pants and jumper -- I've been reading British authors for years and watching the shows that got transported across the "pond." When I've been doing a lot of that my grammar starts flipping back and forth, and so does my punctuation! But I agree, people should write fics the way they are most comfortable writing and not worry too much about it. I've seen people Britpick Harry Potter stories and take out words I know perfectly well that Dorothy Sayers used, just because they aren't used to a certain regionalism.
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branchandroot
Re: Hose
Date: 2004-08-04 02:02 am (UTC)"Woolen" is one of those words I'd have to think about, as the vowel sound is not clearly short -- I think I'd definitely write "Woolly", though...
I can get the OED at work (I'm a librarian) if I remember to. I knew about the vest and pants and jumper -- I've been reading British authors for years and watching the shows that got transported across the "pond." When I've been doing a lot of that my grammar starts flipping back and forth, and so does my punctuation! But I agree, people should write fics the way they are most comfortable writing and not worry too much about it. I've seen people Britpick Harry Potter stories and take out words I know perfectly well that Dorothy Sayers used, just because they aren't used to a certain regionalism.
Rambling is fun. Isn't that what LJ is for?