Offence vs. offense – Correct Spelling - Grammarist

Other than how they are spelled and where they are used, there is no difference between offence and offense. Offense is the preferred spelling in the United ... Grammarist Advertisement Tweet SpellingOffencevs.offense Otherthanhowtheyarespelledandwheretheyareused,thereisnodifferencebetweenoffenceandoffense.OffenseisthepreferredspellingintheUnitedStates,andoffenceprevailsinallthemainvarietiesofEnglishfromoutsidetheU.S.   TheAmericanspellinggainedsteamthroughthe19thcentury,afterbeingpromotedinNoahWebster’s1831dictionaryandalllatereditions,butdidn’tbecomethemorecommonformintheU.S.untiltheearly20thcentury.ThespellingwasnotinventedintheU.S.,however.Websterandhiscontemporaries,inforgingwhattheyviewedasamorelogicalandmoreAmericanvarietyofthelanguage,actuallyjustrevivedanoldspellingthathadbeenappearingtovaryingdegreessincethe14thcentury,longbeforetheUnitedStatesexisted.TheOxfordEnglishDictionarycitesexamplesof offense fromaslongagoas1395—andtheirearliestinstancesof offence arefromjustadecadeearlier—thoughitistruethatthemodernBritishspellingwassettledbythe17thcenturyandthat offense wasnomorethanararevariantbythetimetheAmericansadoptedit.Regardlessofspelling,thewordisusuallypronouncedOFF-fenceinsports-relatedcontexts,andoff-FENCEinallothercontexts.There’snogoodreasonforthisdifference.Blamesportscommentators.Examples Advertisement U.S.TheveterantightendneverfoundahomeinMikeMartz’soffenseandwasinactiveforallbutfivegames.[ChicagoSun-Times]NooffensetothemanywomenwhodofarmoregamingthanIdo,butIsuspectthatmaleswereanotinsignificantpartofG4′smarket. [Time]Ifpeopletakeoffenseathackneyedphrasesit’sbecausethey’rehackneyed.[TheAtlantic]OutsidetheU.S.Bothoffencescanexploitsomeareasthatplaytotheirstrengths. [CBC]Parentswhofailtokeepairgunsawayfromtheirchildrenwillbefinedupto£1,000underanewoffencefromnextmonth.[Telegraph]Pulpitchoicegivesoffence[SydneyMorningHerald] Comments SomeGuy says April9,2012at8:02pm LOL…Ilovehowitsays“everywhereelse”…  IamembarassedtobeanAmerican-English-nativespeaker…SoembarrassedthatIevenjustnowspelled“embarrassed”wronganddidn’tevenrealiseituntiltheredsquigglylineappearedunderneaththetext. EsmeRodriguez-Fonseca says November17,2012at12:00pm Areyoukiddingme?Youmisspelled‘realize’aswell.;-) (Notmeantasapunt…justsaying.) HABS2933 says December27,2012at11:54am Sorrynohedidn’t.Itisanotherexampleof“AmericanEnglish”vs“Englishintherestoftheworld”.Manywordsthatarespelledwitha“Zed”inAmericanEnglisharespelledwithan“S”inBritishEnglish. jonabeast says November17,2013at10:31pm “Zed”ishowyoupronouncetheletterZintrueenglish.Youamericansliketosay“Zed”becauseyouarenotcomfortablewithitbeinganactualletter.Thatwouldbelikemesayingthatyouguysspelltheword“realise”witha“Zee”ratherthanan“S”.Theonlytimeyouuse“Zed”iswheneveryouinformsomebodyhowtopronouncetheletter. SomeDudeOnline says November24,2014at11:49pm SincewhenareAmericansnotcomfortablewiththeletter“‘Z”beinganactualletter?And“Zed”ishowyourpronouncetheletterinFrench.Whatisthis“true”Englishyou’rereferencing?WhyaresomanypeoplefromtheUSsoignoranttheythinkthateveryoneintheUSisthesame?IsupposepeoplelikeyouthinkallpeoplefromtheUSusestereotypesaswell? freindlyfoe says January25,2015at5:50pm IamanAmerican,justsoyouarepositivewhenyouclaimIambiased. BeingaTrueEnglishlanguageuser,asyouare.Iwon’tpointoutyourstereotyping. Basedsolelyinyourfinalsentence,yourredundancyaloneisproofyouarenotaswelleducatedintrueEnglish,asyousay.Citingyouruseof“onlytime”and“whenever”,yoursentencewouldstillbeproperwithoneuseoftime. Suchas:Youuse“Zed”wheneveryouinformsomebodyhowtopronouncetheletter.Removingthe“Theonlytime”fromhowyoubeganyoursentencestillsholdsup,withoutlosinganymeaning. Onanotherthought…ifyouarealwaysbelievingyourselfcorrect,whybeonsuchawebsite? ….asidefromthat,youletitbeknownyouareonsuchapage!!? ThestereotypingandhatredisacommonforyoutoholdagainstAmericans.Ibelievethisstereotyping,andsomeofthehatred,isbasedonjealousy.Jealousystemmingfrommanythings,spanningdifferenttimesinthebriefhistoryofAmerica. BeforetheU.S.existedyourpeoplehatedus,goingbacktowhenwewerejustcolonists. Tim says July9,2015at6:10am I’maproofreader,andIcanassureyouthateitherzorsareappropriateinBr.En.forwordslike‘realize’.ThezismandatoryinAm.En.,whereasinAustraliathesismandatory. BosnianHeart says July22,2015at6:27pm ItendtotakeOxfordasthehighestauthorityonEnglishlanguageand‘realise’isn’tinmyOxforddictionary,onlyrealize. Tess says January13,2013at9:24pm it’sno“pun”intended…:-) Puntiswhatyoudotoafootball. 9798999798 says March23,2014at9:06am negative,youmisunderstoodwhatthepersonwassaying=/ George says September1,2013at1:00am Theonlythingworsethanthe‘Muricacrowdisthepeoplewhoactall“ashamed”foreveryregionaldifferencebetweenAmericaandotherEnglishspeakingregions.It’sdifferentbecausewe’redifferent.Getoverit. Ifyouknewthedifferencesbetweenregionaldialectsinotherlanguages,you’dbemuchlessself-loathingbytheway. kfergiez says June27,2012at12:55am I’mjustembarrassedthatwestillusetheimperialmeasurementsystem. DolphRudager says May29,2015at3:48pm They’reclosetothesamedamnmeasurements!It’snotworthittospendbillionstochangeallthesigns,packaging,cookingsupplies,ovens,computerprograms,textbooks&sportsconfigurations!Whocaresifwedrinkfromaquartorpint(1quart=1.0567liter)cartonofjuice! LimeSliceSalt says May30,2015at9:40pm Becauseacentimetreisnowherenearclosetobeinganinch,Icanseehowyouarriveattheconclusionthattheyare“closetothesamedamnmeasurements”. Tim says July8,2015at6:46am 4″isapprox.10cm.1′isapprox30cm,1misapprox1yard.It’snothardtoconvertthem.AndI’dhavetoagreewithDolphRudager–it’stoocostlytoswitcheverythingeverywherejusttoappeasethecrowdthatcan’tmeasurethingsunlessthey’redecimallydivisible.Thatwouldbelikeforcingeveryonetoconverttoahexadecimalnumberingsysteminordertoconformtothedigitalage.It’smoreefficient,morelogical,andcompatiblewithcomputers,butitwouldcostanarmandalegtomaketheswitchandconfuseanyonewithalowIQ. ME>tim says July13,2015at10:00pm yehletsinsultanyonethatdoesthingsdifferentlyspeciallyifthey’rerightletsalljustkeeptothearchaicolwaystosavesomemoneythat’sthesmartmove. Tim says July21,2015at7:43am Savingmoneyissmart.Andthere’snothingarchaicaboutoursystem.It’sjustdifferent.Itcanbeusedtomeasureandexpressanythingthemetricsystemcan,andithappenstobeusedquitehappilybyoneofthemostadvancedcivilizationstheearthhaseverseen.ThemetricsystemwasdevelopedbyamegalomaniacalFrenchdictatorshiptwohundredyearsago,solet’sallstoppretendingit’smodernandhigh-techandsuperiortoanything. CitymanMichael says July3,2015at4:50pm OnlyintheUSisaquartequalto1.0567litres. thisperson says January21,2013at7:53pm So,um,I’vereallybeendoingitwrongthiswholetime.Iwasprettysureitwastheotherwayaround. bored says October17,2015at1:21am Whatisthedifferencebetweenausgallonandanimperialgallon???? Ijustwanttouse1/5ofspacebeforeIyawnmyselftosleep. bored says October17,2015at1:30am Yourright.EventhoughI’m3yearslate. 1USliquidquart=0.946liters. AaronMisner says March13,2013at2:19pm Nice.Ineverconsideredthatthesportscommentatorscouldbethecausefortheschisminpronunciation.Ofcourse,there’sareasonwhytheystressthe“OFF”inOffense,it’sforemphasis.Noticethattheydothesamethingwiththeword“Defense.”Incourtsandlegalsettings,it’spronouncedmorelike“Da-FENCE”whereasinsportsit’spronounced“DEE-fence.Insports,OffenseandDefensearemoreemotionallyopposedtoeachotherandsincethewordsaresosimilar(onlydifferingbytheirfirstparts,“Off”and“De”),itmakessensethatpeopleinsportsstressthe“OFF”andthe“DE”whenpronouncingthetwowords. Radyor says April21,2015at11:06pm Theydoitbecauseofthecharactertraitsthatanchoringsportsandthenewsrequires.ItiscalledGravitas. Mark says April17,2013at6:20am “Offense”and“offence”,inUKlaw,aretheyoffens/ces? Tim says July8,2015at6:21am Theemphasisonthefirstsyllableinsportsterminologyisprettylogical–thetwotermsareusedfrequentlyinthatcontext,andemphasizingthefirstsyllableminimizestheamountofmisunderstanding–especiallyharkingbacktothetimeofradioannouncers.Also,thesports-specificuseofthesetwowordsistechnicallyslightlydifferentinmeaningthanthetraditionaloffENSEanddeFENSEuse.Heck,‘offense’and‘defense’infootballarequitedifferentthan‘offense’or‘defense’inbasketball–anentirelynewlineupofathletestakesthefieldintheformerwhenthetwoareswitchedonthefield.There’snothingwrongwithpronouncingthemdifferentlyinordertoconveyacompletelydifferentconcept. Advertisement checkoutourtwitter! Advertisement Signupforournewsletter Leavethisfieldemptyifyou'rehuman: RecentPosts Ideavsideal Blowingupone’sphone Aneyeforaneyeandatoothforatooth Weldvswelled Wrightvswrite Graduatevsgraduate Mydogsarebarking Takeashot Blazeatrail Contentiousvsconscientious index A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z Grammar Usage Wordsandphrases Spelling Style Glossary Ourfavorites Alumna,alumnae,alumni,alumnus Favoritevs.favourite Learnedvs.learnt Grayvs.grey Thanvs.then Centervs.centre Itsvs.it’s Realisevs.realize Adviservs.advisor Canceledvs.cancelled Affectvs.effect Practicevs.practise Fishvs.fishes Resources ~~~ AboutGrammarist Contact|Privacypolicy|Home ©Copyright2009-2014Grammarist