The way I see it is that in American English, "theatre" is the spelling you use when you're being pretentious and arty, and otherwise it's "theater."
German expressions in recent Trek novels
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That's because it ISN'T right. Even in America, the proper spelling for "theatre" -- at least live theatre -- is "-re."
Bartleby is wrong. Ask anyone involved in the American theatre, any University theatre program, or any reputable theatre, and they'll all tell you it's "-re." And a hell of a lot of us get driven batshit crazy by people spelling it "-er."
It's not Bartleby, it's the American Heritage Dictionary as transcribed by Bartleby. My print version of the AHD confirms it. So does every dictionary cited on Dictionary.com.
Yes, within the theatrical subculture that spelling is preferred, but everywhere else, it's "theater." That's why it's called a variant. That means a form that is in common usage, but only among a minority of the population or within a particular specialized jargon or dialect.
i really don't get cinemas being called 'theatres'. to me a theatre's where you go see Shakespeare or a panto or possibly a musical or opera. not a place to pony up six and a half quid for a ticket to the latest output of a Hollywood studio...
Well, look at the etymology. It comes from the Greek word for "viewing," so it means "a place for watching." That applies to movies as well as live performances.
I don't know why movie theatres exist period. I worked at one.
People pay 12$ to go to a movie they could watch at home for 5$.
They watch that movie with between 100-400 people, who may be loud, obnoxious, stupid or crowding you etc.
When you could be sitting on your couch...
Handicapped seating is abysmal, and you always have to throw the able-bodied people out of them for some reason.
They pay 20$ for 3$ worth of food.
They drive there in blizzards and have accidents (as do the staff having to get to work)- and its a dumb reason to risk your life!
They have to be open every single day, for some reason.
Books are better... stay home, and read books...
Preferably ones with British spelling...
^ Movie theatres have seen a decline in butts-in-chair as the home studio continues to be perfected. That said, when I go it's usually to see a movie that I've a) been looking forward to and b) has a certain level of FX that makes the larger screen an advantage, as opposed to my TV or computer screen. I'd never go see a comedy or a drama at the theatres--like you said, why bother when I can get it far cheaper in a few months' time, and nothing is lost in the transition from big to small screen?
Fictitiously yours, Trent Roman
Fictitiously yours, Trent Roman
That's a bit like saying that if the person who makes a film calls it Star Trek but everyone else calls it Star Track then the second part is a valid spelling.
The theatre subculture is the one that ought to be regarded as being authoritative in its communal decision on how to spell the word when it comes to the live stage.
No, it's nothing like that. A proper name such as a title has only one correct spelling -- for instance, the Richard Dean Anderson TV series is MacGyver, not MacGuyver as people constantly misinterpret it. In the same way that my name is spelled Bennett rather than Bennet. In a case like that, there is a single right answer. But that doesn't mean there aren't people out there named Bennet. And it doesn't have anything to do with variant spellings of a non-proper noun.
Well, who the hell said we were talking only about the live stage? I'm talking about the word "theater," which means:
Your statement that the spelling "theatre" is preferred with reference to one specific usage of the word is not the least bit inconsistent with my point that "theatre" is a specialized variant of a word that is spelled "theater" in other contexts. So I don't understand why you're making a fuss over this. I also don't understand why you think this is something you need to try to debate with me. Not only am I not fundamentally disagreeing with you, but I'm just reporting what the dictionaries say. If you have a problem, take it up with Webster's, Merriam-Webster's, American Heritage, Random House, etc. Don't bust my chops over it.
I did.
I would point to this exchange:
I stated that the proper spelling of the word in reference to the live stage is "theatre." You attempted to argue that that is merely a variant of "theater;" by contradicting my claim that the proper spelling with regards to the live stage is "-re," that means you were claiming that "-er" is also a proper spelling with regards to the live stage.
It is not. The proper spelling of the word in regards to the live stage is "t-h-e-a-t-r-e." This is not a question of debate; no other spelling is valid with regards to the live stage.
Oh, good grief, let it go. I've gotten dragged into some silly debates on the Internet, but we're arguing over the order of two letters. It isn't worth it.
NOOOOOOO!!! The British make fun of our English, and we fall back. The artsy people make horrible abstract art and crappy movies in Hollywood and we fall back. They assimilate entire art galleries and small towns for dinky film festivals and we fall back. The line must be drawn HERE! This far no further! And YOU will make them PAY for what they've done!
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Hi Marie1! I don't put them there in the first place. Also, I set my spellchecker to US English when I'm writing Trek, so if I do lapse into my native spelling, it gets changed.
Hi! Did it take a while to train yourself to the alternate spellings? Has the spell checker (I keep forgetting there are US/UK English, but it makes sense as there is FR and... QUE French I think) ever changed something you've never heard of into a US spelling? Did it ever surprise you?
Great hearing from you, by the way!
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