Theater vs. Theatre — Page 3

TIGGOSAURUS: At least you got it! Frankly, I'm amazed. Not too many people would have. Kudos to you!

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RE

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I hate it when people spell it THEATRE I am a strong beliver that it should be THEATER

... which makes you seem pretentious.

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Theater= movies... Lowes Theaters
Theatre= musical theatre... The Imperial Theatre.

Do what you will in America, that's how I see it since we're so screwy with our vocabulary ([American] Football? I mean, come on!)

I spell musical/playhouses as theatre, and cinemas as theater (America does not use cinemas, but movie theaters instead, so I decided to distinguish the two for my own personal use, and preference)...

Besides, if I used 'cinemas' to my friends, they'd pull a WTF? on me.

IT'S ALL PREFERENCE IN AMERICA...and you have to go with the flow out here because of the way the nation has been "new speaked."

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Updated On: 10/7/06 at 07:32 PM

I don't pronounce them differently.

According to my Dictionary of American English:

theater AmE/also theatre esp. BrE 1)a place for the performance of plays: New York's theaters 2)the work of people who write or act in plays: I'm interested in the theater 3)a scene of important military events: He fought in the Pacific theater of World War II

So those Americans who write "theatre" are just being pretentious.

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No, no, I am not being pretentious because I am not using theatre in certain instances because I want to be self important but because I want to use it and it's my preference...

Don't give me your high and mighty claim that American-'re' users are pretentious...I'd say that's pretentious.

I do not pronounce them differently when I speak because it doesn't matter that much,...but when I WRITE something down, I spell it a certain way...

I treat it, spoken-wise, the way I treat "too" and "to" and "two" and "so" and "sew."

PREF-ER-ENCE

By the way, I say "thee-uh-ter" with a miniscule emphases on the "uh".

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Updated On: 10/7/06 at 08:54 PM

"So, to all the people who spell theater, theatre; and, are American, do you spell color, colour? Do you spell realize, realise? Do you spell offense, offence?"

No, because those words only refer to one thing. For instance if color meant one thing and colour something else, then there would be a reason to spell them differently. Like the person you're marrying is a fiancee if it's a woman, or a fiance if it's a man. They're pronounced the same way, but the spelling provides a slightly different meaning.

The Dictionary of American English may not distinguish between theatre/theater, but I'll bet other (American) dictionaries do mention it, because it's common enough to at least be included as an option. And may I point out that we have a President of the United States who can't pronounce the word "nuclear." So all bets are off as far as the "official American" way to say or spell anything. When folks here say "most Americans spell it theater," I have a feeling that's because most Americans think that word means a place you go to watch movies and buy popcorn, and are the same people who refer to intermission as "halftime," and voted for the above-mentioned President who can't pronounce probably the most important word in his job.

What would be more interesting, and more to the point I think, is how many people in the industry, or who are frequent patrons, spell it either way. In other words, people who actually use the word with some regularity. Which is why this is the perfect place to ask the question.