Allegedly, anyway. (ducking, running, fearing being chased by UKistas)

not pissed off, but puzzled.

I wasn't being snarky or trying to imply that it was archaic in the US. Just that it fell out of use in the UK a while ago. We have (myriad) different English dialects worldwide that draw mostly on the same roots - I'm not all about the One True English Language vibe.

Hope I didn't give the impression that I meant the usage was archaic full stop? 'Cause I only meant archaic in the UK. Ditto "gotten" and various other things. The flip side, of course, is that all the cultural/linguistic crosspollination is reviving archaic terms and forms, because the US is The Daddy and we all want to be like you, with your power and wealth and shiny happy culture. So I find myself saying "dude" and "word" and other such ridiculous things, and kids grow up on American telly and movies and regurgitate language from the silver screen.

Normalcy is a relatively recent word, dating back only to the mid-1800s. I'm fond of it, but it's used most often in my experience with reference to post-war periods, which explains my fondness.

(Edit: specifically, US politics post WWI)

is struck by thought.

Hang on - was it a pun? Did I just miss that?

t /stupid blonde

I've come to realize that I grew up in an area that uses more archaic speech than the rest of the country. Most of the spellings I was taught are UK-normal, not US-normal, ie, judgement. "Judgment" just looks utterly wrong to me, and I didn't run into that until college, when suddenly I was getting notes in papers asking why I was using British spelling. I never used the "our" endings, though.

Allegedly, anyway. (ducking, running, fearing being chased by UKistas)

not pissed off, but puzzled.

I think (not certain, mind you), that it was our (one half mine, since I'm only half) personal normality/normalcy being poked there, rather than the linguistic end.

No, hon, it was a feeble joke cause you didn't " normality. So it seemed like you were saying you were all normal in the UK. My bad. So I was all "That's not what I heard," or something. Pretty naff, really.

Connie, I've had to make an actual effort over the years to tailor my spellings to the area in which I'm writing things down. College was UK, so that was no problem, but I'd drive NY copy editors insane while galley prep was going on. "-or? -our? make up your mind, lady!"

because I get sloppy, and I forget.

This is interesting, partly because I use "gotten" as well.

Now I'm wondering if it's because of my reading habits... I learned most of my language from books and have startled more than one person by using something archaic that I didn't know was archaic because it was Just Used in the book I read (sure, written in the 1700s, but I don't get your point). At least I stopped using phonics to determine pronunciation.

Pretty naff, really.

No, it's just me being dim. Dim dim dim. Like a thing that is dim. Eating Dim Sum. In a room with the curtains drawn. And no lightbulbs.

Ah, gray/grey, colour, flavour, judgement!

I love those words, though I always forget which gray is grey. I got very upset with one of my teachers in grade school for telling me colour was spelled wrong.