When did you last hear a Brit refer to the "hood" of their car???

Actually most owners of open-top cars, such as Morgans, use the term frequently!

I've always had suspicions about that little girl with a wolf as grandmother!

By the way, I have a couple of sweatshirts, and a rainproof jacket, with attached hoods.

… the same word spelt differently.

As our mutual friend Marilyn would have been quick to point out if she had been participating in this discussion, AmE speakers generally understand “spelt” to refer (only) to an ancient form of wheat.

I’m fine with that!

Not recently, if ever! “Hood” is peculiarly un-British, and not only in the context of cars. As far as I’m aware, “hood” as an abbreviation for “hoodlum” is exclusively American.

Alfred wrote:

... but the point is that writing “normalcy” in an article intended for a British audience is like writing “manoeuvre” in an article intended for an American one.

No, it isn't.

Normalcy and normality are different words (albeit with the same meaning). Manoeuvre (French spelling adopted by us Brits and most Canadians) and maneuver (US spelling) are the same word spelt differently. I am being pedantic, but we must not confuse words with various spellings and synonyms.

When did you last hear a Brit refer to the "hood" of their car???

Alfred wrote:

Of course it’s more likely than not that it would be understood, but the point is that writing “normalcy” in an article intended for a British audience is like writing “manoeuvre” in an article intended for an American one.

No, it isn't. British v. American spellings are different to choice of vocabulary.

A better comparison would be using hood instead of bonnet when referring to a car.

What isn’t what? BrE vs AmE spellings are indeed different to (or as I would more usually say, different from*) choice of vocabulary. However, maneuver and manoeuvre mean the same thing; likewise, normalcy and normality mean the same thing; the biggest potential for misunderstandings is where the “same” word means different things depending on whether you’re a BrE speaker or an AmE speaker, the word “pavement” being a popular example.**

“Bonnet” in the context of cars is peculiarly British. When was the last time you heard someone refer to the inner workings of something as anything other than “under the hood”?

________
*In AmE it’s (typically?) “different than”. In BrE it’s “different from” or “different to”; my preference for the “from” variant stems from the fact that you can say “X differs from Y” but you can’t say “X differs to Y”.
**BrE “pavement” is equivalent to AmE “sidewalk”. The word “pavement” also exists in AmE, but with the potentially dangerous difference that it’s equivalent to the BrE word “carriageway”, which is where the moving cars are.

Of course it’s more likely than not that it would be understood, but the point is that writing “normalcy” in an article intended for a British audience is like writing “manoeuvre” in an article intended for an American one.

No, it isn't. British v. American spellings are different to choice of vocabulary.

A better comparison would be using hood instead of bonnet when referring to a car.

could easily be replaced with "The day was extraordinarily normal, given..."

It's true that 99% of the time the intended meaning of badly worded and ungrammatical sentences is readily understood, but that is not really a good excuse for institutions such as the BBC!

Even the common (in the USA) expression "I could care less" is generally understood to mean the exact opposite!

I would opine yes.  Context adds a great deal to likely interpretations of individual words.  Methinks this to be a tempest in a teapot.

Really? What do you think ‘somber’ means, Ali?

You misunderstood: sombre and somber are the same word with different (British v. US) spellings. Normalcy and normality might have the same meaning, but they are not the same word.

My point was that whoever wrote the piece, if they are American, may be aware of the British spelling of certain words, but not so au fait with vocabulary usage/preferences. Does this make sense now?

Thanks, Ali. That does indeed make perfect sense! I had thought you were responding to my question

rather than your question (echoed by me) about whether the word ‘normalcy' was used instead of 'normality' because the piece was written by a US journalist working for the BBC.

Really? What do you think ‘somber’ means, Ali?

You misunderstood: sombre and somber are the same word with different (British v. US) spellings. Normalcy and normality might have the same meaning, but they are not the same word.

My point was that whoever wrote the piece, if they are American, may be aware of the British spelling of certain words, but not so au fait with vocabulary usage/preferences. Does this make sense now?

"Normalness" has not caught on anywhere.

I’m not surprised!

Not just another point, Geoff, but a very good one, too! I would have said “remarkable” rather than “extraordinary”.

why ‘sombre’ rather than ‘somber’?

Really? What do you think ‘somber’ means, Ali?

What’s wrong with the following paragraph from https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cd9x33z8nzpo?

The day was extraordinary in its normalcy, given the chaos of four years before. Harris stood at the front of the US House chamber with a sombre expression as lawmakers read out each state's election results before formally declaring their authenticity.

Ambiguity. Who or what is declared authentic? The ambiguity would not exist if the word "results" had been singular, as it could well have been - there was only one election (of the Electoral College) in each state. Of course, had it been singular, it would be the lawmakers being declared authentic, probably not what is intended!

Otherwise nothing, or nothing much.

Fowler's has an interesting entry on "normalcy".

Apparently "normalcy", "normality" and "normalness" all entered the language in the middle of the 19th century. Even the word "normal" did not acquire its present meaning until about 1840. Before then, since 17th century, it just referred to rectangles and perpendiculars.

As far as "normalcy" is concerned, its use in British English is "rare (and disliked)", but in North America, especially USA, it is the more frequent form. In Indian and East Asian English "normalcy" is, as it were, the norm.

"Normalness" has not caught on anywhere.

Another point: How can something "extraordinary" be "normal"?

See also https://english.stackexchange.com/quest … -ridiculed