Vice or Vise

[Mad Mart]

Which is the correct spelling (English not American) for that lump of metal that holds things, with jaws, on a bench?

[sprint95m]

Vice.


A long time ago at primary we had spellings drilled into us, you know the sort of thing, i before e except after c.

We were told that for the c versus s alternative, that the s is for doing the action, eg to advise someone, to license a car, to practise a sport.




Curiously one British maker of bench vices, Parkinson, did use the wrong spelling, but that is perhaps understandable since they sold their products in the USA.





Ian.

[tony g]

VICE

Tony

[Mad Mart]

Thanks, I wasn't sure as a lot of the on-line dictionaries seem to be American.

[Galileo]

I only use the Oxford English Dictionary online myself, don't trust those American ones, they add ~ise to everything!

[trackerjack]

American is creeping into everything these days
Don't get me wrong I like Americans well enough but they wreck OUR language and even the BBC copy them.
Vice for me.
When someone dies you have a post mortem not an autopsy.
If that person was murdered and not a homicide victim.
Likewise we have a murder investigation and not a homicide investigation.
Lastly do not work out your fuel consumption using the Nokia phone calculator because US gallons are not the same as ours.

A man who has no vices seldom has any virtues either

[Mahesh]

The spelling of colour has been a pain from infant days, due to Americanism,
also

Period instead of full stop,

and not to mention they removed a zero from the old billion measurement.

[GTS290N]

........
Lastly do not work out your fuel consumption using the Nokia phone calculator because US gallons are not the same as ours........

They still have 8 pints to a gallon

[Carledo]

........
Lastly do not work out your fuel consumption using the Nokia phone calculator because US gallons are not the same as ours........

They still have 8 pints to a gallon

Yes, but a US pint is 16 fluid ounces and an English pint is 20 (a fl/oz is the same size on both sides of the Atlantic)

So an American gallon is only 80% of an English one!

Steve

[GTS290N]

Yep, so 3.8 litres to a US gallon.
Thankfully many places do a 24oz beer.

[Toledo Man]

Apparently, American English originated from Elizabethan English which was from the time of William Shakspeare when the US was first colonized and with contact with Native Americans some of their words were incorporated into American English.

To answer the original question: It is definitely "vice".

[Mad Mart]

American is creeping into everything these days
Don't get me wrong I like Americans well enough but they wreck OUR language and even the BBC copy them.
Vice for me.

Yes, that is my gripe too. That is why I asked the question. I dislike English people spelling the way Americans spell. I know none of us are perfect but I always try to get the English language correct, I'm still learning! A lot of English people just don't care. It's the same with pronunciation. The amount of times I hear TV/radio presenters mispronouncing words. You'd have thought they should know better.

[oily66]

my pet hate is GOTTEN what the hell is that
My 2 cents worth, oh sorry penny's.

[Toledo Man]

I see a lot of poor English where I work (a solicitor's office of all places!).

[Mad Mart]

my pet hate is GOTTEN what the hell is that
My 2 cents worth, oh sorry penny's.

...or did you mean pennies?