Commonwealth English
From Homestar Runner Wiki
Commonwealth English is English as it is spoken and spelled in the Commonwealth countries, a collection of former British territories. This form of English dialect is noticeably different from that which exists in the United States, and the two are commonly the subject of comparison for linguists, grammarians, and comedians the world over. Throughout the Homestar Runner body of work, this form of English has been mocked or parodied in several forms.
Examples
- Fan Stuff — The caption of one image asks if a new character is the viewer's "flavourite", a portmanteau of the Commonwealth spellings of "flavor" and "favorite".
- Email sb_email 22 — Strong Bad remarks that the sender, Mark, should "have an unnecessary vowel at the end" (he changes the name to "Marke"). This reflects spelling differences between American and British spellings of such words as "annex/annexe" and "ax/axe". Also mentioned is the substance "treacle", which is an Commonwealth English name for sugar syrups such as molasses.
- 3 Times Halloween Funjob — Homestar Runner scolds The Poopsmith for giving him "bum candy". "Bum" as a synonym for "buttocks" is primarily Commonwealth.
- Email do over — Coach Zed uses the Commonwealth name for the letter Z, pronounced Zee in the US.
- Email environment — "Bum" is one of the mother-approved synonyms of "butt".
- Marzipan's Answering Machine Version 15.2 — Marzipan's "questionable surgeon" pronounces "advertisement" as "ad-VER-tiss-ment", and then calls attention to the fact that he had done so.
- SBCG4AP Advertisement — The announcer pronounces "advertisement" as "ad-VER-tiss-ment".
- Hooked on Decemberween — The TV Time Toons Menu's description uses the word "flavourite".
- 50 emails — The Strong Bad is asked "How do you operate the telegramophone whilst wearing gentleman's sport gloves"?. "Whilst" is the Commonwealth equivalent of "while".
