Is this a British thing or something? People trying to be cute?

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The discussion centers around the use of "math" versus "maths," with participants debating whether the latter is a British convention. Many contributors assert that "maths" is the correct term derived from "mathematics," while "math" is seen as an American simplification. The conversation touches on cultural differences in language, with some expressing frustration over the American usage and others noting that "maths" is commonly accepted in various English-speaking countries outside the U.S. The debate also includes playful jabs about language evolution and regional dialects, with some participants humorously referencing the historical context of British English. Overall, the dialogue highlights the nuances of language and regional variations in terminology related to mathematics.
Mu naught
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Is this a British thing or something? People trying to be cute? I have never heard anyone put an 's' on the end of math. It really bothers me.

It's math, or mathematics as far as I'm concerned. No "maths".
 
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It's a British thing. It has to do with their long history of adding unnecessary vowels and consonants.
 


It's a shorthand from Mathematics.
 


James Grime says it all the time, and it catches me every time.
 


Dickfore said:
It's a shorthand from Mathematics.

No, math is the shorthand from mathematics.
 


Mu naught said:
No, math is the shorthand from mathematics.

In your culture; every Brit that I've heard mention the subject at all has called it "maths".
Evo, yor menton of superfuos nuns and consonants is ridiculus.
 


Danger said:
Evo, yor menton of superfuos nuns and consonants is ridiculus.
:biggrin:
 


Danger said:
In your culture; every Brit that I've heard mention the subject at all has called it "maths".
Evo, yor menton of superfuos nuns and consonants is ridiculus.

Well that's probably why the British lost their empire.
 


Mu naught said:
Well that's probably why the British lost their empire.

The Commonwealth is still quite extensive, loyal, and powerful.
 
  • #10


Does "pure maths" make you even more crazy?
 
  • #11


How I hate hearing some American nerd say "just do the math". Ticks me off.

I was ashamed when I heard Andrew Wiles say "math", he probably got tired of being abused by American students telling him he was saying it wrong.

Point is, it's the English language and it's always been maths, it's the Americans saying it wrong.
 
  • #12


New Zealand and parts of Oz are the only places in the commonwealth that speak the proper Queens English anymore. You British screwed that up 100 years ago.
 
  • #13


Mu naught said:
I have never heard anyone put an 's' on the end of math. It really bothers me.

If this sort of thing really bothers you that much, you need to get out more!

Anyway, when you shorten mathematics, you get math's (with an apostrophe to denote dropped letters, which is then usually itself dropped). Sure, you can do it differently in a different language (say, American), but then you're not longer speaking English. :-p
 
  • #14


KalamMekhar said:
New Zealand and parts of Oz are the only places in the commonwealth that speak the proper Queens English anymore. You British screwed that up 100 years ago.

Ahem...
Does the term "Canuk" ring a bell? We have to put up with Yank-speak a hell of a lot more than anybody else, from living right next door to them.
cristo said:
but then you're not longer speaking English.
I agree with everything that you said, but I'm pretty sure that there shouldn't be a "t" on "no"... :wink:
 
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  • #15


I had never heard the term before coming to this forum. After following a few links from PF threads, I see that it is fairly common outside of the US. It's still strange to me but, I consider it one of the things that I have learned here. I guess that I don't get out much either. :rolleyes:
 
  • #16


Borg said:
I had never heard the term before coming to this forum. After following a few links from PF threads, I see that it is fairly common outside of the US. It's still strange to me but, I consider it one of the things that I have learned here. I guess that I don't get out much either. :rolleyes:

Here in Canada, we do in fact use the word "math" without the "s", but have no problem with the Brit approach. (In fact, I've heard Brits use it only in reference to educational courses as opposed to everyday life, but I don't know if that is the rule.)

Anyhow, the word that I use for it can't be printed here. The only trouble that I ever got into in High School was for assaulting a math teacher in Grade 10, and I never took the subject since. There were several years of incredibly horrible math teachers prior to that, and I just hit my breaking point.
 
  • #17


Mu naught said:
It really bothers me.
Don't visit England, you'll bust a gut.
 
  • #18


KalamMekhar said:
New Zealand and parts of Oz are the only places in the commonwealth that speak the proper Queens English anymore.

Their language wants for naught.
 
  • #19


fuzzyfelt said:
Their language wants for naught.

Is that just a coincidence, or are you crossing threads here? :rolleyes:
 
  • #20


Danger said:
Is that just a coincidence, or are you crossing threads here? :rolleyes:

Deja vu?
 
  • #21


Office_Shredder said:
Deja vu?

Oh, great... now that's three threads. Thanks a lot, Shedder...
 
  • #22


Let the record show that was a legitimate question. Any resemblance to posts in other threads is not coincidental.
 
  • #23


Danger said:
Is that just a coincidence, or are you crossing threads here? :rolleyes:

Intentional, and also wondering if objections to "maths" and not "naught" are inconsistent, considering the OP's username.
 
  • #24


Office_Shredder said:
Deja vu?

:smile:
 
  • #25


I actually think "maths" makes more sense. (see Dickfore's post)

Math, to me, would be the logical shortening of Mathematic, which isn't a word.

By omitting the apostrophe in math's, one clears up any potential confusion with whether or not the noun is intended to be possessive; however, if the intention is to make the word possessive, one would then need to consider whether or not to write math's or maths's. :biggrin: :devil:
 
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  • #26


They say physics too.
 
  • #27


Dembadon said:
I actually think "maths" makes more sense. (see Dickfore's post)

Math, to me, would be the logical shortening of Mathematic, which isn't a word.

By omitting the apostrophe in math's, one clears up any potential confusion with whether or not the noun is intended to be possessive; however, if the intention is to make the word possessive, one would then need to consider whether or not to write math's or maths's. :biggrin: :devil:

It would be maths'

When you shorten a word do you always leave the last letter on?

Math is an actual shorter version of mathematics, similar to 'lab' for 'laboratory' or 'info' for 'information' or 'limo' for 'limousine.

A couple more examples since I found a website listing them: 'sax' for 'saxophone', 'vet' for 'veteran' or 'veterinarian', 'vocab' for 'vocabulary'.
 
  • #28


Dembadon said:
IMath, to me, would be the logical shortening of Mathematic, which isn't a word.
Would you say mathematics is beautiful, or mathematics are beautiful?
 
  • #29


Jimmy Snyder said:
Would you say mathematics is beautiful, or mathematics are beautiful?

That would depend upon whether you define "mathematics" as "an intellectual pursuit" or as "a bunch of Hooters waitresses". (Come to think of it, one Hooters waitress would still be properly referred to in the plural...)
 
  • #30


I can't say. Hooters is too expensive for me.
 
  • #31


Jimmy Snyder said:
I can't say. Hooters is too expensive for me.

Don't you mean "are", or are you referring to the establishment?

Oh hell, I have to log off now. As a last thought, it always seemed to me that the term "maths" indicated several different branches of mathematics, such as trig, algebra, etc. combined.
 
  • #32


Jimmy Snyder said:
Would you say mathematics is beautiful, or mathematics are beautiful?

That's an interesting question. In my experience, mathematics is typically referred to as a single entity, governing all fields/subjects. Since the word can also be used when referring to a single field, it seems that the verb "are" would be permissible in certain cases. I guess its use, in that sense, would be contextually dependent.
 
  • #33


Dembadon said:
That's an interesting question. In my experience, mathematics is typically referred to as a single entity, governing all fields/subjects. Since the word can also be used when referring to a single field, it seems that the verb "are" would be permissible in certain cases. I guess its use, in that sense, would be contextually dependent.

People only use the word 'are' when trying to justify their usage of the word "maths"
 
  • #34


I'm English and I use "maths" as short for "mathematics" and "math" as short for "mathematical", for example as in "math symbol", "math notation" or "math font".

(At school, we called it "mathma" anyway).
 
  • #35


I am going to do math real quick.
I am going to write some maths real quick.

Here is some math I am doing on the subject.
Here are some maths I produced on the subject.

I enjoy learning more about all of mathematics, and I think it is a beautiful subject.

I think of math as more of a verb, to math is the act of producing maths.


For geek speak I like to say "I'm going to math it up in here" or whatnot, or jokingly "thems was some real purdy maths you made thur" in a redneck-y accent.
 
  • #36


I've been looking at lots of stuff on the Internet tonight. I'm going to go up to my room alone now to math off.
 

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