The Grand Cafe

It’s not just a question of UK or other English. Most news organisations’ style guides, for example, insist on “inquire,” and consider “enquire” to be as antiquated as, say, “amongst.”

Really? Nothing wrong with enquire or amongst! Why pauperise the language?

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Them’s the breaks. You can use whichever spelling you prefer, but not if you work for an outfit that insists on house style. Even when I was working on newspapers in the UK in the Seventies, “amongst” and “enquire” were as verboten as “connexion” and “shew.”

I find style guides fascinating. It used to be that each paper had its own set of rules. In the U.S., the default is the AP style guide.

If you’re curious, take a look at this: https://www.theguardian.com/info/series/guardian-and-observer-style-guide

I don’t know a great deal about the AP guide, though I have heard some things. One thing that I strongly disagree with is that they will only use the title ‘Dcotor’ for medical doctors. I really don’t understand why. PhD graduates have always been Doctors (I should know - I did a PhD many years ago). It seems somewhat arbitrary and disrespectful to decide that only medical doctors should use that title.

You’re correct about AP. But its not just doctors, and it’s not just AP; most news organisations generally do not use honorifics after the first mention.

Anyway, my point was that enquire vs inquire is a question of preference, not correctness.

Yes - so why did the spell checker say that it was wrong?

Because it is probably set up for modern usage.

Enquire for me…

I think there is a real difference in meaning. The policeman may enquire whether he could help me work out where I am if I’m struggling with a map, but he might inquire what I thought I was doing driving that fast on that road.

I might enquire what time the shop is going to close today but inquire why it was they closed early yesterday, before the agreed time for me to pick up my order.

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The Grammarly website says:

Traditionally, enquire simply meant “ask,” while inquire was used for formal investigations. In the UK, the two words are used interchangeably, although inquire is still the more commonly used word for formal or official investigations. In the United States, inquire is the strongly preferred spelling in all uses.

Which all reminds me of the best piece of literature I’ve read: The Karamazov brothers by Dostoyevsky. There is a story about The Grand Inquistor which was a brilliant.

Yes, I had always seen a difference between the two words. One might inquire into some event or organisation, but, as you say, enquire whether someone is well. The former implies some sort of official or serious questioning, whereas the latter is a more casual enquiry. It seems sad to lose such shades of meanings, though it happens a great deal.

Indeed. Why must everything be dumbed down? I though mankind would be evolving with intelligence and cognitive ability improving over time…

You’d think so, wouldn’t you. When I was learning to teach, I was told that I should use simple language that a 6 or 7-year old would understand. This was for teaching GCSE and A-levels. I think that this may be why, in Britain at least, we are losing some of the variety and precision of our language.

The best b-movie: Idiocracy. It’s about degeneration. Mankind goes backwards because stupid people get too many kids and smart people don’t get kids.

I agree that it’s sad to lose shades of meaning, but the enquire/inquire train left the station long ago.

Have a look at the link I sent. The Guardian insists on “inquire” and “inquiry.” It’s not just the Guardian; that is normal in journalistic usage.

By all means, use both words in the way you describe, but know that, for at least 30 years, “enquire” wouldn’t get past a strict editor.

That sounds like my neighbourhood.

Are we to be ruled by the Press ?

Um, what?

This discussion started with a question about spell checkers and British English. I took a detour into questions of style and modern usage.

The talk of style guides isn’t prescriptive; on the other hand, it is descriptive of the use of English in the publishing industry.

Long story short: You probably aren’t ruled by the press.

In my experience, when writing a press release one has to dumb down because the papers are intended to be read and understood by as wide a range of people as possible, including those relatively poorly educated. I guess that is why newspaper editors might try to simplify language, but it is not a reason for more educated people to do so unless they target or anticipate a less educated audience. However where inquire and enquire are concerned there really is no point dumbing down because those not aware of the difference would read them as if they were just the one word anyway!

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