Careen

[Alan W]

A while ago I had an email from someone who plays the puzzles in Chihuahua books. He said he would like it if the books sold in the UK omitted American words and spelling. I replied that it might be a possibility to have separate British and American editions of the books, but I doubted if I could reliably compile separate word lists. However I pointed out that words that are not well known in all English-speaking countries are generally classed as rare.

As an example, he had mentioned careen - treated as a common word in Chi puzzles - which he said was an American version of the verb career. I hadn't previously noticed that these two very similar words could be used in the same way: "the car went careening/careering across the road". Nor had it occurred to me that one of these words is more associated with British English and the other more with American English. But it seems it is so, at least to a certain extent. Corpus searches show careen used several times more frequently in the US than in Britain, while careered and careering are used more often in the UK than in the US.

However I'm not convinced that careen would be unknown to most speakers of British English. Certainly I, an Australian, know the word. While I was pondering this question I happened to notice the word used twice in a recent Australian novel, All Our Shimmering Skies, by Trent Dalton. For example:

One buffalo loses its footing in the uneven roadside and careens unstoppably into Greta's door, horns crashing into moving metal.

So I'd be interested in comments about careen from non-American forumites. Likewise from Americans about verb forms of career. Obviously career itself should remain common, for its use meaning a professional life, but careered and careering are also common at present.

[blackrockrose]

I lived in the UK for the first 23 years of my life, then Australia for 47 years (and counting). It seems to me that 'careen' is a word I've always known.

[mkenuk]

The same with me. It's a word I've always known; I've never thought of it as being 'American'.

[Scouser1952]

Same here, even in the remote village in Scotland where I live, familiar to me.

[Valerie]

Familiar to me too.  Both in the out-of-control definition but perhaps more in the boating sense.  Never knew the former was actually American.

[pat]

A while ago I had an email from someone who plays the puzzles in Chihuahua books. He said he would like it if the books sold in the UK omitted American words and spelling.

What a strange request. Maybe he thinks you need something to do. Like the others who've replied, I'm familiar with both words and am quite happy for them both to be common.

[Jacki]

Careen and career (similar meanings) are both well-known to me.

[cmh]

Both are familiar to me too but I think of careen in  boating terms ( not that I have boat!)

[nineoaks]

Career/careen both familiar to me.

[Barbaram]

Both are familiar to me too.

[Alan W]

To be fair to my email correspondent, many dictionaries do label this sense of careen as North American or chiefly US. He wasn't imagining things. Nevertheless it seems that it's fairly well known in Britain and other places outside North America. Likewise, career, with the same meaning, is fairly well known in America. So there seems no need to change any words from common to rare.