Escape - 11:34 pm on Feb 5, 2006 (gmt 0)

I have advertised my European rental apartments on US websites for years and have received numerous emails with the subject line “Inquiry about your apartment”. Each time one of these lands in my inbox my heart jumps a beat. Not that I fear inquiries you understand, but half my life is wasted on ‘red tape’ issues and an inquiry into anything is another drain on my time. Enquiries, on the other hand, are very welcome.

When developing a website a year ago with a reverse audience (UK based site targeting an American as well as UK market) I asked many Americans if ‘enquiry’ was understood and the response was that it was – they just thought it was British English for ‘inquiry’, but more importantly it didn’t have any negative tones. In the end I went with “Click to email owner” with the form saying Enquiry Form”. Similar to you my form is an enquiry into availability, rates etc and can’t be named anything else. I decided to steer clear of ‘Inquiry’ after a British businessman working in the US for many years told me an inquiry still sends shivers down his spine.

Inquiry and Enquiry have different meanings in British English but my understanding was that they mean the same thing to Americans – just spelled differently.