# "Inquire" and "Enquire" - Any difference? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 7, 2006, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inquire-and-enquire-any-difference/351691 "2006-04-07T06:31:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![buns3000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c89c15/32.png) [@buns3000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buns3000)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2006, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inquire-and-enquire-any-difference/351691/1 "2006-04-07T06:31:14Z")
I’ve always wondered whether theses words mean the same thing or whether anybody would argue that they don’t somehow. [Dictionary.com](http://Dictionary.com) thinks they mean the same thing. I always go with “enquire”, but for no particular reason I can think of now. ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2006, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inquire-and-enquire-any-difference/351691/2 "2006-04-07T06:51:46Z")
Merriam-Webster’s also cites “enquire” as a “variant of inquire”. WAG, it seems like one of those words where enough misspellings led to a tolerated “alternate” spelling. Seeing as they are phonetically pretty much equivalent, why not? ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2006, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inquire-and-enquire-any-difference/351691/3 "2006-04-07T06:53:30Z")
There’s no difference in meaning. In England _enquire_ is the common form and _inquire_ is used for official things like Government Inquiry Boards, etc. ---
**Author:** ![ianzin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ed655f/32.png) [@ianzin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ianzin)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2006, 7:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inquire-and-enquire-any-difference/351691/4 "2006-04-07T07:38:52Z")
None at all. ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2006, 8:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inquire-and-enquire-any-difference/351691/5 "2006-04-07T08:04:01Z")
[QUOTE=aldiboronti] There’s no difference in meaning. In England _enquire_ is the common form and _inquire_ is used for official things like Government Inquiry Boards, etc. [/QUOTE] Can I inquire how you know this? 🙂 “The Government has announced that there will be an Enquiry into the Equitable Life debacle headed by Lord Penrose.” > **[Penrose Enqury](http://www.cookham.com/community/equitable/govenquiry.htm)** "Sir Paul Beresford MP is a member of the Government’s Select Committee which is conducting an enquiry into Local Government Revenue. " > **[Rother District Council](https://www.rother.gov.uk/)** > > Welcome to Rother District Council “The Parliamentary Ombudsman has launched an enquiry into whether the government misled workers over the security of their occupational pension schemes; Ann Abraham will investigate the actions of four government departments” > **[financesearch.co.uk - Finance search Resources and Information.](http://www.financesearch.co.uk/news/0/768/)** > > financesearch.co.uk is your first and best source for information about Finance search. Here you will also find topics relating to issues of general interest. We hope you find what you are looking for! On this link, they use both spellings! [http://www.sheffcol.ac.uk/links/Others/Government/Stephen\_Lawrence\_enquiry/](http://www.sheffcol.ac.uk/links/Others/Government/Stephen_Lawrence_enquiry/) ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2006, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inquire-and-enquire-any-difference/351691/6 "2006-04-07T12:07:55Z")
“Inquire” bugs the hell out of me, much the same as the word “buses.” It’s “enquire” and “busses” and I’ll throw in “ensure” instead of “insure” unless you’re talking about “insurance.” Granted, that’s according to me and none of those disreputable dictionary makers will back me up. ---
**Author:** ![hawthorne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@hawthorne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hawthorne)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2006, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inquire-and-enquire-any-difference/351691/7 "2006-04-07T14:02:33Z")
[QUOTE=aldiboronti] There’s no difference in meaning. In England _enquire_ is the common form and _inquire_ is used for official things like Government Inquiry Boards, etc. [/QUOTE] That to me, _is_ the difference in meaning: [ > [@](#): > > However, in recent times British people have developed a difference of meaning between the two forms. Enquire tends to be used for general senses of “ask” (I might enquire after your health, or enquire about some fact or other), while inquire implies a formal investigation (as in the legal forum called a public inquiry). But this isn’t absolute by any means, and British English is being influenced by American English, in which inquire and inquiry have long been the standard forms (though the en- forms are not entirely unknown even there, albeit in rather formal situations; also enquiry is relatively more common than enquire). Australian English stands in much the same position as British English and is subject to the same forces. Canadian English, as so often, is split between American and British styles, though tending towards the former. ]([Enquire versus inquire: Understanding the difference](http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-enq1.htm)) ---
**Author:** ![DaddyTimesTwo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f07891/32.png) [@DaddyTimesTwo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DaddyTimesTwo)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2006, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inquire-and-enquire-any-difference/351691/8 "2006-04-07T15:10:11Z")
I’ve wondered about the difference myself, and I finally decided that “enquire” was more of a British thing and “inquire” was more of a US thing. **Balthisar** , “insure” and “ensure” only bug me when they’re used incorrectly. Which is, like, every time. Office memoes and such that ask people to do somthing to “insure” that something else happens, is wrong wrong **wrong**. Not that I get _that_ worked up over little things like this. This post checked via preview. Any and all mispellings or grammatical errors are due to the Bush administration’s lies and the fact that VP Cheney is scary and amazingly effective at his job ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2006, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inquire-and-enquire-any-difference/351691/9 "2006-04-07T15:48:34Z")
Busses = kisses (possible from Persian _bûsa_ ‘kiss’) Buses = transit vehicles I don’t see any good reason to avoid clarity, unless someone has a sexual fetish involving public transportation (not that there’s anything wrong with that). ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2006, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inquire-and-enquire-any-difference/351691/10 "2006-04-07T16:04:38Z")
_The National Enquirer_ was a very successful tabloid and _The National Inquirer_ was a short-lived poor imitation. If you Google _The National Inquirer_, however, you’ll get tens of thousands of hits and they mostly seem to be misspellings of _The National Enquirer_. This leads me to posit that inquire is the more natural form in American English. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2006, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inquire-and-enquire-any-difference/351691/11 "2006-04-07T17:14:44Z")
[QUOTE=Johanna] Busses = kisses (possible from Persian _bûsa_ ‘kiss’) Buses = transit vehicles I don’t see any good reason to avoid clarity, unless someone has a sexual fetish involving public transportation (not that there’s anything wrong with that). [/QUOTE] Perfectly good alternate spelling. And a better spelling, IMHO. [Quickie cite #1](http://www.bartleby.com/61/53/B0575300.html) [Quickie cite #2](http://www.thefreedictionary.com/busses) ---
**Author:** ![OldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3bc359/32.png) [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2006, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inquire-and-enquire-any-difference/351691/12 "2006-04-07T17:58:14Z")
[QUOTE=Balthisar] “Inquire” bugs the hell out of me, much the same as the word “buses.” It’s “enquire” and “busses” and I’ll throw in “ensure” instead of “insure” unless you’re talking about “insurance.” Granted, that’s according to me and none of those disreputable dictionary makers will back me up. [/QUOTE] Not to mention assure. It really bugs me that there are insurance companies called \_\_\_ Assurance, for example American Family Life Assurance Co. I once asked a life-insurance phone salesman exactly what his company was going to do to ASsure my life. It went right over his head. Oh well … Of course the Merriam Webster On-Line Dictionary not oly lists ensure, insure and assure as synonyms, it says “INSURE sometimes stresses the taking of necessary measures beforehand.” which I always took to be the distinctin of ensure. Though it does also list its first definition as “to provide or obtain insurance” ---
**Author:** ![Jake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f475e1/32.png) [@Jake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jake)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2006, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inquire-and-enquire-any-difference/351691/13 "2006-04-07T19:28:37Z")
One of my pet peeves is the word “Offence” as compaired to the correct (IMHO) “Offense”. The former sounds like someone is talking about a fence. ---
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2006, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inquire-and-enquire-any-difference/351691/14 "2006-04-07T20:13:35Z")
[QUOTE=Balthisar] “Inquire” bugs the hell out of me, much the same as the word “buses.” It’s “enquire” and “busses” and I’ll throw in “ensure” instead of “insure” unless you’re talking about “insurance.” Granted, that’s according to me and none of those disreputable dictionary makers will back me up. [/QUOTE] I take it you didn’t participate in the Spanish Enquisition, then? ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2006, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inquire-and-enquire-any-difference/351691/15 "2006-04-07T21:09:49Z")
**Balthisar** , I was in grade school in the 1960s when the spelling “busses” was still current for buses, and I remember the many controversies in the early 1970s when court-ordered school busing for racial integration was a hot topic, that opened a side debate on whether there’s any use in continuing to double the s, because that made a homonym for no good reason. The spelling rule to preserve shortness of the root vowel when a lengthening suffix is added, to cancel the lengthening was a rule that was useful as a guide to pronunciation _most_ of the time. But when this spelling rule clashes with clarity, introducing needless ambiguity, as a longtime grammarian I would totally go with clarity. For similar reasons Christ asked “Was the Sabbath made for people, or were people made for the Sabbath”? It was just supposed to be a convenience, not an ironclad rule. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2006, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inquire-and-enquire-any-difference/351691/16 "2006-04-07T21:12:23Z")
This may be my first time **Gaudere** izing myself. Here I’m spouting grammar and what have I done but stick the question mark outside the quotation marks.:smack: