Do you 'fill in' or 'fill out' a form?

[Arch]

Have you noticed that TV chefs now use 'off' in the same way? 'Rinse off your lettuce', 'fry off your onions' etc.

Or in Gordon Ramsey's case "F*** off you're sacked"...

I fill IN forms.

 

[gavintc]

On a similar theme, do you bash one off, or bash one out?
(OK, I'm going)

I could not give a toss what you call it.

 

[Auntie Helen]

The creeping Americanism thing does wind me up (no surprise as part of my job is translating American marketing information into English marketing information, and that involves a surprising number of changes).

The 'fill out' this always wound me up - we 'fill in' as we are writing in the empty boxes requiring our information, I suppose.

But what MAKES ME SO IRRITATED is:

...person arrives at counter at coffee shop. "Can I get..." ARGH! NO NO NO! "May I have..." or if you think that sounds a bit OTT "Can I have"... .

 

[ProudSalopian]

Just to be different I would 'complete' a form or at least try TO - that's not try AND that most people seem to prefer.

 

[SavageHoutkop]

In... of course you can 'populate' a form too

 

[theclaud]

Have you noticed that TV chefs now use 'off' in the same way? 'Rinse off your lettuce', 'fry off your onions' etc.

I don't think that's an Americanism - I think it's a catering college thang.

 

[User169]

I fill in, my wife (a Canadian) fills out. It is one of those language things. She contends that 'fill out' fits with the concept of completing something.

Surely, she fills "oot"!

 

[Aperitif]

I'm 'Miss' in forms

 

[rich p]

I fill in, my wife (a Canadian) fills out. .

My wife fills out too - I've told her to lose weight, the fat old bint

 

[Brains]

Fill In = Implies there are boxes that need filling in or ticking
Fill Out = Implies there are areas of the form that you have to write text

Therefore you might 'fill in' a multiple guess type exam paper, but you would 'fill out' an English prose exam paper

 

[threebikesmcginty]

On a similar theme, do you bash one off, or bash one out?
(OK, I'm going)

Tricky - if I had to toss I think I'd come down on the side of the first one!

 

[Fnaar]

Fill In = Implies there are boxes that need filling in or ticking
Fill Out = Implies there are areas of the form that you have to write text

Therefore you might 'fill in' a multiple guess type exam paper, but you would 'fill out' an English prose exam paper

We can see why they call you 'brains'

 

[Aperitif]

We can see why they call you 'brains'

Do you fill out a form at the dentist, when you're 'avin' a fillin'?

Or an amalgam of the two?