Autumn or Fall?

[Sarah]

In Ireland we say Autumn, but I'm obviously very familiar with my other home (USA!) using the term Fall.

Which do you use?

I love this time of year.

 

[Mel O'Drama]

Autumn is such a poetic, evocative word. Which the season richly deserves.

 

[Michelle Stevens]

I use both but prefer Autumn as it sounds more formal. Fall is more used here in the States.

 

[Sarah]

I didn't realise that the States used Autumn at all so that's cool to know.

 

[Daniel Avery]

To me, it's always been a sort of "official name/nickname" relationship. "Autumn" sounds formal and "Fall" more common, like Robert and Bob, or Patricia/Patty. If I'm writing or trying to be more precise for an audience, I use Autumn, since fall can have multiple meanings. And yes, the word Autumn has immediate "connotations" that Fall doesn't.

 

[Barbara Fan]

Autumn without question

 

[Willie Oleson]

I guess it depends on its position in a sentence. And then there's that lovely word "autumnal".

But I really only sing it.

 

[Angela Channing]

But I really only sing it.

I can't think of any songs with a title that the refers the season as "fall" but there are many which call it "autumn" e.g. Autumn Leaves by Nat King Cole, Forever Autumn by The Moody Blues, Autumn In New York by Ella Fitzgerald and Autumn Almanac by The Kinks.

In French, the word for autumn is "l'automne" which is basically the same word which makes me wonder if there is any country other than the USA which calls the season fall?​

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

 

[Kenny Coyote]

Here's an autumn song I like a lot

 

[Willie Oleson]

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

Quite subjectively, I tend to think of orange and red and yellow leaves, pumpkins and Halloween candy, the golden fraction of the natural year, when I hear "autumn."

But when I hear "fall" I think of brown leaves, raking, and the year tripping and stumbling.

 

[Emelee]

I like autumn more, but fall tends to come a little more automatically. I'm working on fixing that problem.

 

[Grant Jennings]

Donna, Grace and I prefer Autumn.

 

[Toni]

I prefer autumn because it sounds a bit like the Spanish word for it, "otoño". In Spanish fall is just that, fall ("caída")... Of course autumn is much more poetic and makes me think of this movie:

...aka the movie with Joannie looking her butchest...​

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

 

[Michael Torrance]

Autumn. While I have Americanized many things, the s in the previous verb included, I have never gotten used to calling it anything but that.

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

In America, we use autumn and fall interchangeably.

 

[Seaviewer]

In Australia we say autumn.

I think of Fall as the start of the US TV season around September even though that's spring here.