My question is,
Can you spoil a moment? for example, let's say I bring home a gift for my girlfriend and she's very excited to know what's in the box, after I open up the box and show her what it is, she responds "I didn't like it". Can we say that she "spoiled the moment" by saying that? or should I say that she ruined the moment?
This question comes from a doubt I had while watching a TV series episode where two people are making love to each other when one of them says ""Shush, you're spoiling it"" which made me wonder whether spoil can also be used as ruin in that case.
How common is it to use spoil that way in contrast with the word ruin?
Can this be said in American English?
Best Answer
You can spoil or ruin a moment, an occasion, an event, a day, a vacation, or any event or period of time about which expectations were high. Both are very common; ruin is possibly stronger than spoil - you can intensify or modify either with words like "nearly", "almost", "completely", "totally", etc. Neither is 'better'. In American English the simple past & past participle are 'spoiled'; in British English they are 'spoilt'.
A hint: I found these by using Google. I typed, in quotes like this: "spoil the moment" in the search bar, followed by either UK or US (no quotes).
The occasion of a proposal of marriage is clearly something people don't want to be spoilt: