British spelling in the USA

<< You should be consistent w/your usage. >>

If only life were that simple! English spelling is seldom consistent. No, there's no reason why "amoeba" looks better than "ameba", yet "fetus" looks better than "foetus", but, to American eyes, that's just the way it is and it's just not going to change anytime soon.

Don't get me wrong; I'm all for spelling reform and getting some kind of consistency in our spelling, but that doesn't change the fact that I'd still look silly if I wrote "ameba" rather than "amoeba". Since I don't think it's going to make any real difference, I'll just stick with "amoeba".

- Kef

<<I believe 'theatre' is the traditional spelling in the US but ‘theater’ is a newer form to bring it in line with 'center' (and I suppose 'enter).>>

I have posted a link here before to pages from Cockeram's dictionary 1647 which has the spellings "theater" and "center". Unfortunately the link doesn't seem to work at the moment so you'll just have to take may word for it.

On another note, please don't anyone take the the spellings offered by Seattle's software overlords as gospel- there are many mistakes I have spotted in the past such as "liase" instead of "liaise".

English speakers of many nations live here.
Some of us haven't made the mental switchover.
and just my opinion...Manoeuver, Amoung, Favourite.
& Queue, Rubber and Dialogue are not wrong.

"Amoung" is a hypercorrection. The correct spelling is "among" in all dialects.

the correct spelling is "among" in all dialects.

nope, the correct spelling is ''amongst''
''among'' is an Americanism.

<<nope, the correct spelling is ''amongst''
''among'' is an Americanism.>>

The OED doesn't mention anything about 'among' as an Americanism, and quotes several British authors using it. The definition of 'amongst' is "=among".

British accent and spelling stink in the U.S.A. They and I don't like them. Go, go, go back to those remote islands!

The Introduction to the Gage Canadian Dictionary (1997) (p. vii) states:
''
Canadian usage is almost equally divided between -our and -or spellings in words such as colour/color and honour/honor, so both spellings are accepted by this Canadian dictionary as standard Canadian spelling.''

>>1. why is that some Americans still use the British spelling?>>

British spellings look more formal here. Some people use the American spelling normally, but when they want a document to look fancier they starting using British spellings like "programme", "colour", "centre", "cheque" etc.

<< Some people use the American spelling normally, but when they want a document to look fancier they starting using British spellings like "programme", "colour", "centre", "cheque" etc. >>

I'm not familiar with this phenomenon. I do know one American friend who uses (or used... I haven't seen her do it in a while) British spellings -- albeit a bit inconsistently -- but it was just a personal idiosyncracy rather than an attempt at formality.

<<Some people use the American spelling normally, but when they want a document to look fancier they starting using British spellings like "programme", "colour", "centre", "cheque" etc.>>

I've NEVER seen that.

But that is true of non-natives. When I write something, I sometimes use both varieties in my posts even though my model is Amr. It just happens naturally because I am exposed to both versions.

<<Canadian usage is almost equally divided between -our and -or spellings in words such as colour/color and honour/honor, so both spellings are accepted by this Canadian dictionary as standard Canadian spelling.''>>

I disagree. I haven't done any formal study of this, obviously, but I never see 'color' or 'honor' etc. in anything made in Canada. Canadian spelling in general though is probably about evenly split between British and American models: colour, centre, etc. like the UK; tire, curb, jail, etc. like the US.

Tyre and tire are both used in Britain. Tyre is used for errr the 'tyres' of cars and that whereas tire and tired are used for the description of a person that is 'TIRED'!!!!!!!!!!!!!

''I disagree. I haven't done any formal study of this, obviously, but I never see 'color' or 'honor' etc. in anything made in Canada.''

try this:

http://www.convocation.uwo.ca/geninfo.htm

Throughout Western's history, Senate has approved only 'honors' degree programs, never 'honours' programs.
In the western provinces, you see the 'or' orthography. The University of Alberta uses the 'ors' spelling in their degrees.