British and American spelling
Vivian Cook   American versus British Words

answers below

Differences between British and American styles of spelling:

- are small in number.
- have little to do with dialect differences in pronunciation.
- are not consistently followed in either the UK or the USA.
- mostly affect selected words.
- are to do with <-our> versus <-or>, <-re> versus <-er>, consonant doubling,
versus <-se>, <-ise> versus <-ize>, <ae>/<oe/ versus <e>/<o>.
- can mostly be traced to spelling reform by Noah Webster or the National Education Association.

Which country does this come from? Answer at end.

  Quotations on regional spellings of English

'… the differences between American and, say British English spelling are quite modest' (Cummings, 1988, 26)

'Although American customs in spelling have never differed widely from British, such differences as have existed have nevertheless been treated as though they were matters of some moment, as though the Americans had really done something startling to spelling' (Krapp, 1960, 328)

'All that can be safely asserted of the contemporary conventions of standard Canadian English spelling, when there is a British/American choice, is that the norm is not yet to choose either indifferently for the same word in the same text' (Pratt, 1993, 59)

The Australian Government Style Manual 'arbitrates on many of the currently variable points of English spelling, generally adhering to what is often thought of as British rather than American practice' (Peters & Delbridge, 1989, 129)

'You'll find a cat today must be a hepster. Don't mind if you don't find the word in Webster. He's as square as a bear' (lyric to 'Are You Livin’, Old Man?', Evans, Higginbotham, Silver, 1945)

British -our	American -or	Exception
colour, favourite	color, favorite	Am: glamour
British -oul	American -ol
mould, smoulder	mold, smolder	Am: shoulder
British -re	American -er
centre, theatre	center, theatre	Am: acre, ogre
British -l	American -ll
distil, fulfil	distill, fulfill
British -ll	American -l
jeweller, woollen	jeweler, woolen
British -ise	American -ize
analyse, apologise	analyze, apologize	Brit: capsize, seize
British -ce	American -se
defence, offence	defense, offense	Brit: advice/ advise etc
British -ogue	American -og
catalogue,dialogue	catalog, dialog
British ae	American e
faeces, anaemia	feces, anemia

Differences between odd words

British style	American style
pyjamas	pajamas
tyre/tire	tire
cheque/check	check
curb/kerb	curb
story/storey	story
moustache	mustache
aluminium	aluminum
z 'zed'	z 'zee'
carat	karat
licence/license	license
nameable	namable
jail/goal	jail
sceptic	skeptic
axe	ax
plough	plow
toffee	taffy
whisky (Scotch)/ whiskey (Irish)	whiskey
draught	draft
disc/disk	disk
enquire	inquire
sulphur	sulfur
grey	gray
metre/meter	meter

Answers to task 1

The 'University Theatres' sign comes from Madison, Wisconsin, USA, showing apparently the trend to revert to British-style 're' in 'centre' and 'theatre'

Short article: Can they spell your name in Karachi?