Hello all!

I’m fortunate enough to have just returned from a trip across the pond, to that wonderful place where fries are “chips,” chips are “crisps,” the bathroom is the “loo,” and cars drive down the opposite side of the road. Reading museum brochures, restaurant menus, and street signs reminded me of just how different British and American English can be. Vocabulary differences aside, there are some distinct differences in spelling (color vs. colour, recognize vs. recognise, and center vs. centre) that can throw quite a few people in both nations when we read something written in the other nation’s style.

So how did two countries that share the same language wind up spelling so many words differently, especially when the US was originally populated with Brits? The credit goes largely to one man: Noah Webster, originator of Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary, America’s first dictionary. Not only did he want to distinguish American English as a different dialect than British English, but he was also bothered by how many words in British English were spelled differently than they sounded. His dictionary formalized the spellings he preferred, and we in the US have been using them ever since.

So which words are correct? Both, of course–but I suggest using the conventions of whichever country you’re writing for. That will keep your readers from any potential confusion…and you might wind up learning another language in the process, for as George Bernard Shaw said, “The United States and Great Britain are two countries separated by a common language.”

Until next time!