[84] Our Own, Our Native Speech, McClure's Magazine, Oct., 1916.
[Pg242] [toc]
[VII]
Differences in Spelling
§ 1
Typical Forms
| American | English |
|---|---|
| Anemia | anaemia |
| aneurism | aneurysm |
| annex (noun) | annexe |
| arbor | arbour |
| armor | armour |
| asphalt | asphalte |
| ataxia | ataxy |
| ax | axe |
| balk (verb) | baulk |
| baritone | barytone |
| bark (ship) | barque |
| behavior | behaviour |
| behoove | behove |
| buncombe | bunkum |
| burden (ship's) | burthen |
| cachexia | cachexy |
| caliber | calibre |
| candor | candour |
| center | centre |
| check (bank) | cheque |
| checkered | chequered |
| cider | cyder |
| clamor | clamour |
| clangor | clangour |
| cloture | closure[1] |
| [Pg243] color | colour |
| connection | connexion |
| councilor | councillor |
| counselor | counsellor |
| cozy | cosy |
| curb | kerb |
| cyclopedia | cyclopaedia |
| defense | defence |
| demeanor | demeanour |
| diarrhea | diarrhoea |
| draft (ship's) | draught |
| dreadnaught | dreadnought |
| dryly | drily |
| ecology | oecology |
| ecumenical | oecumenical |
| edema | oedema |
| encyclopedia | encyclopaedia |
| endeavor | endeavour |
| eon | aeon |
| epaulet | epaulette |
| esophagus | oesophagus |
| fagot | faggot |
| favor | favour |
| favorite | favourite |
| fervor | fervour |
| flavor | flavour |
| font (printer's) | fount |
| foregather | forgather |
| forego | forgo |
| form (printer's) | forme |
| fuse | fuze |
| gantlet (to run the—) | gauntlet |
| glamor | glamour |
| good-by | good-bye |
| gram | gramme |
| gray | grey |
| harbor | harbour |
| honor | honour |
| [Pg244] hostler | ostler |
| humor | humour |
| inclose | enclose |
| indorse | endorse |
| inflection | inflexion |
| inquiry | enquiry |
| jail | gaol |
| jewelry | jewellery |
| jimmy (burglar's) | jemmy |
| labor | labour |
| laborer | labourer |
| liter | litre |
| maneuver | manoeuvre |
| medieval | mediaeval |
| meter | metre |
| misdemeanor | misdemeanour |
| mold | mould |
| mollusk | mollusc |
| molt | moult |
| mustache | moustache |
| neighbor | neighbour |
| neighborhood | neighbourhood |
| net (adj.) | nett |
| odor | odour |
| offense | offence |
| pajamas | pyjamas |
| parlor | parlour |
| peas (plu. of pea) | pease |
| picket (military) | piquet |
| plow | plough |
| pretense | pretence |
| program | programme |
| pudgy | podgy |
| pygmy | pigmy |
| rancor | rancour |
| rigor | rigour |
| rumor | rumour |
| savory | savoury |
| scimitar | scimetar |
| septicemia | septicaemia |
| show (verb) | shew |
| siphon | syphon |
| siren | syren |
| [Pg245] skeptic | sceptic |
| slug (verb) | slog |
| slush | slosh |
| splendor | splendour |
| stanch | staunch |
| story (of a house) | storey |
| succor | succour |
| taffy | toffy |
| tire (noun) | tyre |
| toilet | toilette |
| traveler | traveller |
| tumor | tumour |
| valor | valour |
| vapor | vapour |
| veranda | verandah |
| vial | phial |
| vigor | vigour |
| vise (a tool) | vice |
| wagon | waggon |
| woolen | woollen |
§ 2
General Tendencies
Further attempts in the same direction are to be seen in the substitution of simple consonants for compound consonants, as in plow, bark, check, vial and draft; in the substitution of i for y to bring words into harmony with analogues, as in tire, cider and baritone (cf. wire, rider, merriment), and in the general tendency to get rid of the somewhat uneuphonious y, as in ataxia and pajamas. Clarity and simplicity are also served by substituting ct for x in such words as connection and inflection, and s for c in words of the defense group. The superiority of jail to gaol is made manifest by the common mispronunciation of the latter, making it rhyme with coal. The substitution of i for e in such words as indorse, inclose and jimmy is of less patent utility, but even here there is probably a slight gain in euphony. Of more obscure origin is what seems to be a tendency to avoid the o-sound, so that the English slog becomes slug, podgy becomes pudgy, nought becomes naught, slosh becomes slush, toffy becomes taffy, and so on. Other changes carry their own justification. Hostler is obviously better American than ostler, though it may be worse English. Show is more logical than shew.[3] Cozy is more nearly phonetic than cosy. Curb has analogues in curtain, curdle, curfew, curl, currant, curry, curve, curtsey, curse, currency, cursory, curtail, cur, curt and many other common words: kerb has very few, and of them only kerchief and kernel are in general use. Moreover, the English themselves use curb as a verb and in all noun senses save that shown in kerbstone.
But a number of anomalies remain. The American substitution of a for e in gray is not easily explained, nor is the substitution of k for c in skeptic and mollusk, nor the retention of e in forego, nor the unphonetic substitution of s for z in fuse, [Pg247] nor the persistence of the first y in pygmy. Here we have plain vagaries, surviving in spite of attack by orthographers. Webster, in one of his earlier books, denounced the k in skeptic as "a mere pedantry," but later on he adopted it. In the same way pygmy, gray and mollusk have been attacked, but they still remain sound American. The English themselves have many more such illogical forms to account for. In the midst of the our-words they cling to a small number in or, among them, stupor. Moreover, they drop the u in many derivatives, for example, in arboreal, armory, clamorously, clangorous, odoriferous, humorist, laborious and rigorism. If it were dropped in all derivatives the rule would be easy to remember, but it is retained in some of them, for example, colourable, favourite, misdemeanour, coloured and labourer. The derivatives of honour exhibit the confusion clearly. Honorary, honorarium and honorific drop the u, but honourable retains it. Furthermore, the English make a distinction between two senses of rigor. When used in its pathological sense (not only in the Latin form of rigor mortis, but as an English word) it drops the u; in all other senses it retains the u. The one American anomaly in this field is Saviour. In its theological sense it retains the u; but in that sense only. A sailor who saves his ship is its savior, not its saviour.