International English spelling

With the spread of printing and literacy, spelling became standardized. Samuel Johnson’s A Dictionary of the English Language (1755) led to one standard for British English, while Noah Webster’s An American Dictionary of the English Language (1828) led to another standard for American English.

Johnson’s preference for Norman (French) spellings preserved the -re ending of many words such as theatre and the -our ending of words such as colour. Webster’s preference for Latin and simpler spellings led to the -er ending of theater and the -or ending of color.

However, now that the Internet has facilitated international written communication, there would seem to be a need for an international standard of English spelling.

One could say that Americans should just adopt the spellings of the English as written by the English people, that is, British English. That is not likely to happen. For one thing, American idioms are influential internationally. Look at how “OK” became international.

There have been attempts to promote International English that are more concerned with ease of learning than with spelling. While spelling differences are minor, those publishing for an international audience need to have some standards. Editors do, too.

I certainly don’t have the last word on this, but I can at least make some suggestions and adopt them myself. If there are good reasons to retain the British spelling, let’s do so. But if American norms are OK or have advantages, let’s not shy from adopting them instead. Here are a few suggestions for the purpose of this blog:

(1) Metric units. The International System of Units uses British spellings. It also has the advantage of preserving a spelling distinction between a device or instrument for measuring and the other meanings of meter in American English. The British spelling is superior here.

(2) Noah Webster’s spellings obscure some distinctions. For example, the meaning of the suffix -er as “one who…” as in carpenter are obscured by changing other words to end in -er. Also, in America today the spelling theatre is common, as is centre in a real estate context. The British spelling is superior here.

(3) The simpler and more Latinate ending of –or instead of –our seems better than the French style. It’s interesting that some –our words have migrated to –or in British English. The advantage goes to the American spelling.

(4) There are many variants of spelling (or terminology) that have no particular advantage one way or the other. Traveling or travelling? The former is American, the latter British. The American rule is “when a multisyllabic word ends in a vowel and a consonant (in that order), you double the consonant when adding a suffix only if the stress falls on the final syllable.” But it’s a matter of taste.