Re: All hail Bob!

David Cressey wrote:
> "Frank Hamersley" <terabitemightbe_at_bigpond.com> wrote in message
> news:bqu8g.1420$S7.799_at_news-server.bigpond.net.au...
>
> >
> > This touches on a subject that I have often wondered about.
> >
> > With respect to the the USA does anyone know when and why, or even at
> > all, the corporate decision was taken to "simplify" the spelling of some
> > words? An archetype example for me is "metre" which as I routinely see
> > on NASA/JPL sites as "meter".
> >
>
> The divergence between British and American spellings was, in part,
> conscious and deliberate.

With aluminium a great exception, 'aliminum' being a spelling mistake on an advertising flyer. Doh.

> Noah Webster, author of the first American
> dictionary, favored spellings that differed from British spellings so as to
> accentuate the cultural independence of America from Britain. A lot of
> water has gone under the bridge since that time.
>
> It's not clear to me that simplification was ever the goal.
Received on Thu May 11 2006 - 14:13:38 CEST