Path: dp-news.maxwell.syr.edu!spool.maxwell.syr.edu!news-spur1.maxwell.syr.edu!news.maxwell.syr.edu!elnk-pas-nf1!elnk-nf2-pas!newsfeed.earthlink.net!newshub.sdsu.edu!postnews.google.com!u72g2000cwu.googlegroups.com!not-for-mail
From: "JOG" <jog@cs.nott.ac.uk>
Newsgroups: comp.databases.theory
Subject: Re: All hail Bob!
Date: 11 May 2006 05:13:38 -0700
Organization: http://groups.google.com
Lines: 27
Message-ID: <1147349618.782852.140440@u72g2000cwu.googlegroups.com>
References: <5fZ1g.11150$P2.2969@tornado.ohiordc.rr.com>
   <1147242230.822696.51210@e56g2000cwe.googlegroups.com>
   <1147270574.633380.187830@u72g2000cwu.googlegroups.com>
   <bqu8g.1420$S7.799@news-server.bigpond.net.au>
   <cLF8g.413$U25.157@trndny09>
NNTP-Posting-Host: 128.243.220.42
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
X-Trace: posting.google.com 1147349622 15873 127.0.0.1 (11 May 2006 12:13:42 GMT)
X-Complaints-To: groups-abuse@google.com
NNTP-Posting-Date: Thu, 11 May 2006 12:13:42 +0000 (UTC)
In-Reply-To: <cLF8g.413$U25.157@trndny09>
User-Agent: G2/0.2
X-HTTP-UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-GB; rv:1.8.0.2) Gecko/20060308 Firefox/1.5.0.2,gzip(gfe),gzip(gfe)
X-HTTP-Via: 1.1 cache4.nottingham.ac.uk:3128 (squid/2.5.STABLE3)
Complaints-To: groups-abuse@google.com
Injection-Info: u72g2000cwu.googlegroups.com; posting-host=128.243.220.42;
   posting-account=WQE_Eg0AAACz0MT8Z7vkSN2k8y0AQ1oA
Xref: dp-news.maxwell.syr.edu comp.databases.theory:39438


David Cressey wrote:
> "Frank Hamersley" <terabitemightbe@bigpond.com> wrote in message
> news:bqu8g.1420$S7.799@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.