wwp@yahoogroups.com:
Color versus Colour
G. Donald Bain 2008-Sep-24 18:06:00
Okay let's get this straight once and for all.
The English language has no universal standard. Orthography (spelling)
was regularized separately in the United States and England.
Dr Samuel Johnson published A Dictionary of the English Language in
1755 which set a standard for spelling, as well as the technique of
using quotations from English literature to illustrate history and
meaning. The current standard is the Oxford English Dictionary, which
follows in the Johnson tradition. This is what is usually referred to
in the UK and many Commonwealth countries.
American usage was standardized later, by Noah Webster with An
American Dictionary of the English Language in 1828. Its descendant,
the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, is considered the standard today in
the United States.
Neither country gives legal status to any aspect of the language, and
it evolves rapidly. Plus there are other important English-speaking
countries with their own versions of the language - the country with
the largest number of English-speakers is India. Major organizations
such as the BBC and AP have their own guides for usage and even
pronunciation.
I have three unabridged dictionaries on the shelf here - Webster,
Columbia, and Oxford, and I use them all. Johnson is one of my
personal heroes and I read his dictionary for pleasure. I was educated
both in the US and the UK, and my spelling tends to drift from one
standard to the other.
But here is the crux of the matter: the WWP is a formal publication,
and the official place of publication is Berkeley, California, USA. So
the standard used in the top-level pages is American English.
Individual participants may use whatever standard they please,
including other languages altogether.
Don
On Sep 24, 2008, at 8:21 AM, AYRTON wrote:
> On Wed, Sep 24, 2008 at 1:15 AM, Georgia Real Tours
> <#removed#>wrote:
>> Er, 'cause it's spelled incorrectly?
> Wooowwww
> We have to spank Don and Landis for naming the event : COLOR
> bad boys !