The problem is that you have a copy editor working for your company who uses American spellings, but your spell-checker on your computer uses British spellings. Can the spell-checker on your computer be set to use American spellings? Some spell-checkers can be adjusted to use either American or British spellings. If you can’t do that, you’ll have to learn the differences between American and British spelling and learn to consistently use American spelling for things you turn in to the copy editor. Incidentally, your company has a sloppy editorial policy. They should tell you beforehand if they want things in British or American spelling. You shouldn’t be finding out about what they want just casually. If fact, I would recommend that you E-mail the copy editor and ask if he/she wants you to use American or British spelling.
Tires in American English.
zelie zelerton, there are no different American meanings to “tyre” or to “gaol.” It’s just that these two words are different enough (and not in a standardized way, like the “our/or” or the “re/er” differences) that an American might not recognize that these are British spellings. An American might, reading fast, assume that they were some other words than “tire” or “jail.”
“Gaol” is an anachronism, IMO. I’ve only ever seen it used rarely. “Jail” is by far the more popular spelling these days.
[QUOTE=TheLoadedDog]
It is “Sydney Harbour” and “Pearl Harbor” whether you’re writing for the Sydney Morning Herald or the New York Times. Same for “Railway” and “railroad” and others.
[/QUOTE]
Well, I don’t know about this, since cities in foreign countries are often spelled differently. Is it wrong to write Rome instead of Roma?
[QUOTE=Faud]
The full story is that it is my first time working for a company with offices all over the world. I submitted something spelled colour and was told I was incorrect, however when I put “color” into the spell checker it wanted to use colour. I then hit http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/colour and became even more confused.
Faud
[/QUOTE]
What it boils down to is that, in the example you gave, there is no difference in meaning between “color” and “colour”. It’s a question of, as others have said, editorial policy. I find American spellings jarring, but that’s not because I think they’re wrong. They’re just not what I’m used to.
[QUOTE=John Mace]
Well, I don’t know about this, since cities in foreign countries are often spelled differently. Is it wrong to write Rome instead of Roma?
[/QUOTE]
No, not at all. If the name is English to start with, though, it seems courteous to use the local spelling. That’s why, for example, I hate seeing references to Tony Blair and now Gordon Brown as the “Labor” Prime Minister. “Labour” is a proper noun in this context.
Rome, Cologne, Munich, Vienna and so on are Anglicised names. What I wonder is, how important must a city be to get one of these names? 
Seen in British movie credits: “Colour by Technicolor”.
[QUOTE=zelie zelerton]
OK colour me confused now. What is this alternate meaning to ‘tyres’ that you are all speaking about? I’ve never heard the American meaning. Can someone enlighten me please?
[/QUOTE]
The confusion I often encounter is when Brits see “tires” and think of the verb when it meant “tyres”. We ran into that one a lot on my F1 forum. Now we are all used to checking locations and keeping the mind open for alternate meanings.
[QUOTE=Hari Seldon]
Canadians use whatever spelling they like. For the record, I will say that “colour” is simply wrong in the US. Either is acceptable in Canada, but consistency is required.
[/qUOTE]
Not in my experience. It was always considered incorrect to spell it ‘color’ when I was in school. I also never knew a Canadian to spell it that way.
[QUOTE=PaulParkhead]
No, not at all. If the name is English to start with, though, it seems courteous to use the local spelling. That’s why, for example, I hate seeing references to Tony Blair and now Gordon Brown as the “Labor” Prime Minister. “Labour” is a proper noun in this context.
[/quote]
Well, I was addressing the issue of whether or not it was correct. Courtesy is a different matter.
I think we get most of those names from the French (or some other language), so I don’t know if “anglicized” (with a z, since I’m American ) is the right word.
[QUOTE=PaulParkhead]
Rome, Cologne, Munich, Vienna and so on are Anglicised names. What I wonder is, how important must a city be to get one of these names?
[/QUOTE]
It’s not so much a matter of importance as familiarity to English speakers. Vlissingen in the Netherlands has only about 50,000 people, but it is a port which has had historical links with England, so it gets the Anglicised name Flushing. By contrast, somewhere like Rio de Janeiro is much more important in world terms, but its name has never been Anglicised since it has never had any particularly strong English links.
In England it is spelled “colour,” but in America it is spelled “color.”
The sentence above uses both spellings, no matter who writes it. And the two spellings cannot be interchanged in that sentence.
[QUOTE=Peter Morris]
The UK. Over here, if you write ‘color’ then you have spelt it wrongly. I take it, then, that either spelling is acceptable over there?
[/QUOTE]
And in the US, you would have spelled “spelled” wrongly. 
Seriously, though, I took the OP to mean is there ever a difference in meaning between the two, as in the American Heritage differences in definitions between recreate and re-create. If so, then the answer is no, there is never a difference in meaning.
Sorry, something went wrong with that second link. That’s a difference between recreate and re-create in American Heritage Dictionary.
[QUOTE=Wendell Wagner]
No, you have to be consistent in your spelling. If you’re using American spelling, you have to use “color” everywhere it appears in a piece of writing (unless it’s part of a proper name). In fact, if you use American spelling, you have to use American spelling in all your words (unless it’s part of a proper name). If you’re using British spelling, you have to use “colour” everywhere it appears in a piece of writing (unless it’s part of a proper name). Again, if you use British spelling, you have to use British spelling in all your words (unless it’s part of a proper name).
[/QUOTE]
“You have to”? :dubious: This isn’t France, we have no official Board of American English. My big fat Webster’s unabridged lists both as common usages and acceptable spellings, although it does add “Chiefly Brit.” to “colour.” Note that “Chiefly” not “Limited to” or “always”.
[QUOTE=DrDeth]
“You have to”? :dubious: This isn’t France, we have no official Board of American English. My big fat Webster’s unabridged lists both as common usages and acceptable spellings, although it does add “Chiefly Brit.” to “colour.” Note that “Chiefly” not “Limited to” or “always”.
[/QUOTE]
I can’t say that I’ve ever seen “colour” used recently by an American or in American writings. In the 19th century up to a certain point in the 20th, though, British and American spellings seem to have been the same for the most part.
[QUOTE=Faud]
Is there any place that color and colour cannot be interchanged in a sentenance ?
[/QUOTE]
The correct answer is - yes. Please note the following sentence:
In America it is customary to spell the word whose primary definition (source: Merriam Webster’s dictionary is “a phenomenon of light (as red, brown, pink, or gray) or visual perception that enables one to differentiate otherwise identical objects” is “COLUR”. In the UK, the correct spelling is “COLOR”.
In this sentence, interchanging the 2 words, changes the meaning. They cannot be interchanged.
[QUOTE=bcullman]
… is “COLUR”. In the UK, the correct spelling is “COLOR”.
In this sentence, interchanging the 2 words, changes the meaning. They cannot be interchanged.
[/QUOTE]
I admit to being confused by these particular spellings. 
[QUOTE=TheLoadedDog]
And of course, I can’t leave this thread without offering a big THANK YOU to the American Dopers. This place is a rare haven on the internet where I don’t have to translate for Americans. I can say “cheque”, “colour”, etc, and I know you all will read and understand it without batting an eyelid. It’s hard to do that in most places online, and is one of the reasons I cherish the Dope.
[/QUOTE]
Hey, I’ll second this. I frequently use “colour” amd “neigbour” here, and even though Firefox puts the red squiggly underneath no one else here points out the misspellings.
Thanks Global Dopers.
Now if only we could get you U.S. dopers to stop the posts with things like "If I go 10 miles an our over the limit and my concealed gun permit is invalid, can the cops ask for my zip code before they read my Miranda rights, and then take the fifth before the sheriff asks me if I’m DUI even though I’m 20?