Modeling or Modelling in US Usage? (Need Answer Fast!)

A dispute has arisen over whether “modeling” or “modelling” (two Ls) is the correct usage in American English.

Of course it’s “modeling” in Amercian usage and “modelling” in British usage (the British double consonant). The problem is, the manager in question wants an authoritative cite for this.

Dictionaries say “either” because they want to include the British usage. Lots and lots of websites say it’s “modeling” in Amercian usage and “modelling” in British usage, but those are generally forum posts, or “just some guy on the Internet,” according to the people with whom I’m discussing this. Wikipedia says it here, but “that’s just Wikipedia.” Chicago Manual of Style Online discusses other similar words (traveling/travelling) but didn’t precisely include “modeling.”

Is there a gold-plated citation I can pull out for these guys?

“Need answer fast” because they are going to run out of patience soon and decide the issue by fiat, and then we might enshrine some silly spelling convention in out permanent standards. :rolleyes:

Edited to add: a subset of users is insisting that “modeling” means one thing and “modelling” means something technically different. One guy posited that “one L means trying on clothes, two Ls means simulating something on the computer.” Now they’re just guessing.

Unless something drastic has changed recently, the gold-standard dictionary for American English is the American Heritage (currently in its fifth edition).

I am not sure exactly what you can show them. Both are technically right but ‘Modeling’ is the preferred spelling in the U.S. but ‘Modelling’ is not wrong either.

Would they believe a Googlefight? It seems like a valid tool in this case.

Modeling = 23,900,000 results (winner by a mile)
'Modelling = 9,770,000 results

http://www.googlefight.com/index.php?lang=en_GB&word1=modeling&word2=modelling

Look for a rule that discusses doubling the final consonant in a stressed syllable, and not doubling it in an unstressed syllable. Examples would be referring vs. catering and patrolling vs. caroling.

The 1978 American Heritage Dictionary at my desk says the double-L spelling is “chiefly British”

Contrast that with the online version which just says “also modelling”