Subject line says it all.
I constantly write “travelling” and get spell-checked to “traveling.”
Dunno if it happens to anyone else but there are a few words I am just programmed to spell wrong. Even if I know better (I always do) my fingers always tap out the wrong one first. “Traveling” is one of them.
But, why isn’t it “travelling?”
That happened to me, too. I think it’s UK vs. US.
Cambridge has it as travelling, with traveling as a US variant. Merriam-Webster says it’s traveling but also admits travelling.
If you want a reason, it may be because the first syllable is stressed. Compelling, for example.
Wait, are you writing in American English and being corrected to UK spelling? If so, could be a problem with the spellcheck function of whatever program you’re using.
American living in the US.
I tap out “travelling” and it gets highlighted for me to be “traveling.”
Google flags it. MS-Word seems ok with either.
If you’re using Word, you can fix that. Most other programs, too, although it’s something I haven’t looked at in a very long time.
Somehow you picked up British spelling, that’s all. Maybe you read a lot of Dickens, Doyle, or Stevenson growing up. One way to solve your problem would be to move to the UK. (Or at least Canada.) Another solution might be to adopt American spelling.
There’s nothing to fix - he is in the US using American spelling, and when he types “travelling,” which is British English, he is prompted to change it to traveling.
There are a surprisingly large number of differences between US and UK spelling - everyone knows the “or” versus “our” issue - color, colour, labor, labour, neighbor, neighbour, etc. - and the “ization” one (organization, organisation, etc.) but there are dozens more.
I’d love to. Doubt they’d have me.
Fix, as in change to suit his preference.
Oh, I see what you mean. Sure, you’re right!
Except I have no idea how to do that! Especially if it’s Google…
To be fair, until now, I just thought I spelled it wrong for some reason.
There are a few other words I weirdly type incorrectly. I know that I do it. I still do it. But I know to check because I know I do it. I thought this was one of those.
When I was young and couldn’t remember how to spell “no one” (“no one” looked wrong, and “noone” looked even wronger), with no dictionary at hand at the time, I wrote “no-one.” I used the British-style apostrophe in it. I knew I’d read it that way somewhere. I too read a lot of British lit growing up. When I’d made sure I understood the differences between British and American spelling, I came down 100% on the American side.
Mine was “auxilliary,” which should be “auxiliary” in both dialects.
I was a huge fan of British TV while growing up (Dave Allen at Large, Benny Hill, Monty Python, Dr. Who, The Prisoner, The Avengers, The Young Ones…and more I can’t remember right now).
EDIT: Fawlty Towers (how could I ever forget that gem)
The Two Ronnies?
Oh yeah. I remember them.
Compare “unravel(l)ing”: Merriam-Webster spells it with one l, Cambridge with two (but some of their cites are from U.S. sources, like The New Yorker).
US English is the default setting on MS products. While it is possible to change it to British English in most cases , if one is sufficiently motivated, most people here just add the obvious spelling differences to the dictionary and leave it on the default setting.
The Wilburys use traveling, while the NBA uses neither spelling.
*Speling