Words that have changed spelling in your lifetime

[Greg_Charles]

@Flyer

I don’t remember when it was, but I saw a surprisingly recent reference to the country of Viet Nam.

That’s still how the Vietnamese spell it, less a couple of diacriticals.
theater/theatre has been going on for a long time in the U.S. The preferred U.S. spelling is theater, but theatre is a common alternative, and not just for places that are trying to put on airs. Some movie theaters do it too. Other “re” words like centre, metre, sabre, etc., are purely British.

same with gray/grey: gray is the preferred U.S. spelling, but it’s common to see grey.

Hiccough, really? I’ve never seen it spelled that way in the U.S.

[mascaroni]

@thelurkinghorror

How long has the execrable word “pant” existed, when used by clothing stores for the whole object? Are we going to see usages like “pass me that scissor” too?

That’s a bit of a strange one. Over here it would be ‘trousers’ - again a plural. It might refer to fact that it takes two legs to fill, but a shirt takes two arms to fill and is not referred to in the plural.

@hogarth

And likewise you get “fridge” from “refrigerator”. Every once in a while I see people write “frig” instead, which means something else altogether.

William Perry was always “The Fridge” to me…

@Lord_Mondegreen

Really? I would agree with “gaol”, but as others have said “programme” in the UK tends to still be used in non-computing uses.

I’m Australian and I would say that both “gaol” and “programme” are rarely used here these days. But “kerb” and more particularly “tyre” are absolutely used all the time. I have never seen “curb” (in the edge of the road sense - it is of course used in the “curb your enthusiasm” sense) or “tire” used except by someone who didn’t know better.

I think “Gaol” might be still used as a legal term over here in the UK. “Jail” has never been. “Programmes” are what you get on the telly, “Programs” are what you get on your computer. And “Pograms” are what the Germans used to do…

Same as you with “Kerb” and “Tyre”.

@Peremensoe

I am quite sure that the meat is “bologna.” Otherwise, agree.

It’s called “Mortadella” in my neck of the woods…

[Gary_Robson]

@mascaroni

That’s a bit of a strange one. Over here it would be ‘trousers’ - again a plural. It might refer to fact that it takes two legs to fill, but a shirt takes two arms to fill and is not referred to in the plural.

I will never understand why “panties” is plural but “bra” is singular.

[Vashbul]

A very informative blog called Separated by a Common Language takes on the often contentious issues of language and spelling variations between the US and UK - in fact the current post is about “og vs. ogue” mentioned above in words like analog(ue) and catalog(ue). Take a look.

As for hiccough, I remember reading somewhere that that spelling came about in the 19th century in the erroneous assumption that a hiccup is a sort of cough, which it really isn’t. Hiccup is older, and onomatopoeic.

[swampspruce]

Don’t forget the variants within countries as well.
My favorite example is this:
Tire Center- American, Tyre Centre- British, Tire Centre- Canadian.

While I am saddened by the loss of some letters out of words I also understand the evolution of english as a language. I’m pretty sure I don’t want to go back to dough naughts, but donuts seems kind of flat in comparison. The same for colour/color. The loss of the u seems to lessen the word somehow.