Waterbury Democrat., 1902-12-05
UNIFORM eRTHoGRApHY.
difference I'm the Spelling of Words
Between the English and
Americans Styles.

Horace, the Latin poet, says that
custom has made the power of de-
Gliding and the right of forming the
standard of correct speaking; hence
the oft-quoted dictum, s'Ususl est nor
ma loquendi." Very closely akin to
speaking is the spelling of the words.
spoken, says Current Literature.
Where shall we find the power of de-
Gliding and the right of forming the
standard of current spelling? You
may take up two different reputable
newspapers or magazines, or two
books issued by two different pub
fishing houses, and the probability is
that you will find more than one diff
ference in spelling. Is the printers
devil or the proof reader the author
ity? Again, is the standard to be
sought in this English-speaking
country or in the land of the birth
of the English, tongue? In England
precisians Nominate such forms as
.'labor,'' honor color "splen-
DOR and they write .rumour, while
they have horror" On this. side of
the Atlantic certain publishers use
the English form slabour,''' "hon-
our" ETC., while the majority give
US what the British call ian. Ameri-
canism.' = Some standard. authors
of England write connection while
others equally standard use '.con-
nexion,'' and here the two forms are
recognized.
In the birthplace of the English
tongue theatre" and centre" are
required in correct English. and al
though metre becomes meter in
composition, as in "gasometer," the
former spelling is held to be true
form for the. word when standing
alone. Here you may frequently see
theatre in, the same journal as
Center and meter In British
schools it is taught that when words
ending in double II are compounds
ed each drops one 81" hence we get
'skilful.' In America you must be
"skillfuP' if you would be thought
correct. The termination size" as
in recognize" is, almost universally
in vogue, but our cousins generally
employ ''ise." All English writer's
use practice as a noun and "prac-
tise'' as verb; an American writing
the English language makes no diff
ference between the two parts of
speech. The diphthongs "ae" and
zoe" are here usually contracted
into the single letter "e,' or used in
discriminatory, but the British are
careful to retain the diphthongal
form, and it would indeed be a poor
journal that did not possess the two
as permanent letters of their
"fonts''
Now, all this may seem to some as
a very Indifferent matter. They may
argue that in this "land of freedom"
we may spell as we like. They may
even go so far as to think that each
one of US may have his own way of
representing sounds, as the man had
his own way of reading, who held
the newspaper with the bottom of
the page upward. But liberty is
based upon law, and free are the
1aw-abiding Without law there is
always tyranny. What are authors
to do who look upon literature as a
sacred thing? One who, perhaps, has
studied philology with enthusiasm
and is an ''authority" on spelling,
sends a carefully prepared manu-
script to the publisher only to re-
ceive a proof" with his spelling
changed He corrects it and returns
it to that invisible autocrat who has
charge of traditions of the Office"
and when. the book reaches the au-
thor he sees such forms of words
as to make him feel ashamed. There
can be no license in the matter of
spelling. The republic of letters is
wider than any boundaries of oceans
and mountains. There can be no
English English" American ENG
lish.'' Canadian English" or Aus
tralian English" Above all, there
ought not to be multitude of invis-
ible autocrats, each with will of his
own on the subject of spelling, who,.
from their little dens, stir up riots
in the republic. We are ready enough
to smile at the letters of Chester
fieldian days, in which a word might
be written half dozen ways in
single page; but the laugh would be
upon this twentieth century if
Martian should come to Terra and
undertake to learn English from
textbooks issued from the different
publishing houses in different Eng
disappearing countries. By all means
l1 -. es--