spelling

Here’s a judgmental list of seven words with different American and British spellings, based on which versions make the most sense.

Whenever I tell people I was born in Belgium, the first thing that pops out of their mouths is, “Does that mean you speak Belgian?”

English is a language chock full of quirks that can make it extremely frustrating, or at least baffling, to deal with. One of these cases takes us to the bakery, to a cornerstone of American cuisine that has experienced a split over the centuries. I’m talking about the doughnut … or donut?

“No, that’s not it,” my fourth grade Sunday school teacher said. Squinting at the chalkboard, he continued confidently, “There’s gotta be an ‘i’ in there.”

Many French words will soon be unable to flex their circumflex.