Rainbow Grammar Family! Clearing up the confusion of UK versus US spellings.

This is how people say hello to each other in different parts of the world:

America: What’s up?

England: Alright?

France: What is it like you going? (Rough English translation)

Australia: How the fuck are you, you fucking cunt-arse dickhead? (Rough Lara Bing-in-a-tourism-ad translation)

We all know that people from difference places but have different ways of saying things. But things can get confusing at times. MC Grammar has a correspondent from the southern states of the US who can’t help but notice that there are words out there that swap back and forth like MC Grammar’s corn rows. She asked me, ‘what’s the deal with the word travelling? Sometimes it’s spelt traveling, and sometimes it’s spelt travelling? What’s the story with that?

Sister, the story is that traveling is the US spelling, and travelling is the UK and Australian spelling.

So now you’re saying ‘oh, I get it, in the US, words with a single l are spelt with a double ll in the UK.’ Not always. For example,

US Spelling UK     Australian Spelling


Enrollment                  Enrolment

Fulfill                           Fulfil

Skillful                        Skilful

There are lots of words like this, and people get confused all the time, which is fine – but sometimes they think that everyone but them is spelling incorrectly. Why you gotta hate? Don’t you know a rainbow needs all the colours to make it beautiful? That reminds me, Colour is the UK/Australian spelling, and Color is the US spelling. See what I’m saying here? Here’s a few more to remember.

US                              UK/Australia

Theater                              Theatre
Anemia                              Anaemia
Agism                                Ageism
Favorite                             Favourite
Check                               Cheque
Defense                             Defence
License                              Licence
Program                            Programme
Pajamas                             Pyjamas
Tire                                   Tyre


There’s also a difference between verbs that end in –ise. In the US, most of these words end in –ize instead. Words like agonise, terrorise, hypothesise, accessorise, and so on become agonize, terrorize, hypothesize, and accessorise.

I know exactly what you’re thinking. You’re thinking ‘yeah, well it’s obvious what happened here; the yanks have gone and mangled our beautiful language and BROKEN THE RULES OF GRAMMAR. If the English do it one way, THAT must be the right way.

Sucker, you’d be wrong. The form –ize has been in use in English since the 16th century. The first white colonists of the US brought it over with them from England, and it they retained it while back in England it changed over time. This can be said for a lot of things in American English. For example, you might have noticed that they tend to say and write ‘I am’, ‘I will’ and ‘I can not’ a lot more than ‘I’m’, ‘I’ll’ and ‘I can’t’, which is more the norm in the UK and Australia. Again, this is because they’ve retained an older, or 16th Century usage of English. If grammar was a piece of clothing, they’d all be wearing Elizabethan ruffles, while the UK and Oz would probably be in Adidas track pants.

To finish up, here's a picture of some global harmony that should inspire you to take all these different spellings and use them for good, not evil. Use grammar to make friends, not enemies!