Should you show respect with how you spell words?

Question

Weird question I know. I'm Anglo-Canadian and I've been taught the English spelling in school. (Colour, Labour, Draught Beer ect...).

However, when addressing people and places that use different spelling I try to use their spelling (Examples provided below). Is this correct? Or should you remain consistent with how you spell words?

Examples: Harbour/Harbor. I spell it "harbour" (consistent with what I was taught) but I spell "Pearl Harbor" the American way because it's an American location.

Canadian/Canadien: When addressing Franco-Canadiens I use the French spelling.

Who cares? Remain consistent and spell what you're taught or spell it their way when discussing their things/ways/culture?

Answer 1

You're right: the best communication focuses on the reader. So if you're writing for a U.S. audience, you not only should but, if going through a publisher, must use U.S. spelling. (Every publisher will tell you which style guide they use for spelling, such as Chicago Manual of Style or, in Canada, the CP Stylebook and CP Caps and Spelling.)

If you're writing for Canadian readers (assuming you're writing in English), Canadian Press style is proper. CP says, "The Canadian Oxford Dictionary is the authority for Canadian Press spelling.... When the spelling of the common-noun element of a proper name differs from CP style...use the spelling favoured by the subject." So our Canadian newspapers would spell the name of a town on the Texas coast as "Center Harbor."

CP also says, "For the French names of organizations and the titles of books, plays, movies, paintings and the like, CP prefers the English form for the sake of readability: Quebec Liquor Corp., not Société des alcools du Québec.... CP uses hyphens in multi-word French place names in Quebec and abroad: Trois-Rivières...."

Bottom line? Respect for the reader trumps consistency with your grade 7 spelling teacher.

Answer 2

I would suggest that if you are writing a letter to someone other than the country you live and was taught in that you write according to the way you were taught. If you try to accommodate another English speaking country/person you may fall short if you don't know all of the words they spell differently. Then your letter would appear to be condescending. Write the way you were taught.

Answer 3

Maybe because theist is pronounced differently to atheist. The atheist makes the ei sound like "e" instead of "a" but I'm not totally confident that that is the reason. Perhaps it is true, as creatrix suggests, that atheists are for some reason better spellers. If it were it would certainly result in atheist being spelt incorrectly more often as atheists use the word theist most often while everyone uses the word atheist.

Answer 4

Don't shy away from your education and excellent command of English. It's horribly arrogant that some English speaking people would think that their way is the only correct way. You might get teased about adding the "u" to color or neighbor, but it's all good :-)

Answer 5

I would say that is a thumbs up question. lol One I had never considered before and am totally clueless as to an answer. Hope you get some good response. I will watch and see. Good Luck.

Answer 6

the question was "Should you show respect with how you spell words?

The answer is show the respect to your teachers for teaching YOU to spell correctly ie spell the way you were taught.

Answer 7

yes you should always show respect but in cases of spelling and reciting English words , as long as it can be read and understood by everyone concerned then it is fine.