> '..gram' such has anagram and radiogram. In a book I read once it was
> suggested
> that the only reason why we spell 'programme' the way we do is that
> the
> Americans invented the word and academics were over-protective and
> didn't want to
> import this particular word into 'proper' English.
>
> DaveD
>
>According to the OED 'program' was the original spelling and 'programme'
>was imported from the French, because at that time (1830s) it usually
>referred to music etc. I remember being extremely severely ticked off
>for writing about a 'programme' in my early days with computers and
>being told that in this sense it was of American origin.
>
>Sean

Don't forget that the most prolific contributor to the OED was an American, 
albeit a mentally disturbed one.   It is well documented in the book "The 
Professor and The Mad Man" by Simon Winchester.

John Glaves
nb Rhapsody 


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