"Credoiniesum" 16 September 2005, writes: "It seems silly to me that we as Americans decide to spell metre differently from the rest of the English speaking world...."
"We" didn't decide anything. American English, like all languages, evolved over many years, and had many diverse influences. To expect several centuries of language evolution on two different continents, by peoples in dramtically different socio-political environments, to yield identical results would be naive. Furthermore, if the argument that America should metricate because far more countries use metric than collquial units of measure has any merit, then England and Australia, etc., should adopt American spellings, since about 69% of all English speakers in the world speak American English. Which is, of course, an equally foolish argument. There is no harm to anyone from the fact that people in different countries spell words differently. "Meter" is the correct American English spelling; "metre" is the correct British English spelling. To quote Ralph Waldo Emerson: "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines." Jim Elwell
