I cannot but show my discomfiture at the enduring importance given to this –er –re non-issue. Americans must be the laughing stock of anyone who speaks other languages. None have this “problem.” European languages, except English, are (more or less) phonetic, and many other languages do not bather writing vowels in the first place, let along the silent ones like the irritating “e.” This debate is an American specialty as other English speaking countries including such as India use –re or do not care. Slavic languages, for example, have 6 or 7 ways to spell the name. This smear on American reputation as a get-things-done-country could be ignored if it was not one of the reasons for the failure of the Metric Board to get the changeover going back in the 1970s. That mole hill issue on the Himalayan scale of metricating a country should have been treated as follows:
“Mr. Chairman, I would like us to decide the issue of spelling …” A reply: “Mr. Irritant, you or anyone else can spell it anyway you want. Let’s move to the next item on the agenda - a review of the report on structural steel sizes and deadlines the steal industry propose.” (A subcommittee reports.) Etc. It is a reflection on the poor quality of the Board members that they would let themselves be occupied by such a triviality. It is also a reflection on this Forum, that there are people on it still insisting on spelling one way or another knowing well what harm treating that issue as Y/N caused. As if there were no other words in the American English that can be spelled more than one way. Stan Jakuba
