Canceled or Cancelled ?

[AMP]

Which is the proper spelling of this word in English?

Canceled

Cancelled

[AngieB]

I ponder these kinds of questions myself.

I always wrote cancelled, but recently I have noticed canceled appearing more often.

Really, I think both/either are correct.

[Conan71]

How about capital and capitol.

I was in Austin recently and they have a "capital" highway.  Does that mean they put a lot of taxpayer capital in it?

[thetysonwynn]

Either spelling is correct. The British and Canadian spelling uses the double l's, but American English has traditionally been a single l, though both spellings are correct.

http://www.bartleby.com/61/16/C0061600.html has the listing according to the American Heritage Dictionary. Typically, the preferred spelling is listed first (in this case, the single l), but both are acceptable. If you are writing for formal or business purposes, I would use the single l. (I personally am prone to double the l in cancelled and travelling.)

[sgrizzle]

For uber-nerdiness, I saw a shirt that said "Real men use the harvard comma."

I had to look it up, a "Harvard Comma" is a command used before the word "and"

ie: Red, White, and Blue.

[tulsa1603]

quote:Originally posted by Conan71

How about capital and capitol.

I was in Austin recently and they have a "capital" highway.  Does that mean they put a lot of taxpayer capital in it?

"Capital" is the city or area that is the seat of government, while "capitol" is the actual building itself.  So that highway is correctly named since it is in Austin, the state capital of Texas, which contains a capitol building.

[CoffeeBean]

quote:Originally posted by sgrizzle

For uber-nerdiness, I saw a shirt that said "Real men use the harvard comma."

I had to look it up, a "Harvard Comma" is a command used before the word "and"

ie: Red, White, and Blue.

Even that is subject to debate, e.g. others refer to it as the "Oxford comma."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvard_comma

[cannon_fodder]

We are lazy American's, I need no "U" in color or extra "e" at the end of some words.  Nor do I need an extra "L" in canceled. Firefox agrees with me.

The above reference definition of capital is correct.  It turns out many school teachers are idiots and/or dont fully explain things to school children.  Leaving us poorly educated and misinformed for life.

[grahambino]

one phrase that bugs me is

'could care less' vs 'couldn't care less'

i hear people say 'could care less' all the time.  that implies that you care about what youre professing to not care about!

im pretty sure dear abby has said both are acceptable.  I couldn't agree less.

[jdb]

Cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy*, it dseno't mtaetr in waht oerdr the ltteres in a wrod are, the olny iproamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae.

The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it whotuit a pboerlm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Azanmig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt!

This post brought to you by the fine makers of Seagram's VO.

* The "Chambridge Coma" comes before, after, or in the middle of the word "AN,D".

Try running spell-check on (hic) this one...jdb

[iplaw]

I hate when people use the phrase "begs the question."  It's never used in proper context, or at least, it rarely ever is.

[Conan71]

quote:Originally posted by jdb

Cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy*, it dseno't mtaetr in waht oerdr the ltteres in a wrod are, the olny iproamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae.

The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it whotuit a pboerlm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Azanmig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt!

This post brought to you by the fine makers of Seagram's VO.

* The "Chambridge Coma" comes before, after, or in the middle of the word "AN,D".

Try running spell-check on (hic) this one...jdb

Brought to you by the Evelyn Woodhead Sped Redin' Course.[]

[cannon_fodder]

The internet tells me that newer usages for "begs the question" are not in the old English context but are OK nonetheless.  Wikipedia tells me that the internet is generally reliable.  A quick Google search says that Wikipedia is a fairly reliable source of information.  So its safe to assume that the new usage of "Beg the Question" as "raises the question" is OK.

/tried to make it painfully obvious

[iplaw]

The Internets are unreliable.  Using the Internets to prove the veracity of the Internets really does beg the question of whether the Internets are reliable, so good point.

[cannon_fodder]

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!  Way to use it in its proper context IP.  I considered lurking in every thread until I had the chance, but decided to just go for broke. [8D]