In a newspaper serving a mixed U.S./Canadian readership, the question of how to spell certain words can put an editor in a real bind.
This journal was born back when Americans made up the bulk of the expat community in Guadalajara and at Lakeside, so U.S. spellings have predominated for most of its existence. In recent decades, AP style has mostly been our rule. But with more and more Canadians fleeing brutal winters and settling in, the spelling question keeps resurfacing — and it isn’t always black and white.
Blame Noah Webster
Take the word “theater.” Or should I say “theatre,” as our Canadian friends would have it?
Quite a few American dramatic companies actually use the “theatre” spelling in their own names, including our very own and much-loved Lakeside Little Theatre. So why is this?
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