H.L. Mencken (1880–1956). The American Language. 1921.
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spelling, at the Riverside Press,30 embraces all the -our endings and the following further forms:
cheque
grey
chequered
inflexion
connexion
jewellery
dreamt
leapt
faggot
premiss (in logic)
forgather
waggon
forgo
It will be noted that gaol, tyre, storey, kerb, asphalte, annexe, ostler, mollusc and pyjamas are not listed, nor are the words ending in -re. These and their like constitute the English contribution to the compromise. Two other great American book presses, that of the Macmillan Company and that of the J. S. Cushing Company,31 add gaol and storey to the list, and also behove, briar, drily, enquire, gaiety, gipsy, instal, judgement, lacquey, moustache, nought, pygmy, postillion, reflexion, shily, slily, staunch and verandah. Here they go too far, for, as we have seen, the English themselves have begun to abandon enquire and judgement, and lacquey is also going out over there. The Riverside Press, even in books intended only for America, prefers certain English forms, among them, anæmia, axe, mediæval, mould, plough, programme and quartette, but in compensation it stands by such typical Americanisms as caliber, calk, center, cozy, defense, foregather, gray, hemorrhage, luster, maneuver, mustache, theater and woolen. The Government Printing Office at Washington follows Webster’s New International Dictionary,32 which supports many of the innovations of Webster himself. This dictionary is the authority in perhaps a majority of American printing offices, with the Standard and the Century supporting it. The latter two also follow Webster, notably in his -er
Note 30. Handbook of Style in Use at the Riverside Press, Cambridge, Mass.; Boston, 1913. [back]
Note 31. Notes for the Guidance of Authors; New York, 1918; Preparation of Manuscript, Proof Reading, and Office Style at J. S. Cushing Company’s Norwood, Mass., n. d. [back]
Note 32. Style Book, a Compilation of Rules Governing Executive, Congressional and Departmental Printing, Including the Congressional Record, ed. of Feb., 1917; Washington, 1917. A copy of this style book is in the proof-room of nearly every American daily newspaper and its rules are generally observed. [back]
