Shuggy is complaining about Norm’s and my spelling of “defence” as “defense” and Christopher Hitchens’ spelling of “labour” as “labor”:

Lenin does it. So does Pootergeek. As does Norm. Politically different, yet the same problem; they all spell ‘defence’ with an ‘s’.

Which is an Americanism.

I’m happy for the Yanks to do this but they can’t spell, can they? You lot have no excuse.

Other annoyances: Christopher Hitchens spelling Labour party as ‘Labor party’. Damn it all, man – even the Americans know to render it Labour party, with a ‘u’.

And he has used ‘gotten’ in the past.

Taken the assimilation thing a bit far – in more ways than one, if you ask me.

Sorry, but it’s been annoying me – can’t even concentrate on your articles because you spell defence with a goddam ‘s’. Stop it at once.

Norm and I were quoting Americans when we used “defense” yesterday. I suspect the main reason Hitchens uses “labor” is because his work has been edited for US publications. They edit things in the States, and fact-check them too. Can you imagine the red ink that would appear on a typical edition of The Independent?

(For those of you who don’t know, “Lenin” is a pseudo-Leftist who writes a stupid and unpleasant blog that I don’t even have to pretend not to read. It’s the sort of Webpage that sports a Hizb-Allah flag in its sidebar, in the same way a skinny schoolboy on his way to a game of Dungeons & Dragons might decorate the lapel of his black trenchcoat with an SS badge. The idea that Norm and I merely have “different politics” from him is a bit like the idea that we have “different hobbies” from someone who rapes pensioners.)

I do use “skeptical” though. That’s because my dictionary offers it as an alternative spelling in English English, because it’s phonetic, and because it’s closer to the Greek—the sort of thing the “Yanks” are often right about.