Last week in editing class we read and talked about the usage of "or" vs. "our" in words and how that is one of the ways we differentiate Canadian spelling vs. American spelling of words.
I had a real life example of this difference.
When I was teaching in Korea I spelled "colour" on the white board, and the Korean middle school students went crazy.
They were really excited because they thought their foreign English teacher had spelled a very simple word incorrectly.
This flurry of excitement turned into a great teachable moment because it gave me the opportunity to explain the different kinds of spelling you can find across the English language world. They were really interested to learn that even in countries that are so close geographically - in their minds American and Canada are basically the same country - there can be such a difference in spelling of such a simple word as color/colour.
What is the lesson for the editor?
It's important to be aware of what your geographical audience expects as standard spellings for common words. When in doubt, edit for your writer's primary audience.
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