Which do you prefer: canceled or cancelled

[babysparkler]

Please choose which you prefer to use... I use this word often and never know which one is more accepted as correct.

[Parrothead]

I think cancelled looks more accurate, but my spell checker always gives me the red line so I change it.

[Guest Dulcimeramy]

I remember learning that "canceled" is correct.

[Mabelen]

I believe cancelled is British spelling whereas canceled is American.

I prefer cancelled because that was the first spelling I learned but I use canceled when corresponding with Americans.

[Melinda in VT]

I think cancelled looks more accurate, but my spell checker always gives me the red line so I change it.

 

:iagree: This is me, too.

[Mosaicmind]

I always spelled it with 2 l's, it just seems like it looks right that way. I ignore the spell checker red line because it's not always right.

[dani3boys]

I think cancelled looks better, but I spell it canceled.

[Violet Crown]

I remember being taught that one (a) doubles a single final consonant following a short vowel before adding a suffix (e.g. potted, running), unless (b) the syllable doesn't have the primary stress (e.g. canceled, happening, diagraming) ... unless © you're British, in which case rule (b) doesn't apply (e.g. Am: leveled, Br: levelled)*.

 

Rule (b) has almost vanished in American English, as far as I can see, especially where the final syllable has a secondary stress (as in diagraming vs. diagramming); thus we should probably have programers, but instead we have programmers. I think the ambiguity over canceled/cancelled stems from this change in American English.

 

So "canceled" is probably the more Standard American English way to go, but "cancelled" increasingly looks right to Am. English speakers. And being a descriptivist to the point that I'm perfectly fine with "alright"** as an inevitability of language, I give "cancelled" the thumbs-up.

 

*Except where it does, e.g. happening. Who can fathom the British?

**Except on college application essays.

Edited September 8, 2010 by Sharon in Austin

[nmoira]

I'm a Canadian living in the US who reads a ton of British novels. More often than not I don't know how to spell anything. :tongue_smilie:

 

I believe cancelled is British spelling whereas canceled is American.

This is true of a few other words ending in "l" as well:

 

 

 

marvellous <---> marvelous

 

counsellor <----> counselor

 

diall(ed/ing) <----> dial(ed/ing)

 

feull(ed/ing) <----> fuel(ed/ing)

 

jewellery <----> jewelry

 

modell(ed/ing) <----> model(ed/ing)

 

parallelled <-----> paralleled

 

signall(ed/ing) <----> signal(ed/ing)

 

snorkelling <----> snorkeling

 

travelling <----> traveling

 

woollen <----> woolen

 

 

but

 

 

 

instalment <----> installment

 

smelt/smelled <-----> smelled

 

fulfil <----> fulfill

 

skilful <----> skillful

 

enrol <----> enroll

 

enrolment <---> enrollment

 

And to muddy it up, standard Canadian spelling is something one or the other or both.

[Tree House Academy]

I like it with 2 l's...but both are correct, so it doesn't matter.

[Laura Corin]

Double 'l' is correct in the UK.

 

Laura

[Teachin'Mine]

I like cancelled better, but then again I like travelled better and both are misspelled (per spell check). :lol:

[AngieW in Texas]

I think it looks better with a double l, but then I would like to spell travel with a double l as well.

[mcconnellboys]

I never even knew that this word was considered correct if spelled with only one 'l'! I don't think I've ever seen it spelled that way before..... Huh.....

[min]

In Australia we double the "l" as in the UK.

 

Min

[Spy Car]

I remember being taught that one (a) doubles a single final consonant following a short vowel before adding a suffix (e.g. potted, running), unless (b) the syllable doesn't have the primary stress (e.g. canceled, happening, diagraming) ... unless © you're British, in which case rule (b) doesn't apply (e.g. Am: leveled, Br: levelled)*.

 

Rule (b) has almost vanished in American English, as far as I can see, especially where the final syllable has a secondary stress (as in diagraming vs. diagramming); thus we should probably have programers, but instead we have programmers. I think the ambiguity over canceled/cancelled stems from this change in American English.

 

So "canceled" is probably the more Standard American English way to go, but "cancelled" increasingly looks right to Am. English speakers. And being a descriptivist to the point that I'm perfectly fine with "alright"** as an inevitability of language, I give "cancelled" the thumbs-up.

 

*Except where it does, e.g. happening. Who can fathom the British?

**Except on college application essays.

 

I just love this answer :D

 

Bill

[flyingiguana]

My dictionaries all give both as options. Neither is listed as either a British or American spelling (and they do list other words as British). Neither is listed as preferred.

 

Cancelled looks better and reads better. If the extra "l" isn't there, it looks like it should be pronounced "canceeled". However, the people who invented spell checkers decided on the one l spelling and seem to be singlehandedly changing English spelling. They've done this to a number of other words like travelled.

 

I think we should all fight against them.

[KidsHappen]

I don't like either one and I also dislike all the other words like this. I generally use the double letter option as that is the way I learned it and it looks right (probably because I have always spelled them that way). I hate rules that only apply half the time especially when there is no obvious reason why some are spelled one way and others are spelled the other way. Of course, a great deal of the English language is this way and then when you throw in the US and British differences well it's amaing that anyone learns to spell anything correctly in this country.

[Ester Maria]

I remember being taught that one (a) doubles a single final consonant following a short vowel before adding a suffix (e.g. potted, running), unless (b) the syllable doesn't have the primary stress (e.g. canceled, happening, diagraming) ... unless © you're British, in which case rule (b) doesn't apply (e.g. Am: leveled, Br: levelled)*.

This is what I got taught at school too.

 

First they insisted on the British variants (EFL courses back then usually had this agenda that British English is actually English par excellence, with American English being a deviation in itself :lol:); some years later they accepted both, but the writing had to be consistent (i.e. you couldn't write canceled and travelled in the same paper).

 

Nowadays I'm terrible with these things, so I'm probably not very consistent, unless I specifically pay attention to it. Personally I prefer the double L option, though.

[Matryoshka]

I like it with 2 l's, but I know it's the British variant. But since both are correct, I don't care much. British spelling doesn't look strange to me after reading tons of British Lit. When writing I usually use US spelling (I don't write colour or specialise), but I prefer the British rule for that particular instance (also "travelling" instead of "traveling" - the US version looks odd to me, even though I know which is which).

[mycalling]

I thought I was the only one who thought about this. I hate the look of canceled. I think I will add cancelled to my Spell Checker and spell it my preferred way from now on!

[Mrs Mungo]

Canceled is correct in the US, cancelled is correct in the UK. Unless you are in the UK, "cancelled" is not an acceptable variant, it is wrong.

[Hannah]

Double 'l' is correct in the UK.

 

In Australia we double the "l" as in the UK.

 

In South Africa, we double the "l" as well.

[Sugarfoot]

Canceled is correct in the US, cancelled is correct in the UK. Unless you are in the UK, "cancelled" is not an acceptable variant, it is wrong.

 

Thank you...:lol:

 

I understand the confusion that this word causes, but I grimace every time I see an extra "l" added.;)

[Violet Crown]

Canceled is correct in the US, cancelled is correct in the UK. Unless you are in the UK, "cancelled" is not an acceptable variant, it is wrong.

 

Why is it wrong?

[Mrs Mungo]

Why is it wrong?

 

It's a British variant, it's not proper in American use. It's wrong for the same reason other words with British variants would be wrong. There is a long list of those, but off the top of my head I can think of: ageing, colour, cheque, fibre, kilometre, etc.

[min]

"Cancelled" is correct in Australia.

Min

[Ester Maria]

It's a British variant, it's not proper in American use. It's wrong for the same reason other words with British variants would be wrong. There is a long list of those, but off the top of my head I can think of: ageing, colour, cheque, fibre, kilometre, etc.

Even though I know you're theoretically correct, there is something which strikes me as odd in this. I've no idea if I'll be able to put this clearly, but...

 

If I write correct Italian in New York, it's as correct as correct Italian written in Rome. That is, the correctness of my Italian is not determined by the geographical circumstances of writing, but by the norm I adhere to.

If a British-born child person writes BE in America, s/he adheres to a different norm, but within that norm, it's still a consistent and grammatically correct English - especially keeping in mind that BE variants precede (chronologically) the American ones (i.e. there is someting inherently deviant in much of the American norm). Would it be considered wrong, just because a child adheres to a certain, existing, grammatical norm of the language (let's assume the child IS consistent within that norm, unlike me :D)?

 

That is, if I write the whole paper in the BE norm, would it be 'wrong' (not talking of publishing in publications with AmE norm)?

[Violet Crown]

It's a British variant, it's not proper in American use. It's wrong for the same reason other words with British variants would be wrong. There is a long list of those, but off the top of my head I can think of: ageing, colour, cheque, fibre, kilometre, etc.

 

I understand what you're saying, and I'm playing a bit of devil's advocate here, but ... orthography changes. When we get to a tipping point such that "cancelled" looks as right as, or more right than, "canceled" to a reader/writer of American English, I submit that it's no longer "wrong" (I prefer "nonstandard").

 

"Airplane," "anemia," and "aluminum" (just to delve into the front of Webster's) were once nonstandard American spellings. Now they're standard. (Or, once wrong, now right.) But there's a transition period where standard changes. I submit that the test for standard is the usage/acceptance of language users, and that by that measure, "cancelled" is no longer nonstandard American English.

[Nature]

Yes, I believe you are correct. I also prefer cancelled. What about theater vs. theatre? I seem to prefer theatre, another British spelling. I was educated in the US and for some reason, we were taught the British spellings (without knowing it).

[Mrs Mungo]

Even though I know you're theoretically correct, there is something which strikes me as odd in this. I've no idea if I'll be able to put this clearly, but...

 

If I write correct Italian in New York, it's as correct as correct Italian written in Rome. That is, the correctness of my Italian is not determined by the geographical circumstances of writing, but by the norm I adhere to.

If a British-born child person writes BE in America, s/he adheres to a different norm, but within that norm, it's still a consistent and grammatically correct English - especially keeping in mind that BE variants precede (chronologically) the American ones (i.e. there is someting inherently deviant in much of the American norm). Would it be considered wrong, just because a child adheres to a certain, existing, grammatical norm of the language (let's assume the child IS consistent within that norm, unlike me :D)?

 

That is, if I write the whole paper in the BE norm, would it be 'wrong' (not talking of publishing in publications with AmE norm)?

 

I understand what you're saying, and I'm playing a bit of devil's advocate here, but ... orthography changes. When we get to a tipping point such that "cancelled" looks as right as, or more right than, "canceled" to a reader/writer of American English, I submit that it's no longer "wrong" (I prefer "nonstandard").

 

"Airplane," "anemia," and "aluminum" (just to delve into the front of Webster's) were once nonstandard American spellings. Now they're standard. (Or, once wrong, now right.) But there's a transition period where standard changes. I submit that the test for standard is the usage/acceptance of language users, and that by that measure, "cancelled" is no longer nonstandard American English.

 

Dictionaries are two things-prescriptive and descriptive. Most dictionaries list "irregardless" as a word, but note that it is irregular. They currently list "cancelled" as a British variation. Currently, therefore, it is wrong. If dictionaries and style books change their mind about it, then it will be an accepted American variation. That hasn't happened.

[Violet Crown]

Dictionaries are two things-prescriptive and descriptive. Most dictionaries list "irregardless" as a word, but note that it is irregular. They currently list "cancelled" as a British variation. Currently, therefore, it is wrong. If dictionaries and style books change their mind about it, then it will be an accepted American variation. That hasn't happened.

 

Well, if by "accepted" in "an accepted American variation," you mean "accepted by dictionaries and style books," then I suppose that's right, but either trivial or question-begging.

 

I reject the claim that dictionaries and style books are determinative of standard usage (and that's putting aside the problem that, as we've seen in this thread, different dictionaries seem to have different opinions on the matter). What reason would I have for accepting it? My determination of standard usage--that the spelling is acceptable to most readers/writers of American English--may be harder to gauge, but I submit is more accurate and meaningful than a "what the dictionary says" standard.