I've tried so hard to get you over the line, I've gone from "you must spread it around" to "you have given out too much"
Who -- or what -- is this spelt you lot keep talking about? The only spelt I know is a kind of wheat, valued particularly by health food addicts. Maybe you mean to refer to the perfectly legitimate past and past particible of the English verb to spell, i.e. "spelt" (note the quotation marks which inform the reader that the word quoted is being referred to, not used, as does the use of italics after "the verb" in the preceding clause). The use of "spelt" is neither wrong nor lazy; spelt on the other hand is used in baking. Here endeth the lesson!
My Oxford compact gives two definitions, one for the shortened version of spelled, and one for the wheat!
Both versions are acceptable in the UK ad they in the USA, so neithe can be called an Americanism. However there is a preference to use spelled in the USA while there is no apparent preference in the UK. The Anericans are actually doing something right for a change!
That should read '...... the shortened version of "spelled", and one for the wheat.' But never mind, as our enlightened modern educationalists keep assuring us, it doesn't matter how you speak, write, spell or do anything for that matter, just as long as you can more or less make yourself understood. In fact you'll probably get an A* in English and get into uni.
The American English spoken by many in the North Eastern states of the USA is proper English, originating with the early Protestant settlers and preserved by the cultural homogeneity of that area (as opposed to the parts of the States which were colonised by the French or Spanish, or were the destination of the vast majority of later immigrants). Mind you, what this has got to do with Lappin going to Cardiff on loan, I have no idea!
