Dear Geist, Why oh why do we Canadians spell humour with a u, but humorous without the u? Are we being Canadianly polite, throwing bones to both the British and the American lexicographers? —Seeking simplicity, Charlottetown PEI Dear Seeking, Both humor and humour are technically correct in English everywhere, but in the United States, humor is by far the preferred spelling. The shortened version of that and other English words—humor, parlor, behavior, paycheck and maneuver, to name just a few—come from American lexicographers' painstaking work to distinguish American English from other varieties. —The Editors
