Frequently Asked Questions
Spelling
Why is the letter 'f' used instead of 's' in old-fashioned spellings? |
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In genuine old-style
printing, it is not the letter f, but a long form of the letter s
(derived from handwriting styles), which looks very similar to f but
does not have a complete cross-bar. It is not used at the ends of words, and
in double s it is sometimes paired with a short s (which results
in a compound letter like the German double-s (or `sz') symbol `ß'). It
fell out of fashion with printers rather suddenly in about 1780.
Other questions in this section:'Fayre', 'fair', and 'fare': which is which?
Are spellings like 'privatize' and 'organize' Americanisms?
Can 'cannot' also be written as two words 'can not'?
How do you spell 'poppadom'?
Is there an apostrophe in the plural of pizza?
What is the correct way to spell e words such as 'email', 'ebusiness', 'egovernment'?
What is the difference between 'affect' and 'effect'?
What is the difference between 'learnt' and 'learned'?
When is it correct to use a hyphen?
Which is correct 'caster sugar' or 'castor sugar'?
Why can't I find the word 'perjorative' in my dictionary?
Why is 'ye' used instead of 'the' in antique English?
Why is the letter 'f' used instead of 's' in old-fashioned spellings?
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