Grammar Girl here.

This week I have a quick and dirty tip about the words canceled with one L and canceled

with two Ls.

A tidbit about syllable acronyms such as a new abbreviation for the word homecoming,

a meeting middle about a new book based on research that's supposed to have clues about

how to write a best-selling novel and some featured listeners.

And now on to canceled.

Every winter you probably see the word canceled a lot, but should it be spelled with one L

or two?

The one L version is more common in American English.

The AP-style book used by many American news outlets, for example, recommends it.

And the two L version is more common in British English.

But these aren't hard and fast rules.

When I do a Google N-gram search, I can see that both spellings are used in both British

and American English.

This quick and dirty tip is about spelling trends, not absolute right and wrong.

Noah Webster is usually credited with creating American spellings that have fewer letters

than British spellings, such as color and flavor without the U. And canceled with one L

was the recommended spelling in a Webster's 1898 dictionary.

But the Google Books N-gram results actually show that the one L version only overtook

the two L version in American books in the early 1980s.

In summary, your quick and dirty tip is if you're writing for an American audience,

...