Grammar Girl here. I'm Injan Fogarty, your friendly guide to the English language. We talk about writing, history, rules, and other cool stuff. Today we're going to talk about the weird spelling of the words canceled and cancellation, and then we'll learn why we talk about reading the fine print.

There's a relatively simple question I often get asked about the word canceled. Do you write it

with 1L or 2? Well, it depends on where you live. Canceled with 1L is more common in American

English, and canceled with two L's is more common

in British, Canadian, and Australian English. But these aren't hard and fast rules either.

A Google Ngram search of published books definitely shows crossover. And I also have to say that

whenever I talk about this rule, I always hear from

Americans who say they prefer the spelling with two L's. I don't make the rules. I just tell you what

they are. And if you're writing for yourself, use whatever you want. But if an editor is editing

your text, you'll probably get a suggestion to change the spelling

if you violate the country's specific preferences. The AP Style Book, for example, the style book

used by many American news outlets and corporate communications departments, it recommends

canceled with 1L, as does Garner's modern English usage.

The Chicago Manual of Style doesn't seem to address the topic, but does use American

spellings in the text of the book. Also, canceled isn't the only word that has this British

American spelling difference. 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 1L. Other words Americans spell with 1L, and people

using British English spell with two include

traveled, dialed, labeled, and signaled.

But now recently, I got a more difficult question from a grammar polusian named Jim.

He asked about the word cancellation.

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