h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I think English spelling became fixed later. Certainly Shakespeare's spelling was fluid in the early 17th century. The appearance of Johnson's dictionary in the late 18th came at about the time that a single standard was emerging in Britain. The US was freer until Webster, about forty years after that.

Yes, you're right. And I think I'm right, too. I should probably have written something like "spelling began to become fixed with the advent of the printing press." The fact is that most of our spellings represent pronounciations from quite long before the present, many (perhaps most) from around Caxton's time. And remember, Caxton and Shakespeare were only separated by a century. And spelling still really isn't completely fixed, which is part of the reason new dictionaries get published.

I probably should have phrased it a little differently in the entry but I do think the underlying generalization is valid in a broad sense.

Thanks for reading the entry.

Fair enough.