I'm (an old) Canadian. To me, 'center' means the middle of something (as in center of the universe) and 'centre' is some sort of building/establishment/business (as in Learning Centre) where people congregate in some way, shape or form. So (in MY world) I can't agree with Salami that either/or is "okay", as (to me - YMMV) it depends on context. But I do agree with the consistency part of his statement : )

The cool part of this entire thread is that it just shows how forgiving/aware of global differences our wonderful editors are!

I'm also an (old) Canadian, and to me "centre" means both of those things (as does "center" south of the border - the US/Canada border, that is). I may also have been influenced by my English mother, of course.

The mall I walk at twice weekly is named "Stonebriar Centre," and it is in Frisco, Texas (great place to walk at by the way). My grandmother always said if a place had a British spelling that "it would cost you more" to shop there than an American-spelled place.

I'm a (younger) Canadian and I agree with Liz - centre is correct for either meaning.

Ditto in Australia. The only way it is spelled here is 'centre'.

Using a sentence such as, "Where is the centre of the universe?" for the use of the word looks odd, but I can handle it spelled like that about any other way...same with "theater/theatre."

Is that how you'd do it in Australia and Canada?

How about "centre field" Dave? I bet that looks odd to you

Yeah, that one's a bit different too.

Australian theatre is the centre of the universe. Yep, that looks completely correct to me.

We spell in the English fashion for the most part. I do know two people in their early 40s was taught to spell words such as 'memorise' with a 'z' which surprises me, esp as they grew up in different cities. In the Aussie medical world we use the English version of words e.g. edema and esophagus are spelt with an 'o' at the beginning.

oexcellent!!

More seriously, after a couple of decades, I now spell the word as sulfur not sulphur after a ruling on terminology from the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (who set the rules for publishing in the chemistry literature). However, aluminium can legitimately be spelled with or without that last 'i' - it depends on the preference of the journal in which you wish to publish.

I have often wondered why the Americans dropped the last i in aluminium since we pronounce it, so without the i the word sounds plain wrong, we have a five syllable word to the American four.

I wonder about aluminum too when all the other other elements with similar endings have the 'i'. Elements from helium, lithium, beryllium, and all the way to bohrium, hassium and meitnerium all have the last 'i'. Just imagine trying to say sodum chloride with a straight face. Poor aluminum. It must feel short-changed. We should start a petition to make the last 'i' in aluminium put back in internationally!

I'm another Western Canadian like Jakeroo, and while I use "Centre" for something like "Banff Centre for the Fine Arts", I tend to use "center" for "place the maraschino cherry in the center of the pineapple ring".

It must be a regional thing then. Funny, that.

At least nobody uses "alumium" (Humphry Davy used this spelling first, then "aluminum", then "aluminium").

I rather like my American "Aluminum". To me "Aluminium" sounds very strange.

They didn't. We added it. It was originally called Aluminum but we changed it into Aluminium because it didn't quite sound right to us (not Latin enough) and to make it fit in with other "ium" elements such as Lithium, Magnesium etc.

Then I stand corrected, thank you Snowman.

You mean that we sneaked in while they were busy taking the 'u' out of colour, flavour, etc., and stuck another 'i' into Aluminum? Nice job, whoever organised that!

Personally I like the sound of aluminium, though that's not how we say it in Canada.

I didn't know cesium was originally (as far as I can tell) spelled caesium.

It is still spelled caesium. The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry recommends that spelling so for once the traditional spelling holds fast. Except in the USA.

Sometimes I wonder just who in the US decided one day "I am sick tired of spelling colour with a u. From now on I will spell it color!" and everyone just agreed with him? lol

I believe it was Noah Webster, wasn't it?

Growing up in the United States I find all those extra "u"s and "a"s to be superfluous (the words are all spoken the same, so why not spell them more simply?). Just more letters to slow things down. Theater/Theatre and Gray/Grey I don't really have a problem with because they're not extra letters, just different or reorganized. Despite my regular use of American spelling, I do use the British "theatre," and I use "gray" and "grey" interchangeably.