Prompt Cast
The Confusing Spelling of "Theater" vs "Theatre" Explained
TLDR The hosts discuss the different spellings of "theater" and "theatre" and how it can be confusing when touring. Noah Webster, the writer of the American English Dictionary, was a polymath and a Renaissance man who helped standardize American English with his dictionary.
Timestamped Summary
00:00
The hosts discuss the different spellings of "theater" and "theatre" and how it can be confusing when touring.
02:09
Noah Webster, who wrote the American English Dictionary, was a polymath and a Renaissance man born in Connecticut in 1758.
03:58
Noah Webster was a polymath and a Renaissance man who, after the Revolutionary War, became a teacher, attorney, and advocate for free speech and the abolition of slavery, and also helped found Amherst College, but is most known for his work on creating a new American dictionary and the American Spelling Book.
05:49
The American Spelling Book sold about 100 million copies by 1883 and helped standardize American English for teachers, but Noah Webster's ultimate goal was to write a dictionary.
07:42
Noah Webster wanted to create a definitive guide to American English and ended up writing a 70,000 word dictionary called the American Dictionary of the English Language.
09:54
The spelling of theater/theatre can be interchangeable, but there is a notion that if you're talking about the world of theater, you spell it with an R-E, but you actually perform at a theater with an E-R.
11:53
The spelling of theater/theatre can be interchangeable, but most people use both spellings interchangeably and it doesn't really matter.
Categories:
Society & Culture
