Hi chacham,

Interesting research. I’d always just assumed that “program” was the American spelling, in the same way that “color,” “behavior,” “center,” “check,” and “sulfur” are the American spellings of the British words “colour,” “behaviour,” “centre,” “cheque,” and “sulphur,” respectively. Seems I may have to re-think my usage on this one.

I wasn’t aware of the political ramifications of the programme/program distinction in current Australian federal politics. I don’t read The Canberra Times, and judging by this excerpt from the linked article:

(In fact, the English had used "program" for hundreds of years – it appears in Shakespeare's works – and only switched en masse to "programme" during that era of francophilia, the 19th century.)

I won’t be starting any time soon. A simple search of Shakespeare’s works:

• online search
• online concordance
• text of the complete works (5.3 MB) on Project Gutenberg

finds NO hits for either “program” or “programme.” :-(

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BTW, I today ordered a long black coffee with pouring cream from a waitress with an American accent, and was given milk when I was expecting cream. Then I remembered (too late!) that in America, “coffee with cream” means what I would call “coffee with milk.” So (since your homepage says you live in Michigan), how should I phrase my order when requesting coffee with cream from an American speaker?