Jane McGary wrote: "Having been a lexicographer during my long career, I suggest that we do not initiate a discussion of the difference between American and British spellings." Good advice, Jane, and I'm glad you did not say the same thing about the differences in pronunciation. There is one such example this group might enjoy exploring: fritillary. Brits in my experience say fra TIL er ry and North Americans say FRE til lair re. And I wonder if the lepidopterists do it differently. I've often wondered if there is not a basic rule behind this. For instance, those who have studied Latin know that the Latin accent occurs only on one of the last three syllables of the word. There are many instances of words which in their American pronunciation have the accent four or more syllables back, while the corresponding Britspeak places the accent within the last-three-syllables rule. Anyone care to comment (other than "quit the OT stuff")? Jim McKenney jimmckenney@jimmckenney.com Montgomery County, Maryland, USA, 39.03871º North, 77.09829º West, USDA zone 7 My Virtual Maryland Garden http://www.jimmckenney.com/ <http://www.jimmckenney.com/> BLOG! http://mcwort.blogspot.com/ Webmaster Potomac Valley Chapter, NARGS Editor PVC Bulletin http://www.pvcnargs.org/ <http://www.pvcnargs.org/> Webmaster Potomac Lily Society http://www.potomaclilysociety.org/ <http://www.potomaclilysociety.org/>