The shocking news that Blue Ribbon biscuits are in fact Blue Riband biscuits is gripping the nation. Never mind that 300 jobs in the UK will be lost and the factory shifted to Poland, one of the bastions of English teatime had us all hoodwinked with its cunning spelling.
Dr Johnson’s contemporaries were more ambivalent about spelling. At the time there were other things to preoccupy the mind in particular the revolutionary fervour in the colonies and in France. Boston’s tea party appalled British high society. The thought of that precious cargo dumped in the murky water of Boston harbour must have been intolerable. “No taxation without representation” be damned! might well have been expostulated behind the Thunderer newspaper at the English breakfast table in some rotten borough or other.
Revolution was avoided in Britain with scare tactics and news from France of the Reign of Terror. Meanwhile Johnson’s dictionary imposed order on the English language. This singular achievement has given the English a reference work invaluable to all players of Scrabble and pedants throughout the English speaking world.
odespinner 