The tutor discusses a spelling he’s long wondered about.

Before I had kids, I read a lot of fiction, much of it British. Often, in those books, tyre referred to the rubber around a car’s wheels.

Canadian Tire, of course, gives an example of how we typically spell the British tyre: tire, rather than tyre. Which spelling should we be using?

My Collins Essential Canadian English Dictionary & Thesaurus doesn’t define tire as a noun; rather, it says tire is a verb that means to fatigue, etc. It defines tyre, only, as the rubber around a car’s wheels. In contrast, my Oxford Canadian Dictionary of Current English doesn’t contain the word tyre.

Merriam-Webster – Yank, of course – includes tyre, saying it’s a British spelling of tire, meaning the rubber around a car’s wheels.

Curious, eh?

Jack of Oracle Tutoring by Jack and Diane, Campbell River, BC.