Moulding vs. Molding?

Krisidious

Moulding vs. Molding? which do you use and why?

Rich O Brien

Isn't moulding only in the US and molding in the rest of the english speaking territories?

TIG

@unknownuser said:

Isn't moulding only in the US and molding in the rest of the english speaking territories?

A Mould [UK] or a Mold [US] is something to cast material in to make a 'moulding' or a 'molding'.

A Moulding [UK] or Molding [US] is a profiled section made from a mould/mold or machining.

Also a Mould [UK] or a Mold [US] is something that grows on stale bread and cheese!

They all come from the Latin modulus = a small-measure, a module.

If I have my UK spell-checker on it's 'mould[ing]'. if it's a US spell-checker [as here] it's 'mold[ing]'...

There are many words that differ in spelling between the US & UK [color/colour, labor/labour etc], and even within the UK there are alternative 'correct' spellings for many common construction terms - e.g. lintel/lintol, gully/gulley, kerb/curb, shown/shewn and so on...

So the answer is either spelling is 'right' - just be consistent!

Rich O Brien

I make molds even when I'm mouldy from the night before

or.....

I make moulds even when I'm moldy from the nite before

The mold on the mould is moulding to the mold on the moulding.

jeff hammond

@unknownuser said:

Isn't moulding only in the US and molding in the rest of the english speaking territories?

nah.. it's molding here.
i always thought moulding was a british thing.. those people are always butchering up the english language
color -> colour etc..

Rich O Brien

I think it's a very regional thing.

I would say...

'there's mould on me bread' or 'you drunk? no, but I'm getting mouldy'

Whilst in work (when I had a job ) I would say...

'best make a mold of that before we doing anything else' or 'lets break the mold and try something new baby'

Anyway, I agree with Jeff, it the Brits fault for lying down when the Romans came knocking.

honoluludesktop

When I first read the topic summary, I thought this would be a discussion on fungus, and architectural trims.

boofredlay

For years I worked for a picture frame warehouse. I was the shop manager and did all their custom frame sizes as well as manage the moulding inventory. The company was named Kendall Moulding, they are now Kendall Hartcraft and Southwest Moulding.

jeff hammond

@unknownuser said:

For years I worked for a picture frame warehouse. I was the shop manager and did all their custom frame sizes as well as manage the moulding inventory. The company was named Kendall Moulding, they are now Kendall Hartcraft and Southwest Moulding.

hmm.. maybe you should tell them about the typo in their name.
[and that they even had a window of opportunity to fix it]

TIG

Sort of in defense of UK English and then against it...

There is no such thing as the 'right way to spell something'.
Dictionaries were invented by dictionary-writers as a way of showing us how words are commonly spelled and pronounced.
In different places they recorded different things. For many hundreds of years there was no 'proper' way to spell a word - indeed in the 16th century Shakespeare never spelled his own name the same way twice! In the 17th century Oliver Cromwell always spelled 'at' as 'atte', because where he came from the final 't' is stressed so it was natural to show it with the added 'te'!

Dr Johnson/OED in the UK followed the 'French' spelling rule, that many were using anyway - so FR coleur >> UK colour, FR honeur >> UK honour etc...

Webster in the US followed the 'Latin' root spelling rule, in an attempt to rationalize spelling - so Latin color/colorem >> US color etc... Admittedly more logical as the FR 'coleur' was only their way of trying to spell it as they heard 'color' - where the end '-or' sounded more like '-eur' [in EN it's probably a '-uh' !]

In English 'Color' is actually pronounced more like 'culler' or 'culla' or 'calla' or 'k'luh' etc etc, depending where you are from, so a word's spelling is rarely directly connected to its 'sound'... Take for example 'plough/plow' - in Old English it was pronounced 'plog'uh' but over the years it became a 'plow' sound - although the opposite of high 'low' doesn't rhyme with it and logically it should be spelled phonetically something like 'plau'.

Keeping most old spelling has an advantage of leaving a word's history with it and sometimes differentiating similar sounding words in writing.

Attempts to rationalize spelling en mass have failed in English - Webster himself attempted far reaching respelling in his earlier dictionaries, 'women' >> 'wimin' etc never caught on, and were later dropped - the public decided which to accept and which to reject - leaving a dictionary to its true role as a recorder not a dictator...

Ironically the UK 'mould' spelling for both meanings of the word comes from the merging of the Old FR 'modle' [in the sense of 'shape'/'form' (=model?)], which in turn is from the Latin 'modulus' [a small measure or 'module']... AND the Northern UK English dialect 'mowlde' - pronounced 'mow'led' [as in 'stale-cheese'], back-formed from 'mowldy' [which is probably of Scandinavian origin - compare Old Norse 'mugla'='mould'].
Even today there is a slight difference in pronunciation of the two meanings of the word in many parts of the UK, although it's fading by the generations.

A 'logical' pseudo-root-based spelling should really have been different for the two meanings of the word [and at the time often the 'sound' too] - 'mowld'>>'mould' for 'stale-cheese' and then 'mold' for 'shape'/'form' - perhaps an attempt at rhyming with 'old' [because the original roots are all too far from modern pronunciations - the 'dl' combo has become 'ld' over time, and the 'dul' even less sense!] - but at least the US version ['mold'] is spelled as both meanings of the word now sound [in most locales]

As I said before - it doesn't matter that much - just be consistent!

SketchUpNoobie

You do know that no one reads your posts, right TIG?

Gaieus

@unknownuser said:

You do know that no one reads your posts, right TIG?

I had English as a major at university for two years (until I dropped it) and we learnt quite a lot of language history so at least I doappreciate and enjoy TIG's little lessons here.

Some other "simplifications" like Marlborough > Marlboro or even through > thru (well this latter one - I know - has never really made "thru" to dictionaries).

But sometimes it is not "just" spelling but seemingly a complete ignorance of grammar. Like when someone says (more exactly writes) "I should of done this" - instead of "I should've done it..." Or completely mixing up thereand their. Although I am not sure it is not simply that "internet" or "chat" lingo...

SketchUpNoobie

@gaieus said:

@unknownuser said:

You do know that no one reads your posts, right TIG?

I doappreciate and enjoy TIG's little lessons here.

Just messing with him. I read them. Except of course when he delves deep into the far reaches of the world of Ruby where my brain dares not venture . . .

Yeah, every time I see someone misuse their, there, or they're, it drives me crazy. I guess I'm just too much of a perfectionist.

dale

I think that in comparison to the changes that are taking place right now in languages throughout the world (such as the use of acronyms), the small "drop the vowel" changes that have taken place to date , seem minimal, or to paraphrase an earlier thought, really "breaks the mold" (or mould).
I think the thing that I find interesting about the development of language is the great leap of faith it must have taken to get everybody to universally agree that one particular grunt means "rock", and the other slightly different grunt means "roll".
Imagine how long it must have taken for this to filter down through the masses.
Language is fascinating. I wish I had better command of it.

jeff hammond

for the record.
i was raised in florida and learned how to read/speak down there.. so anytime you see me critiquing (hmm.. that word is due for a change) someone's use of certain words, i'm doing so tonge in cheek.

[also for the record.. nyc has 5 boros .. not really sure what the ough is supposed to accomplish. give it another 20 years an i'm thinking boro is going to be much more widespread]

Krisidious

personally I use Moulding... and I think it came from my Millwork days. they tried very hard to be European there.

as for Tig's lessons... I love them, I've always had an interest in where words come from and why we use the ones we do. I especially like this "it doesn't matter that much - just be consistent!".

pbacot

Many people in US use moulding and I think: either they think it is proper for woodwork or they are trying to be more elegant. So I insist on molding. Otherwise I was raised reading English (UK) books and like to write grey and colour when I can. Then there are (otherwise totally American speakers) those who say "shed-you-will" for "sked-joe" (schedule) and I think that's really pushing it.