OT: Brit Spelling question

[Neil Ward]

No: HPFGUIDX 12494

Sister Mary Lunatic wrote:

<< In comparing the UK version of Philosopher's Stone to the US 
version (Sorcerer's Stone), I found that while the US version uses 
the word "practice" throughout the book, the UK version uses two 
spellings of the word : "practise / practice" -- specific example 
being in UK-PS page 28 (practise) and then UK-PS page 79 (practice).  
Is there a different definition that corresponds to the different 
spellings, or is it just acceptable to use both in the UK? >>

**Practice is a noun meaning the habitual performance of something 
("the practice of transfiguration", "Dr Simon Branford has a practice 
in the village," "it's not my usual practice to use Floo powder".  

**To Practise is a verb.  It means to carry out habitually or repeat 
for the purposes of learning ("Hermione practised her spells every 
day," or as an adjective: "Penny is a practising lawyer," "Draco is a 
practised liar.")  

In the US, you use 'practice' for both meanings. I would also use the 
US version for "Hermione practiced her spells," above (but that's 
probably just my ignorance).  

As an aside, this is a type of HP-related question that we *could* 
and should move over to OTChatter.  There are few HP-related topics 
that will be discussed there rather than on the main list.

Check out the OTChatter group here: 

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPFGU-OTChatter

Neil

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