s[i|y]phon

[oldbloke]

I've been spelling it syphon all my life, as far as I recall.
I just moaned to t'missus (a linguistics graduate) about Amercian spell checkers not liking that, and she said, well, that's because it IS spelt with an i.
And she got out our 2 volume Shorter Oxford English dict to prove it.
Sigh.
Just looked at an online homebrew shop webpage that has it both ways in adjacent sentences...

 

[Jeltz]

It can be spelled (spelt) both ways :P

 

[bobsbeer]

I'm like you. With a Y. Probably a yank dictionary. :grin:

 

[oldbloke]

I knw it /can/ but the SOED lists the i version as the main, and the y as an acceptable variant. Just wondering how many peeps spell it each way.

 

[Cononthebarber]

I have always spelled :) it syphon although google disagrees and says it should be siphon...pah! What the hell do they know anyway?! Oh yeah, actully pretty much everything...

 

[crofty83]

Hmmm.... Interesting!

 

[Moley]

Concise OED says syphon. Siphon is given as var. of syphon.

So it's a Y unless you're illiterate or an American, or is that the same thing?

 

[31bb3]

There's only one correct way to spell syphon

 

[oldbloke]

Concise OED says syphon. Siphon is given as var. of syphon.

But this means the Concise OED differs from the Shorter OED !!!
And a friend with the full 20 volume thing reckons it lists both, not specifying that either is preferred.
Typical Oxford academics!

 

[BrotherMalice]

There's only one correct way to spell syphon

Pipe?

 

[graysalchemy]

Does it matter :wha: :wha:

:lol: :lol:

 

[Swift Pint]

Lets hope no ones parents were killed by a pithon...

 

[oldbloke]

I know somebody who had trouble with a piton

 

[Vossy1]

Y for me :grin:

 

[Jeltz]

The Greek and Latin which it derives from is spelled with an "i" at some point somebody started using a "y" and that stuck. At the end of the day it doesn't matter, what matters is whether its porridge or porage.