program / programme

[DaveAgain]

Yes, I get that, but since it's an American spelling convention, and the US has been the driving force in the history of computer programs, I'd contend that it is an American loanword. The fact that it distinguishes meaning is often an advantage.

My quibble with this is just that I'm not sure at what point computer programs began to be called programs.

There's a book called a Computer called Leo which gives the history of modern computers from a UK perspective, if I re-read that I might know!

[Cainntear]

When I started learning to program in Scotland in the 80s, I spelled it that way.

I would generally use "TV programme" for what people in the US would call a "TV show".

With the meaning of "schedule", it's always "programme".


However, "TV program" doesn't look weird to me when other people write it that way -- probably because it seems more semantically similar to computer program, in that it represents a single unitary thing, whereas "programme" in its core meaning is more abstract and just has the times of other things.

[Montmorency]

Yes, I get that, but since it's an American spelling convention, and the US has been the driving force in the history of computer programs, I'd contend that it is an American loanword. The fact that it distinguishes meaning is often an advantage.

My quibble with this is just that I'm not sure at what point computer programs began to be called programs.

There's a book called a Computer called Leo which gives the history of modern computers from a UK perspective, if I re-read that I might know!

Unfortunately that link no longer works, although I'm sure the book is findable by other means. I got my first job in computing in 1970, actually initially working on an English Electric machine that was probably descended from the Leo. It was certainly related, although the firm was by then part of ICL. I was taught then to always use "program" for computer programs, even though ICL & English Electric were British firms. It was just taken for granted that most computer terms were borrowed wholesale from the USA. Later on I worked mostly on American machines, and so the American style language became even more natural (e.g. disk for disc). I use "programme" in all other contexts.