Flote vs Float

[jsurddy]

When reading old mining and prospecting documents i’ve seen ‘flote gold’ and ‘flote quartz’ mentioned when describing them coming right from their source rock. It seems that all modern information spells it ‘float’ instead of ‘flote’. Does anyone know why the spelling has changed or when it did?

[Machkin]

I would think that it would depend on where the author of the documents where from originally and the date of the document.

Also from Wikipedia:
In the early 18th century, English spelling was inconsistent. These differences became noticeable after the publishing of influential dictionaries. Today's British English spellings mostly follow Johnson's A Dictionary of the English Language (1755), while many American English spellings follow Webster's An American Dictionary of the English Language ("ADEL", "Webster's Dictionary", 1828).


But "why" and "when", is a good question.

[hvacker]

I think they are both wrong. Flowt. The Brits spell color, colour. It's their language so I guess they can spell it anyway they want.
I was taught to sound words out. That doesn't mean my spelling is right.
Why do we have so many 2's. To,Too,Two. Toooomany.
I remember how slang gets some into trouble. There was a Russian on Tnet awhile back. A poster told him he would have a blast MDing with the Russian. Suspiciously the Russian asked "What you mean Blast??"

[jsurddy]

I think they are both wrong. Flowt. The Brits spell color, colour. It's their language so I guess they can spell it anyway they want.
I was taught to sound words out. That doesn't mean my spelling is right.
Why do we have so many 2's. To,Too,Two. Toooomany.
I remember how slang gets some into trouble. There was a Russian on Tnet awhile back. A poster told him he would have a blast MDing with the Russian. Suspiciously the Russian asked "What you mean Blast??"

Ha ha, yea, sounds like a bit of a language barrier there. I personally like having the different spelled versions of some words so we know what exactly is being conveyed. Unfortunately it is too complicated for about 90% of people on the internet to figure out. It’s pretty amazing how much hassle a slight miscommunication can cause at times. I wish more people would put just a little more effort into the more commonly used parts of the language since typing is our primary means of communicating nowadays. It’s like driving, we do it soo often that it just makes sense to do a good job of it. I can totally see people using shortcuts and acronyms, though. Shorthand has been a common practice in morse code for decades. It’s just efficient. Ok, i’m done wandering off topic here. Lol.

[jsurddy]

I would think that it would depend on where the author of the documents where from originally and the date of the document.

Also from Wikipedia:
In the early 18th century, English spelling was inconsistent. These differences became noticeable after the publishing of influential dictionaries. Today's British English spellings mostly follow Johnson's A Dictionary of the English Language (1755), while many American English spellings follow Webster's An American Dictionary of the English Language ("ADEL", "Webster's Dictionary", 1828).


But "why" and "when", is a good question.

The documents i’ve read were between 1906 and 1970ish. I’ll have to check it out again to see when it was written exactly.