This Cantankerous Scot Rebels Again

I have been looking on-line at the spellings supersede and supercede. There are a lot of claims that supercede is incorrect, whereas the Oxford English Dictionary (unless this information is out of date) claims that supercede is valid and disputed rather than incorrect.

‘Disputed’ it could well be, because so many spell it that way – and not without reason.

A comment on this site says that the Scots used superceid.

I do have a preference for supercede – but that’s probably because I’m a cantankerous Scot who was brought up to spell it that way.

Just as I dialled up to check a few sites on the subject, thinking ‘dictionaries, dictionaries’ to myself, my eye was caught by my daily horoscope. It said:

The dictionary may define an obstacle as ‘a person or thing that obstructs progress,’ but today any obstacles you face will have quite the opposite effect. When someone tells you ‘no’ today, all you’ll hear is a challenge to change this person’s mind. You are up to the task, and you’re eager to make all obstacles disappear.

Good. It’s supercede. Diddums has spoken.

Edit Feb 2008: There were 14 comments to this post where it was published originally, and they can still be found there. Quite a few folks seem to feel the same way about supercede. I reposted 13 comments below… standing (so far) for 13 people who see nothing wrong with the spelling ’supercede’.

1. Bunnyman wrote at Dec 3, 2006 at 18:51:
My two volume “New Shorter Oxford English Dictionary” lists both forms but words the distinction as follows:

supersede Also (earlier) -cede. L15.

The L15 refers to use of supercede beginning around the late fifteenth century. It doesn’t say anything about supercede being wrong.

Perhaps it is just a Scottish quirk but I’ve always used the -cede spelling. Supersede sounds more like some kind of humungous, prize winning vegetable.

Quite a strange place that Everything2.com, I’ve added it to my list of Very Odd Encyclopaedias. It doesn’t yet have an entry for “Diddums” though it does suggest that “Bunnyman” might be an unsavoury character, quite mad and having some anti-social habits. Seems there’s even a bridge named after me.

Well at least it has some good “vegan pizza” recipes.

2. Buttercup2 wrote at Dec 3, 2006 at 22:59:
I agree.. Supercede it is! I’m glad others spend time on things like this also~

3. Mrs. Chili wrote at Dec 3, 2006 at 23:36:
Oh, I’m FOREVER doing stuff like this!

I imagine, given the flexibility of English (and the often mind-boggling lack of logical development it follows), that any previously used spellings could be considered “correct.” I’m a New Englander, born and raised, yet I spell things like ‘cheque’ and ‘behaviour.’ I have no excuse for it, but I don’t make excuses for it, either. If I’m getting my point across, it doesn’t really matter whether I use archaic or “British” spelling.

4. Pete wrote at Dec 4, 2006 at 09:29:
for what it’s worth I spell it supercede

5. Diddums wrote at Dec 4, 2006 at 14:16:
Yay, that’s six of us for supercede with a ‘c’ – including Mum. I thought I might meet with some resistance, but so far there are no obstacles. .

PS Bunnyman, I didn’t think to explore the rest of everything2.com – I’ll have to have a look, especially if it has recipes!

6. KatieK wrote at Dec 4, 2006 at 19:48:
West Coast American here. I always spell it -cede…I do have 1/8 Scottish ancestry (their last name was Aird).

7. Diddums wrote at Dec 5, 2006 at 02:16:
Even better – the count has risen to 7!

8. Feral wrote at Dec 16, 2007 at 19:48:
It just came up on a spelling question on a family quiz show. 3 of us in the room all spelt it with a ‘c’, the answer on the quiz was with an ’s’

I intend to stick with Supercede!

9. Diddums wrote at Dec 16, 2007 at 23:46:
Sound decision. . It’s interesting how it wasn’t just one that spelt it ’s’, but three of you. That’s 10 in this blog post so far.

10. not quite past it dad wrote at Dec 21, 2007 at 22:16:
Just watched “Are you smarter than a 10 year old” and watched in shock as all the kids spelt supercede as supersede and apparently they’re right. My learned mrs and me spell it the proper way – supercede and would probably have lamped Noel Edmonds if he said we were wrong. Funnily enough the guy took the cash but thought it was supercede. Funnily enough, he was Scottish as well

11. Diddums wrote at Dec 22, 2007 at 01:23:
I’m sorry I missed that show – or then again, maybe not, as I would probably have got vexed! I read a lot of books growing up, and they can’t all have been Scottish. I just never had the impression that ’supersede’ was correct while ’supercede’ wasn’t.

There, the comment box spell-checker has just put a red line under ’supercede’.

(Coshes it with giant humungous vegetable).

It doesn’t recognize ‘coshes’ or ‘humungous’ either.

12. Andrea wrote at Sep 10, 2008 at 19:40:
I ended up on this site as I use the word supercede a lot in my notes at work and I’m getting very annoyed with Word telling me it’s a ‘non-standard’ word and trying to correct my spelling (I added it to the Word dictionary now). For your info I’m not Scottish but am from Newcastle – so maybe it’s a Northern thing. I must ask my Southern boyfriend how he spells it…

13. Diddums wrote at Oct 9, 2008 at 19:22:
Normally if something has the wrong spelling, it’s wrong, but I think in this case we’re onto something.