There are many words in American English which were once commonplace in British English before the American Revolution. Folks on both sides of the Atlantic regularly used words like “fall”, “diaper” and “faucet”. The British moved on to “autumn”, “nappy” and “tap” decades later, while American English stubbornly kept the older words.
One word in particular – check, as in “a financial instrument” – seems to really set off Brits. Many Brits assume American English switched from “cheque” to “check” because of Noah Webster. But that’s not how this story works: for around 125 years, “check” was the dominant form. Although “cheque” was used in Britain, it was used almost exclusively by goldsmiths. “Check” was by far the most popular spelling in Britain and the only spelling used in America.
In 1827, an English banker named James William Gilbart (below) published a book called Practical Treatise on Banking. Universities widely adopted it as a textbook and banks used it as an instruction manual. While writing the book, Gilbart decided to standardize on “cheque” to eliminate any confusion with other uses of “check”… and within 20 years “check” was completely gone from the British banking system, and British English generally.
