"Oh, SHUT UP, Spell-Checker!"

Yep, another Grammar Nazi post!) 

I typed the word "glamor" while writing an email recently, and my handy-dandy (and intrusive) spell-checker red-lined the word. Suggested substitution? "Glamour."

Oh, really? Hmmmm, I thought, let's see what the 'net has to say bout that.

Apparently, "glamor" is acceptable, but "glamour" is the preferred spelling. According to American Heritage: "Many words, such as honor, vapor, and labor, are usually spelled with an –or ending in American English but with an –our ending in British English. The preferred spelling of glamour, however, is –our, making it an exception to the usual American practice."

Uh-huh. Okay, fine. Be that way. The old "exception to the rule" thing, eh? Lord knows, the English language is full of them.  

But wait! It gets better!

They add, "The adjective is more often spelled glamorous in both American and British usage."

WTF???

I guess it's like the "mic/mike" thing. Even people who abbreviate "microphone" as "mic" used "miked" (yeah, with a K!) for the past tense, when using it as a verb. So arbitrarily dropping the "U" when turning "glamour" into the adjective "glamorous" makes perfect sense... in a perfectly senseless way. (Or would that be "perfectly nonsensical?")

*sigh* No matter...

Let's turn instead to a much more important subject: The photo at the top of today's post.

When looking for an illustration to... errr... illustrate the concept of glamor/glamour, I naturally thought of Glamour, the magazine. A quick image search gave me dozens of choices. I (obviously) decided on the cover scan pictured above, featuring Beyoncé.

However, I couldn't help being sidetracked by the realization that the same month, June of 2009, featured several versions of the Beyoncé cover.

I mean, there was this one...

And then, there was this one...

Again, WTF?

Well, a close look at the photo scans told the tale. These were different international editions, from Spain, the UK...

Anyway, I thought I'd probably be better off using the cover from the United States edition...

And I couldn't find it.

Once again, WTF?

A little more time was invested by Yours Truly, and I finally did locate the cover of Glamour's June 2009 edition. And here it is:

Uhhh... No Beyoncé at all?

Nope.

So, for the fourth and final time this go-round, fellow babies...

WTF???

I guess that makes sense in a perfectly nonsensical way, as well, huh?

(Now, does today's post make me a Glamour Nazi?)

Thanks for your time.