Spilled or Spilt?

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There is the famous idiom, "Dont cry over spilled/spilt milk."

My question is, which is correct? Spilled or spilt?

I was told by an English teacher that 'spilled' was the correct usage of the word. Is this true?
 
Unregistered said:
There is the famous idiom, "Dont cry over spilled/spilt milk."

My question is, which is correct? Spilled or spilt?

I was told by an English teacher that 'spilled' was the correct usage of the word. Is this true?
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in the UK you might find spilt as well as spilled

so actually both forms would be correct I guess:-D
 
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beascarpetta said:
in the UK you might find spilt along spilled

so actually both forms would be correct.:-D
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Yes, it's similar to the verb spell. I had a discussion with an American about whether it should be (as she insisted) "it is spelled incorrectly" or (as I insisted) "it is spelt incorrectly". We agreed to disagree.

The "ed" form seems more common in the US.

Here in the UK, I would definately say "spilt milk".
 
beascarpetta said:
in the UK you might find spilt as well as spilled

so actually both forms would be correct I guess:-D
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:up: But as colloquium says, some collocations work better with one form. Here are the first few BNC hits for 'spilled' followed by a noun:

1 WINE 4
2 MILK 4
3 COFFEE 3
4 WATER 3
5 PAINT 2
6 WHISKY 1
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And here are the first few for 'spilt':

1 MILK 12
2 BLOOD 6
3 BEER 6
4 COFFEE 5
5 WINE 3
6 DRINK 2
7 TEA 2
8 PINS 2
9 OIL 2
10 YOLK 1
Click to expand...

More here: [Davies/BYU] BYU-BNC: British National Corpus

So they both exist, but collocation is important.

(Note - some course-books are not very helpful about this. For example, Cutting Edge Upper-Int describes only one, and then gives examples of the other.

b
 
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I'd say most Americans would say "spilt" because we recognize this as a British idiom.
 
Raymott said:
And "learned/learnt"
Maybe someone has a list of these variant spellings.
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I'm sure there's one somewhere on the web. Soup? ;-)

My favourite is "proven/proved", which demonstrates strongly the importance of context. 'Proven' is chiefly* used in pharmaceutical adverts! ("Brand X - clinically proven to reduce cholesterol.")

* Perhaps I'm exaggerating a little.

b
 
BobK said:
I'm sure there's one somewhere on the web. Soup? ;-)

My favourite is "proven/proved", which demonstrates strongly the importance of context. 'Proven' is chiefly* used in pharmaceutical adverts! ("Brand X - clinically proven to reduce cholesterol.")

* Perhaps I'm exaggerating a little.

b
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I believe that in Scottish law courts there is a verdict of "Not Proven" possible as an alternative to innocent or guilty.:)
 
susiedqq said:
I'd say most Americans would say "spilt" because we recognize this as a British idiom.
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I think it's because the expression "Don't cry over spilt milk" has been around for so long. I think the expression was in use before the American colonies were formed.

:)
 
colloquium said:
Yes, it's similar to the verb spell. I had a discussion with an American about whether it should be (as she insisted) "it is spelled incorrectly" or (as I insisted) "it is spelt incorrectly". We agreed to disagree.

The "ed" form seems more common in the US.

Here in the UK, I would definately say "spilt milk".
Click to expand...

And I would definitely say "definitely".
 
BobK said:
I'm sure there's [a list] somewhere on the web. Soup? ;-)
Click to expand...
Not that I can find at the moment, but the pattern is evident here:

<t> after <l, n, m>

spelt/spelled,
dreamt/dreamed,
burnt/burned,
spoilt/spoiled
learnt/learned


_____________________________
From BBC Learning English:
... there is a tendency for verbs to become more regular as time goes on. This is a feature of language change. Originally, in British English, everyone would have spelt the past tense of learn with T – I learnt to drive, I learnt to cook, but you’ll find more and more people in the UK now using the ed ending.

The same is true of verbs such as spell – as in I spelt it incorrectly – with a T at the end. But now you’ll find more and more people using - I spelled it incorrectly – with an ed at the end. This is probably due to the influence of American English coming into Britain because in the US the ed is used for learn, for spell, for dream for example - I dreamed it with an ed at the end. And you’ll find that this US spelling is starting to replace the original British spelling in British English.

The main thing to remember is that both of these forms are correct. However, the important thing for you to do is to choose which one you would like to use, and to use that one consistently. So try to avoid mixing the ed and the t endings. Try to use just the one, but it’s up to you to decide which one you want to use.​
 
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