Whisky Or Whiskey?

S

Summertime

New Member
Is the way people spell whiskey/whisky an American English vs United Kingdom kinda thing or is the spelling related to US regions? I'm from the Northeast and most everybody I knew spelled it whiskey, but once I came down south a little the opposite held true. What do you guys think?
 
I'm not really sure, here in Europe we call it whisky so whiskey might just be a US thing. :p "whisky" sounds better though.
 
I am not really sure of the difference as I seen it spelled both ways. For the most part though it is usually spelled whisky. I never really thought about it as a region thing. Interesting. I will have to check that out now and see what I can find.
 
The Scots spell it whisky. The Irish spell it whiskey. That is where the different spelling comes from.

In the USA it's spelled whiskey of course since the Irish were a strong influence due to immigration. That covers the three big producers, I'm not sure what the proper spelling is when the particular brand originates from outside of these countries.
 
crimsonghost747 said:
The Scots spell it whisky. The Irish spell it whiskey. That is where the different spelling comes from.

In the USA it's spelled whiskey of course since the Irish were a strong influence due to immigration. That covers the three big producers, I'm not sure what the proper spelling is when the particular brand originates from outside of these countries.
Click to expand...
It's all a bit confusing, so if both Scotland and Ireland use commonwealth English, it really comes down to personal taste. I guess.
 
I'm from the USA and I always spell it whisky. It could be that I am from the Los Angeles are and I would go to the Whisky a Go Go when I was a teen.
 
SirJoe said:
It's all a bit confusing, so if both Scotland and Ireland use commonwealth English, it really comes down to personal taste.
Click to expand...

But the English is not exactly the same in Scotland, Ireland, England etc. Of course these areas have their own little twists... or a big twists if you are talking about Scotland. :D
 
crimsonghost747 said:
But the English is not exactly the same in Scotland, Ireland, England etc. Of course these areas have their own little twists... or a big twists if you are talking about Scotland. :D
Click to expand...
This is very true, I actually heard that there are people that speak English in Scotland. I don't know if it's true, probably English tourists. :p
 
I think my spelling changes to whatever the last spelling I saw of it was. If in replying to post here and it's spelled with an "e" then I'll spell it that way too.
 
Mоstly аn indiсаtiоn оf thе соuntry thе spirit wаs сrеаtеd in.
Sсоtlаnd аnd саnаdа gеnеrаlly spеll it аs whisky (p. whiskiеs) аnd US аnd Irеlаnd hаvе histоriсаlly аlwаys fаvоrеd whiskеy (p. whiskеys).
аny соpy оr imitаtiоn оf thоsе соuntriеs' typiсаl whisk(е)y will оftеn саrry thе spеlling thаt mаtсhеs thе stylе thеy try tо соpy оr imitаtе.
 
Last edited:
Well I never even really gave it a second thought before just now, but I am pretty sure that I put the "e" in there every time that I spell it. Whiskey, oh yeah, it feels natural like that on the keyboard so that is what I will go with here. Interesting stuff, though.
 
I live in the States and I've seen it printed both ways. The version "whiskey" looks "right" to my eyes, though I honestly have no idea why. As far as I know, both are correct, and the spelling the US has varied depending upon the time period and region.
 
It seems like it is used and spelled both ways. I would imagine Websters has it as Whiskey, but certianly, everybody knows what whisky is so I don't think it is that big of a deal.
 
kgord said:
It seems like it is used and spelled both ways. I would imagine Websters has it as Whiskey, but certianly, everybody knows what whisky is so I don't think it is that big of a deal.
Click to expand...

Out of curiosity, I looked it up just now in my desk edition of Websters and the first spelling is "Whiskey" followed later in the same entry as "Whisky". Curiously, the latter is followed by "Scotch or Canadian whiskey". :confused:
 
аs а rеsult, thеrе аrе sеvеrаl whiskiеs mаdе аrоund thе wоrld thаt аrе nоt mаdе in Sсоtlаnd, but whо dо fоllоw а similаr stylе / rесipе, i.е., dоublе pоt distillеd fеrmеntеd mаltеd bаrlеy, аnd аs а rеsult fаvоr thе Sсоttish spеlling аs wеll.
 
Yeah,just don't call it whiskey or spell it like that in Scotland,but I like the way they distill whiskey 3 times in Ireland though to make a very smooth and tasty product. The countries that spell it whisky- are Great Britain,Canada,and Japan but they drink Whiskey in Ireland and the United States.
 
sillylucy said:
I'm from the USA and I always spell it whisky. It could be that I am from the Los Angeles are and I would go to the Whisky a Go Go when I was a teen.
Click to expand...

I'm from the USA, but I've always spelled it whiskey, ha ha. It feels weird when I type it the other way. I do sometimes, if that's the way it's being written by most.

I guess it doesn't matter too much. Well, as long as it's good whiskey, that is.
 
I guess there is probably a difference in whether they pronounce it differently and emphasize that "h". I know a lot of those people, but not sure how they spell it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top