Do you use "mould" or "mold"? (lemmy.world)

submitted 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) by ABasilPlant@lemmy.world to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

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I've always thought that mold is the fungus, and to mould is to shape. When talking about it with my colleagues yesterday, I was surprised that this isn't common. Most people use one of the two spellings to refer to both.

Doing a quick search on duckduckgo also confirms that:

mould is the British spelling referring both meanings.
mold is the american spelling referring to both meanings.

In my quest to prove them wrong, I was surprised at how wrong I was... until I discovered a few people on the internet who said the same thing:

I'm not looking for what's correct or incorrect anymore, I just find it very fascinating that there are some people who use the words similarly to me, but the vast majority of others who use it in a different way.

So: what's the difference between mould and mold according to you?

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[-] MrFunnyMoustache@lemmy.ml 5 points 2 weeks ago

As someone who regularly uses both British and American English both at work and in my personal life, I sometimes mix them unintentionally.

I almost always use the same spelling for either word and use context to make sure it is always clear which mold I am talking about.

I do think there is value in distinguishing the words with different spelling, but without getting everyone to agree on which spelling would mean what, I think this won't be very productive.

this post was submitted on 30 Oct 2024

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