Why O Y, Molly, for our spelling bee? Or WEY? We have to choose whether a word ends in Y or EY. By Occam’s Razor and simplification, I go for plain Y, whenever the dictionaries and style-books let me. Occam? William of Occam, the Doctor Singularis et Invincibilis (d. 1349), was the great Franciscan scholastic philosopher and speller. He was probably born at Okham in Surrey. Occam is the Latinised form of his toponym (place-name). And his razor goes: Entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem — entities (thingies) ought not to be multiplied unless you have to. It cuts away superfluities, such as the unnecessary E in the EY ending.
Alas and Dammit, some well-established English words ending in Y have variant spellings in EY. For example: bog(e)y, curts(e)y, doil(e)y, fog(e)y, stor(e)y, troll(e)y, and whisk(e)y. And in some cases different meanings are attached to the different spellings. Take fog(e)y. I worry that you think that I am one. Tradition going back more than two centuries prefers the “fogey” spelling in the United Kingdom. An old fogey was originally a nickname for a wounded soldier. The big dictionaries suggest “foggy” meaning either bloated or moss-grown as its etymology. I say pull the other one, it’s got moss on. The dictionaries prefer “fogey” in the singular, but “fogies” in the plural. But they admit that many good writers have chosen “fogy” and “fogeys”.
Should we spell “whisky” or “whiskey” — you know, the brown stuff that Farver sometimes drinks. The trade distinguishes the grain-based spirit of Scotland, Canada, Australia and Japan, “whisky”, from the brown infuriator of Ireland and the United States, “whiskey”. If they set you this word in our spelling bee, you should ask whether we are in Scotland or Ireland. And here is another one where the spelling makes a difference. Loony or loonie? Loony means insane, nuts, potty, barking mad. No, not spelling, Molly. But intricate, yes. Loony is an anglicised abbrev of the latinate lunatic. Whereas and moreover a loonie (or loon) is an aquatic diving-bird, of the genus “colymbus”. It is remarkable for its loud cry. And its etymology is different. The loonie bird is a reshaping of “loom”, an obsolete name for the bird, based on the Old Norse “lomr”. Loonie is the general word in financial reporting for the Canadian dollar, contrasting with the US greenback. “Phony” or “phoney”. Both are given in dictionaries and have been used by careful authors. I should go for “phony”, which avoids any spurious connection with telephones. The word’s uncertain spelling reflects its uncertain origin. Most authorities suspect that it comes from the Irish word “fawney”, used to refer to cheap jewellery and to the cheat’s ring used in confidence tricks. If so, the respelling of the word with a PH is itself phony. We can hardly propose a return to the F spelling. Don’t think of it in our spelling bee.