General de Gaulle saw the French Academy as the cornerstone of what he called 'the world-wide struggle for the French language'. The Spanish Academy is even more imperialist in its linguistic aims. Founded in 1713 and at once given royal approval and the state's active support by Philip V, its purpose is to preserve the purity of the Castilian language, not only in Spain but in the rest of the hispanophone world. It does this via the 21-strong Association of Spanish Language Academies. Cuba's national academy has been a member of this association since 1926 and, whatever their slight political differences may have been, it never occurred to General Franco to expel Fidel's regime from it. Its most recent new member is the United States; the Académia Norteamericana de la Lengua Española joined in 1973.By contrast, British and American lexicography has always been a private sector initiative (Dr Johnson, Webster, the Oxford University Press etc) and, as a result, its impact has been much less prescriptive, which is nice for our crossword world. So I was able to fend off a complaint that the spelling of a solution in Quick crossword No 13,305 (31 December) – SKEAN-DHU for 'Dagger worn as part of Highland dress' – should have been SGIAN DUBH by pointing out that my dictionaries said it could be either. Similarly, I was able to cope when it was asserted (Quick No 13,312, 8 January) that the spelling of SOUBRIQUET for 'Nickname' was wrong and should have been SOBRIQUET. (Be warned, I am also equipped to parry almost any complaint about the spelling of UKULELE.)
Hugh Stephenson
