[PW] Anachronisms

[Karen Lofstrom]

On Jan 14, 2008 10:40 AM, JT Thompson <jtthompson at eircom.net> wrote:

> >Interestingly, I find that the spelling used by certain newspapers of the late 1800s and early 1900s was "clew".  And of course the OED says the expression "not to have a clue"  goes back to the 1870s.

> A clew is a ball of thread.

Is it possible that clew is an American spelling? A remnant of
Webster's attempts at spelling reform? I find spellings like clew and
bowlder in some of the 19th century American novels that I proofread
for Distributed Proofreaders.

-- 
Karen Lofstrom