DECLARATION  ·  THE ACADEMY  ·  OPPOSING CAMP — MENCKEN
PRAESCRIBO — W —

The Webster Standard

In the prescriptive tradition of Noah Webster, 1828

VOL. I · NO. I

MMXXVI

FOR AMERICA · 250

A standard exists to be taught. The question before us is not what American is, but what American ought to be.

— Methodological Premise of the Webster Camp —

Positions on Contested Points

A working sample of disputed standardization questions and the Webster camp's prescribed answers. Voting opens to citizens of the Academy in June 2026.

№
QUESTION
WEBSTER POSITION
BASIS
STATUS
I.
Color or colour?
color
Webster 1828; American convention since founding; phonetically transparent.
— Proposed —
II.
Theater or theatre?
theater
American spelling; consistent with -er ending family.
— Proposed —
III.
Oxford comma in series?
required
Disambiguation; pedagogical clarity for learners.
— Proposed —
IV.
Singular "they"?
permitted
Continuous English usage since Chaucer; resolves clumsy alternatives.
— Proposed —
V.
"Finna" as standard?
register: informal
Documented across American speech communities; codified at the informal register, not the formal.
— Proposed —
VI.
Period inside or outside quotes?
inside (American)
Established American convention; distinct from British logical punctuation.
— Proposed —
VII.
Plural of "octopus"?
octopuses
English plural rule applied; "octopi" is a Latinate hypercorrection from a Greek root.
— Proposed —
VIII.
Habitual "be"?
standard, register-marked
Marks recurring aspect in Black American grammar; codified where the register is in use.
— Proposed —

— METHODOLOGY —

How the Webster Camp Decides

The Webster camp prescribes. It begins from the conviction that a standard exists for the purpose of teaching, and that learners — children, immigrants, second-language speakers — are entitled to a clear answer to the question of what American is.

For each contested point, the camp's working method is fourfold:

First, consult Webster's 1828 dictionary and its successors as the inherited American baseline.

Second, evaluate the candidate forms against criteria of consistency, transparency, and pedagogical clarity.

Third, distinguish the formal register (which the standard codifies strictly) from the informal register (which the standard codifies loosely, recognizing variation).

Fourth, publish the position and submit it to the Academy's vote.

— FIVE PRINCIPLES —

The Camp's Standing Commitments

  1. Teachability First

    A standard that cannot be taught to a fourth-grader is not a standard. Pedagogical clarity is the primary criterion of any prescribed form.

  2. Two Registers, Not One

    The formal register codifies strictly; the informal register codifies loosely. Refusing this distinction is what gives prescriptivism a bad name.

  3. The Black American Inheritance Is Standard

    Forms continuous in Black American speech from the colonial period are American forms. They appear in the standard at the registers where they are used.

  4. Webster, Not Anglophilia

    The standard is American, not British. Where the two diverge, American precedes. The camp does not exist to import English standards under the cover of "tradition."

  5. Submit to the Vote

    The camp publishes its positions. The Academy adjudicates. The camp's role is to make the case, not to decide the result.