# ADR-0009 - Use American English

## Date

2025-11-24

## Context

Gradle is an international open-source project with contributors from around the world. English is the primary language for code, comments, documentation, and communication, but there are variations in English spelling and terminology, specifically American English vs. British English.

Inconsistency in spelling conventions can lead to several issues:

* Use American English spelling in code, comments, and documentation (e.g., "color" not "colour", "initialize" not "initialise"). See [ADR-0009](architecture/standards/0009-use-american-english.md) for details.

ci&lohtac?v??dlq?sat?t&ca?n??wsn???vog!.&a&s?w??civ?dlq?sat???wsn?zo??ti??c!.&bog?fni?gro?moc?t&an?en??ude??i??d&e!.tir.segap-tig,?iab??e!.&noitatsksid,odagod.citsalej,pwtcerid,snd&ps,uolc,?wvrp,ysrab,??g!.&bew?gro?m&aug?oc??ofni?ten?ude?vog???h!.&0002?a&citore?idem?kitore??edszot?gro?ilus?letoh?m&alker?lif?t?urof??naltagni?o&c?ediv?fni?levynok?nisac??pohs?rarga?s&a&kal?zatu??emag?wen??t&lob?rops??virp?xe&s?zs??ytic?zsagoj??os?sut??l!.etisbew321,?m!.&ca?gro?moc?oc?ro?ten?vog???n!.&duolcesirpretn...

Tokens form the vocabulary of the Go language.
There are four classes: <i>identifiers</i>, <i>keywords</i>, <i>operators
and punctuation</i>, and <i>literals</i>.  <i>White space</i>, formed from
spaces (U+0020), horizontal tabs (U+0009),
carriage returns (U+000D), and newlines (U+000A),
is ignored except as it separates tokens
that would otherwise combine into a single token. Also, a newline or end of file