follow suite >> follow suit

[Douglas G. Wilson]

>OK, I've just been corrected. For some reason, when I was young, I
>learned the spelling "suite" for the sets of cards -- I always
>understood that it was spelled "suite" but pronounced "suit." I'm
>quite sure I read it that way in one of the books that was formative
>for me as a youth, but I can't check, because I've lent my copy. At
>any rate, Mark Mandel has been so good as to point out that I've been
>wrong all these years! (No doubt I had seen it spelled "suit" before,
>but the people who do things like poker standings and ads aren't
>people you trust absolutely in spelling matters, and it's not
>otherwise often written down.)

I think "suite" for "suit [of cards etc.]" is simply a variant
spelling in modern times.

Searching Google Books for <<"follow suit">> gives 1890 items while
<<"follow suite">> gives 'only' 415: still far too many for sporadic
error, I think. Of course I didn't examine every item, but quick
browse indicates that the 'literal' (card-playing, domino-playing)
and the 'metaphoric' senses of the phrase both have multiple examples
of each spelling ... and both spellings were used 200 years ago ...
and both are used currently, in seemingly respectable books.

I don't know how I'm supposed to pronounce "suite" in "follow suite".

-- Doug Wilson


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