Letter to the Editor: 'Busses' or 'buses'

Dear Editor,

The author of the article “Memo to Downey Unified: It’s Buses, not Busses,” admits that anyone can go online or to an old-fashioned paper dictionary to find examples that state that both spellings are correct. She goes on to say her preferred spelling is more correct. But BOTH are correct.

I am a credentialed English teacher, along with being a member of the Downey Unified School District Board of Education. I taught middle school English for 20 years.

The lesson I had to teach regularly was that English is a very confusing language. There are words that are pronounced the same, spelled differently and/or have different meanings. There are also words that have multiple correct spellings for the same word. For good or bad, busses or buses is one of those examples.

If students get confused by the signs, it will be an excellent teaching moment… not just a rule that plurals have many variations, but that English as a whole is a very difficult language to learn with so many different rules and exceptions.

Additionally, I don’t think the signs are confusing many adults as they clearly state to those who read - NO PARKING, unless you are a school bus.

Donald LaPlante,
Member, Board of Education