This really bugs me sometimes as a three-time school spelling bee champ and word nazi: at USC, the traditional spelling of my job title is "advisor" with an "-or," which always triggers the judgmental red squiggly lines of shame of the spellcheck (of course, so does the word "spellcheck," so go figure). I know that when I first started this (fantastic) job a year and a half ago I had to have made at least a cursory attempt at checking the legitimacy of this traditional spelling, otherwise I'm certain I'd have lost it months ago. But I finally couldn't take the nagging fear that I might be participating in some plebian assault on proper English - the kind over which I normally make a noisy show of my distaste, even when I am on rare occasions proven to be in the wrong - that I had to see what the good old O.E.D. had to say on the matter. It is only
mostly satisfying.
Adviser
Also
advisor
[
-OR].
[f.
ADVISE +
-ER1.
Adviser remains the usual spelling, but advisor is freq. used (esp. U.S.) in the titles of persons whose function it is to give advice.]
1. a. One who advises or counsels. Also with qualifying word, as
legal adviser,
tax adviser, etc.
b. Chiefly
U.S. At some universities, a senior member assigned individually to advise students on personal, academic, or other matters. Cf.
moral tutor s.v.
