Australian English
Australian English is the default for every sentence of prose you write. American spelling in prose is a bug; American spelling in code identifiers is correct and untouchable. Code comments and prose strings follow the Australian English rule.
In this pack, every other skill relies on Australian English for its prose and defers here for the detail:
human-copy-style, portfolio-copywriter, and campaign-copywriter — customer-facing copymarketing-strategist — briefs, messaging frameworks, and plansdot-product — .product/ knowledge filesyuma-it-context — company writing and procurement answerslaravel-gate-audit — audit report prose (identifiers stay as in code)
This skill is also primary for developer-facing writing the copy skills exclude (READMEs, changelogs, code comments, commit messages).
The Boundary
Everything you write is either prose or a symbol. Prose gets Australian English. Symbols keep the exact spelling their platform, author, or convention gave them, because respelling them breaks code and links:
- identifiers, function, variable, and class names, API parameters, CSS properties, config keys (
color, center, initialize, normalize)
- package, dependency, and product names
- conventional filenames (
LICENSE, CHANGELOG), URLs, and slugs
- direct quotes, legal excerpts, and proper nouns (the US "Department of Labor")
When prose refers to a symbol, keep the symbol verbatim and write the prose around it in Australian English: "set color to change the border colour".
Spelling — the traps
You already know the -ise, -our, and -re families (organise, colour, centre). These are the cases that still go wrong:
| Trap |
Rule |
| licence / license |
Noun takes c, verb takes s. "An MIT licence", "licensed under MIT". Compounds follow the same rule (a sublicence, to sublicense). The repo file stays LICENSE. |
| practice / practise |
Noun takes c, verb takes s. "Best practice", "practise the demo". |
| program / programme |
Software is always "program". "Programme" is for TV, events, and schedules. |
| meter / metre |
Distance is "metre"; a measuring device is a "meter". |
| Double-l inflections |
travelling, modelling, cancelled, labelled, enrolled. But single l in enrolment and instalment. |
| fulfil, skilful |
Single l in the base word; fulfilment, but fulfilling. |
| defence, offence |
Nouns take c; "defensive" keeps the s. |
| Legitimate -ize words |
size, resize, capsize, prize, seize are not part of the -ise family. Leave them. |
| focused |
Preferred over "focussed" in Australian style guides. |
Dates in prose read day-first: "6 August 2026" or 06/08/2026. ISO 8601 (2026-08-06) stays wherever code, filenames, or data formats expect it.
Verification
After writing or editing prose files, run this over the files you touched:
rg -ni '\b(colors?|behaviors?|centers?|favorites?|catalogs?|gray|defense|offense|canceled|traveled|labeled|modeling|fulfill|enrollment|installment|licenses?|\w+izations?|\w+iz(es?|ed|ing))\b' <files>
Every hit must be one of: inside a code span, identifier, filename, or URL; a proper noun or quote; a legitimate -ize word (size, resize, capsize, prize, seize); a correct verb use of "license"; or fixed. You are done when every hit is accounted for.
Common Issues
Spell checker flags colour, organise, licence
The dictionary is set to US English. Point it at Australian English instead, for example "cSpell.language": "en-AU" in VS Code settings or "language": "en-AU" in cspell.json.
Existing file is consistently American English
If the project documents a US English convention, follow it (see When NOT to Use). If it is just drift in an Australian project, fix the prose you are already editing and offer a whole-repo pass as a separate task rather than silently converting everything.
User or reviewer asks to "fix" a code identifier's spelling
Renaming color to colour in code breaks the API contract and every caller. Explain the prose/symbol boundary and change only the surrounding prose.
Examples
Example 1: changelog entry touching a code setting
User says: "Write a changelog entry for the new colorScheme setting that lets users customize dashboard colors."
Result:
Added the colorScheme setting. Users can now customise dashboard colours from Settings, and their choice is synchronised across devices.
The identifier keeps its US spelling; every prose word is Australian.
Example 2: licensing section
User says: "Add a licensing section to the README."
Result:
This project is distributed under the MIT licence. See the LICENSE file in the repository root. Commercial use is permitted, and companies are licensed to embed the library in their own products.
Noun "licence", verb "licensed", filename LICENSE untouched.
When NOT to Use
- The project documents a US or British English convention, or the user asks for one. The documented convention wins.
- Quoted text, legal excerpts, and other people's words. They stay verbatim.
- Non-English text and translation tasks.
- Renaming anything in code. The boundary above is absolute even when the whole codebase is Australian-owned.
1---2name: australian-english3description: Enforces Australian English in all prose output, including documentation, READMEs, changelogs, UI text, error messages, emails, reports, code comments, and commit messages. Use whenever writing or editing prose in a project that targets an Australian audience or team, whenever the user asks for Australian English, AU spelling, or -ise endings, or complains about American spellings, and even when nobody mentions spelling at all, since agents default to US English. Covers the tricky noun/verb pairs (licence/license, practice/practise, program/programme), the -ise, -our, and -re families, and the hard boundary that code identifiers, API names, package names, and conventional filenames like LICENSE always keep their original spelling. Every other skill in this pack requires Australian English and defers here for the detail; this skill is also primary for developer-facing prose. Not for projects with a documented US or British English convention, and never for respelling quoted text or code.4---56# Australian English78Australian English is the default for every sentence of prose you write. American spelling in prose is a bug; American spelling in code identifiers is correct and untouchable. Code comments and prose strings follow the Australian English rule.910In this pack, every other skill relies on Australian English for its prose and defers here for the detail:1112- `human-copy-style`, `portfolio-copywriter`, and `campaign-copywriter` — customer-facing copy13- `marketing-strategist` — briefs, messaging frameworks, and plans14- `dot-product` — `.product/` knowledge files15- `yuma-it-context` — company writing and procurement answers16- `laravel-gate-audit` — audit report prose (identifiers stay as in code)1718This skill is also primary for developer-facing writing the copy skills exclude (READMEs, changelogs, code comments, commit messages).1920## The Boundary2122Everything you write is either prose or a symbol. Prose gets Australian English. Symbols keep the exact spelling their platform, author, or convention gave them, because respelling them breaks code and links:2324- identifiers, function, variable, and class names, API parameters, CSS properties, config keys (`color`, `center`, `initialize`, `normalize`)25- package, dependency, and product names26- conventional filenames (`LICENSE`, `CHANGELOG`), URLs, and slugs27- direct quotes, legal excerpts, and proper nouns (the US "Department of Labor")2829When prose refers to a symbol, keep the symbol verbatim and write the prose around it in Australian English: "set `color` to change the border colour".3031## Spelling — the traps3233You already know the -ise, -our, and -re families (organise, colour, centre). These are the cases that still go wrong:3435| Trap | Rule |36|------|------|37| licence / license | Noun takes c, verb takes s. "An MIT licence", "licensed under MIT". Compounds follow the same rule (a sublicence, to sublicense). The repo file stays `LICENSE`. |38| practice / practise | Noun takes c, verb takes s. "Best practice", "practise the demo". |39| program / programme | Software is always "program". "Programme" is for TV, events, and schedules. |40| meter / metre | Distance is "metre"; a measuring device is a "meter". |41| Double-l inflections | travelling, modelling, cancelled, labelled, enrolled. But single l in enrolment and instalment. |42| fulfil, skilful | Single l in the base word; fulfilment, but fulfilling. |43| defence, offence | Nouns take c; "defensive" keeps the s. |44| Legitimate -ize words | size, resize, capsize, prize, seize are not part of the -ise family. Leave them. |45| focused | Preferred over "focussed" in Australian style guides. |4647Dates in prose read day-first: "6 August 2026" or 06/08/2026. ISO 8601 (2026-08-06) stays wherever code, filenames, or data formats expect it.4849## Verification5051After writing or editing prose files, run this over the files you touched:5253```bash54rg -ni '\b(colors?|behaviors?|centers?|favorites?|catalogs?|gray|defense|offense|canceled|traveled|labeled|modeling|fulfill|enrollment|installment|licenses?|\w+izations?|\w+iz(es?|ed|ing))\b' <files>55```5657Every hit must be one of: inside a code span, identifier, filename, or URL; a proper noun or quote; a legitimate -ize word (size, resize, capsize, prize, seize); a correct verb use of "license"; or fixed. You are done when every hit is accounted for.5859## Common Issues6061### Spell checker flags colour, organise, licence62The dictionary is set to US English. Point it at Australian English instead, for example `"cSpell.language": "en-AU"` in VS Code settings or `"language": "en-AU"` in `cspell.json`.6364### Existing file is consistently American English65If the project documents a US English convention, follow it (see When NOT to Use). If it is just drift in an Australian project, fix the prose you are already editing and offer a whole-repo pass as a separate task rather than silently converting everything.6667### User or reviewer asks to "fix" a code identifier's spelling68Renaming `color` to `colour` in code breaks the API contract and every caller. Explain the prose/symbol boundary and change only the surrounding prose.6970## Examples7172### Example 1: changelog entry touching a code setting7374User says: "Write a changelog entry for the new colorScheme setting that lets users customize dashboard colors."7576Result:7778> Added the `colorScheme` setting. Users can now customise dashboard colours from Settings, and their choice is synchronised across devices.7980The identifier keeps its US spelling; every prose word is Australian.8182### Example 2: licensing section8384User says: "Add a licensing section to the README."8586Result:8788> This project is distributed under the MIT licence. See the `LICENSE` file in the repository root. Commercial use is permitted, and companies are licensed to embed the library in their own products.8990Noun "licence", verb "licensed", filename `LICENSE` untouched.9192## When NOT to Use9394- The project documents a US or British English convention, or the user asks for one. The documented convention wins.95- Quoted text, legal excerpts, and other people's words. They stay verbatim.96- Non-English text and translation tasks.97- Renaming anything in code. The boundary above is absolute even when the whole codebase is Australian-owned.
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