I’ve actually read almost all of Jacqueline Wilson’s books. I probably started when I was 8 and had finished so many of them by the time I was 12 (I didn’t read them end-to-end, obviously). She’s a great author.

If we Yanks use them, it would be another story (unless we’re quoting Oscar Wilde or something).

Dan Goodman: That might have been true forty years ago, but all my life “gaol” has been on its way out.

I can’t speak for the UK. But I’ve seen the “jail” spelling in the Guardian.

This wouldn’t be the first time Australia has adopted a US spelling; the Labor Party’s name is a precedent.

The spelling rules for Canadian English are a UK-US mixture.

i went to borders but i couldn’t find your books. scott’s were there. but not yours. i wanted yours! so, i guess i’m going to have to order them? or are you in some other section, like that i didn’t look in?

as far as firstborn children, mine is a dream, but, he has a tendency to be bossy. kind of like me. those firsts and their bossiness!

And there you are, of course, Adelaide is the city of zombies.

here’s the oed:

[ME. had two types, from Northern or Norman Fr., and Central or Parisian Fr. respectively: 1) ME. gay(h)ole, -ol, gayll(e, gaill(e, gayl(e, gaile, a. ONF. gaiole, gayolle, gaole (mod. Picard gayole, Walloon gaioule); 2) ME. jaiole, jayle, jaile, jayll, a. OF. jaiole, jaole, jeole, geole, cage, prison, F. geôle prison (Besançon javiole cage for fowls) = obs. It. gaiola, Sp. gayola (also, from F., jaula cage, cell), Pg. gaiola cage:Romanic and pop.Lat. *gavila (med.L. gabiola, 1229 in Brachet) for *caveola, dim. of cavea hollow, cavity, den, cage, coop: see CAGE. Of the two types, the Norman Fr. and ME. gaiole, gaole, came down to the 17th c. as gaile, and still remains as a written form in the archaic spelling gaol (chiefly due to statutory and official tradition); but this is obsolete in the spoken language, where the surviving word is jail, repr. Old Parisian Fr. and ME. jaiole, jaile. Hence though both forms gaol, jail, are still written, only the latter is spoken. In U.S. jail is the official spelling. It is difficult to say whether the form goal(e, common, alike in official and general use, from the 16th to the 18th c., was merely an erroneous spelling of gaol, after this had itself become an archaism, or was phonetic: cf. mod.F. geôle (ol).
1668 R. L'ESTRANGE Vis. Quev. (1708) 6 Some again are..boring their very Noses with hot Irons, in rage that they cannot come to a Resolution, whether they shall say Face or Visage; whether they shall say Jayl or Gaol; whether Cony or Cunny.]

1. a. A place or building for the confinement of persons accused or convicted of a crime or offence; a prison. Now, a public building for the detention of persons committed by process of law.

c1275 11 Pains Hell 219 in O.E. Misc. 153 In helle is a deop gayhol. c1290 S. Eng. Leg. I. 187/105 Heo setten him in a swye deork put, at in e gayhole was. c1380 Sir Ferumb. 1970 To my Gayhol go anon & e fyue at bu er Brynge hem out euerechon. 1463 Bury Wills (Camden) 17, I wille the presoneres in the Gayle haue o day brede, mete, and drynkke, and eche persone jd. 1494 FABYAN Chron. VII. 380 The duke of Burgoyne..wt the prouost of Paris, came vnto the Gayole, and there receyued the sayd Peter. a1548 HALL Chron., Hen. VI 170b, He was committed to the gayle of Newgate. 1572 Act 14 Eliz. c. 5 §38 To such sufficient persons dwellinge nighe the said Goales. 1647 CLARENDON Hist. Reb. v. §51 To be committed to the Common Goal of Colchester. 1689 Wonderful Predict. Nostradamus 3, Beer shall fail The Great one Cold, and famish’t in a Gaol. 1779 J. BURGOYNE Let. to Constituents (ed. 3) 15 The goals..were resorted to for other recruits. 1846 MCCULLOCH Acc. Brit. Empire (1854) II. 497 At that period the gaols were..depositories of pestilence. 1848 Act 11 & 12 Vict. c. 42 §21 To remand the party accused..to the common gaol or house of correction, or other prison, lock-up house, or place of security in the county.

depositories of pestilence!