Curmudgeonly Rant on Spelling

Why is it okay to spell some words in more than one way? Just decide already. Don’t tell me that ocher is just as good as ochre. How can gallivant, galivant and galavant all be correct? One spelling should be enough for any word.

In a fit of pique, I looked up ocher and gallivant.

Merriam-Webster prefers ocher to ochre. The Free Dictionary also likes the ER spelling and suggests ochery and ocherous are real words. Cute Writing tells me ochre is the British spelling. Microsoft Word shows no preference.

Merriam-Webster likes gallivant better than galavant and doesn’t even mention galivant. The Free Dictionary prefers two Ls and an I, but lists galivant before galavant. Microsoft Word only accepts gallivant.