There are two ways of spelling the word. Both are correct and neither is wrong, within their variant. However, for me as a non-native user of English it can be quite hard to remember which word/spelling belongs to which variant, so even though I was taught British English at school and try to stick to it, I mix the variants up. I do my best, but I’m fully aware that mixing happens. Also, FWIW, I find bickering about which variant is the “correct” one both silly and a form of “my penis is longer than yours” argument.
Quite right,
In fact in Australia both forms of written English are now accepted in schools. The 'U" less color, for example, theater instead of theatre.
This changed because of the ubiquity of second rate American TV here and so the Education Department Federally decided to change the curriculum so that students were not penalised sorry penaliZed for their choice of spelling.
Now we have a hybrid system much like the middle English period where spelling was fluid.
I must admit I am amused by the arrogance of Americans as their form of spelling was brought about by one man as he considered many of the English forms too difficult for the average American to practise.
Noah Webster and his dictionary…
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Mix them. Write sckeptick, normalisze, hybridisze, coulor, etc. Then everybody will be happy. Or will they? 
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Well, that would really throw me for a loop! I’m still upset that people stopped using the Oxford comma!
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Haha…yeah I purposely use theatre and colour just to be a contrarian…I now have my daughter(44) using those and others including grey…I find it quite amusing when someone calls me on it.
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Edit (I fancy some crisps and biscuits)
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I clearly see the disambiguation function of the Oxford comma, even though it looks somewhat weird and “off” to me. But as someone who does some computer programming for a living, the disambiguation function trumps my sense of style, so I tend to use the Oxford comma if I deem it necessary. But I freely admit that I mix and match styles.
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Yes that bothered me a bit when I first noticed.
I was taught the Oxford at a young age.
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You’re SUCH a rebel!
Yes, I know. Next, I’ll start mixing colour and color within the same sentence.
You do get points for using “disambiguation”…what a marvelous word!
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You must admit, however, that some British spellings are silly, like “programme”.
I wasn’t trying to bicker or start an argument, but was just pointing out that we spell it “skeptic” here in the States.
Yo! And when I left Calahfornaha jus’ 27 years ago, we had a new Englahsh laguage, man, Ebonahcs. It had jus’ been approved as a offahcahal laguage dat could be used ta teach ahn da schools. Now, I doesn’t know exactly how da spell skeptahc ahn Ebonahcs. I also doesn’t wana get ahn a argument about prahsonahs sahzes. What I’ve notahced ahn mah travels ahs dat Englahsh ahs dahfferent ahn eeasyghly country I travel ta. Sheeeiit. Hell, oh, baby, aht’s also dahfferent from state ta state ahn da USA. To say “Hello” ahn Alabisa, peep say ‘Hey. Slap mah fro!’ I spell mah nise two dahfferent ways. ‘Cognostahc’ a’ ‘Asshole. What it is, Mama!’ The meaahngs is da sise. What it is, like, Mama! Don’t make me shank ya! Englahsh? Go fahgure. What it is, Mama!
Hell, English as a whole has some weird and highly inconsistent spelling relative to pronounciation. Just have a look at this, for example:
The Chaos
Dearest creature in creation
Studying English pronunciation,
I will teach you in my verse
Sounds like corpse, corps, horse and worse.I will keep you, Suzy, busy,
Make your head with heat grow dizzy;
Tear in eye, your dress you’ll tear;
Queer, fair seer, hear my prayer.Pray, console your loving poet,
Make my coat look new, dear, sew it!
Just compare heart, hear and heard,
Dies and diet, lord and word.Sword and sward, retain and Britain
(Mind the latter how it’s written).
Made has not the sound of bade,
Say-said, pay-paid, laid but plaid.Now I surely will not plague you
With such words as vague and ague,
But be careful how you speak,
Say: gush, bush, steak, streak, break, bleak ,Previous, precious, fuchsia, via
Recipe, pipe, studding-sail, choir;
Woven, oven, how and low,
Script, receipt, shoe, poem, toe.…etc…
…but that’s not all. See the entire poem in all its glory here.
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If you say normalcy you’re dead to me, just saying… 
Actually colloquialisms can be fun, and language is constantly evolving, but I mean it, the word is normality. 
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Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.
“Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!”
He took his vorpal sword in hand;
Long time the manxome foe he sought—
So rested he by the Tumtum tree
And stood awhile in thought.
And, as in uffish thought he stood,
The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
And burbled as it came!
.(Sounds Like English.)
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Ah, but isn’t that merely a formality?
(not to insinuate triviality)
If you use literally and actually in the same sentence…I will virtually poof out of existence…
Why the hell do the British spell pediatrics with an extra “a” (paediatrics) thrown in there?
Because etymology.
paediatrics
noun
/ˌpiːdiˈætrɪks/
/ˌpiːdiˈætrɪks/
(British English)
(North American English pediatrics)
[uncountable]
- the branch of medicine that deals with children and their diseases
late 19th cent.: from paedo- ‘of children’ + Greek iatros ‘physician’ + -ics.
(source)
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Yes. The reason I mentioned my use of the “sceptic” spelling was because Richard Polkin was an American scholar and still insisted on this spelling. So it was just a tip of the hat to him. My spell check tags it as incorrect.
LOL>>>>>
Says the man from a country just over 200 years old, who stole 30% of its language from Latin, and another 30 from French, 25% from the germans, and a host of other vocabulary from all over the world.
It gets worse… even our behavior and celebrations are not our own. The history of putting candles on cake began in Ancient Greece. The Greeks would make round cakes to honor Artemis, the goddess of the moon. The lit candles on the cake represented the glow of the moon, and the smoke from the candles carried their prayers and wishes to the Gods who lived in the skies. And, we stole it from the gods, personalized it, and called it a ‘birthday.’ Damn we are arrogant. LOL