Rendered from docs/obligations/0137-a-british-spelling-reaches-a-serialized-grain-string-so-the-rename-is-a-corpus-change-and-a-derived-bytes-change-at-once.md in the Headwater corpus. Every document on this half of the site is typed by the taxonomy the descriptor names: corpus.json.

A British spelling reaches a serialized grain string, so the rename is a corpus change and a derived-bytes change at once

Context

CLAUDE.md rules American spelling everywhere, and language.controlled.not_met enforces it from the SPELLINGS table in engine/crates/check/src/language.rs. Neither neighbourhood nor centre is in that table, so no rule reads a .rs file and governed prose alone would pass. A count against main found 60 occurrences in engine/**/*.rs and 11 more under docs/, three times the figure Issue #191 reported. Issue #191 measured the gap and split this obligation off rather than fold a fixture re-bless into a change about readability.

Obligation

The corpus owes one spelling of this concept, not three populations diverging under one name. engine/crates/check/src/scope.rs serializes Grain::Neighbourhood { .. } to the literal string neighbourhood. That string reaches cache keys, the read-set artifact a merge reads, and every recorded fixture that pins the bytes.

A rename of the identifier is a compile-time change, and the compiler finds every site across crates because neighbourhood_scope is public. A rename of the serialized string is a corpus change and a derived-bytes change at once. The fixtures need a deliberate re-bless that names the moved bytes, not a silent pass under HEADWATER_BLESS=1.

docs/spec/12-check-layer.md and docs/spec/glossary.md use Neighbourhood as the specification's own term, at lines 94, 211, and 358, and at lines 444 and 618. Renaming the code alone leaves the engine and its own specification using two words for one concept.

A fourth question waits on the other three: whether neighbourhood and centre join the SPELLINGS table. Joining it lets check --fix rewrite the same specification sentences, arriving at the same corpus change through a different door.

Discharge

Discharge needs a single rename that moves the identifier, the corpus term, and the serialized string together, not in separate passes. The change description must state the serialized string that moved and name every re-blessed fixture. HEADWATER_BLESS=1 must not carry that diff silently. A decision must also settle whether neighbourhood and centre join the SPELLINGS table, and which of the corpus and the table moves first. The full suite and all five gates must pass, with the cache identity hits + misses + unkeyed == instances reported before and after. This waits on an adopter to choose the rename order and carry the fixtures through it.