Among Us Impostor vs. Imposter: Why InnerSloth Spells It Different
In Among Us, the breakout hit from indie studio InnerSloth, the killer is known as the Impostor. While other crewmates go around performing tasks, the Impostor kills them one by one - and tries not to get caught. The popularity of Among Us has stirred up a debate over spelling - should this killer's role be spelled as "Impostor" or "Imposter," and why does InnerSloth spell it that way?
Typically, a game of Among Us only has one Impostor, although the number of Impostors can go up to three. It's an incredibly popular role in the game, with many players trying to get Impostor all the time. In the game, Impostor is always spelled with an "o-r" at the end, and it's always capitalized.
The reason for the capitalization is pretty clear: Impostors are meant to feel unique from the other crewmates, so capitalizing the title makes it feel separate. However, it's the spelling of the word that seems to confuse the most people, since imposter with an "e-r" at the end is a pretty common spelling, too. Impostors in Among Us have been the source of a lot of mysteries, from where Impostors actually come from to why they're killing crewmates. But the biggest mystery of all might be why InnerSloth spells it "I-m-p-o-s-t-o-r."
The reason for InnerSloth's Impostor spelling is actually pretty simple. That's the correct way to spell the word. Whether using it to explain why someone feels like a fraud (Impostor syndrome) to using it plurally to describe several wolves-in-sheep's-clothing (impostors), the word is typically spelled with an "o-r" at the end. The other spelling, "imposter," is technically an incorrect spelling that's been used so often for hundreds of years that it's now just an excepted variation. This is actually quite common in the English language.
However, "impostor" is still the spelling that's most commonly used, and it's the original spelling of the word. For that reason, InnerSloth presumably used this spelling in Among Us. So, while knowing the reason behind this spelling may not allow players to win more as the Impostor, it's still helpful information to have, and it explains why these murderous beings aren't known as "Imposters" in the game.
This doesn't mean that "imposter" is spelled wrong. It's a widely-used spelling now that's generally accepted as correct; however, "impostor" is just the original spelling of the word and is more commonly used. This seems to be the reason InnerSloth has chosen to spell Impostor with an "o-r" instead of an "e-r" in Among Us.