Originally Posted by Sixty Fiver

Tire is based on the French tirer which means pull, which is what blacksmiths did to draw iron rods into the iron hoops for carriage wheels.

Tyre came about as a reference to pneumatic wheels and entered common usage in the 1920's and has become the common British spelling, I find it to be specific whereas "tire" can have a number of meanings.

Most Canadians spell it as "tire" but I am not most Canadians, as an example I often refer to children as wee bairns and keep my spare tyre in the boot of the car which is probably due to being raised by a Scottish grandmother who spoke Gaelic but was also born a British subject.

Our common language has a lot of variances across this continent and many native Canadians are still only a few generations away from the old country and grew up in homes where many other languages were spoken.

Tourists often take me for being from somewhere else since I have a non-typical accent.