American Spelling

[kelby_lake]

Why do Americans spell things differently?

[sprinks]

Perhaps the question is why do other countries such as Australia spell things differently? :lol:

But I'm curious to know why they do too!... I think I knew once in primary school but I can't remember now.

[Niamh]

yeah thats a good question. Why do they leave the U out of colour?

[sprinks]

American spelling gets us in trouble at school, when we type up assigments on the computer but the dictionary is set to US Spelling, because it takes out "u" from "favourite" and "colour" etc so we lose marks for bad spelling! So now I've remembered that, I would like an explaination even more! :lol:

[Nightshade]

Well for one thing alot of American spellings are technically more phonetically correct that the Englis/Australian/ orignal correct spelling. For example ou says OW...( as in ouch, you know what I mean) so when we write colour read phonetically it say col-OW-r maybe who ever invented american spellings just thought spelling things phonetically was more logial, but then English isnt a logical languge is it?

[DapperDrake]

Like many of the differences between England and America the main reason is a willful corruption just to prove independence.
I.e. "I'm not a colony any more and I'll prove it by doing everything backwards!"

But also Americans took independence as an opportunity to "correct" inherited traditions etc. that were perceived as being unhelpful. - Though to be honest I think thats just another excuse to be different.

[sprinks]

I haven't read much of this yet but it might explain...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_and_British_English_spelling_differences

[Nightshade]

Like many of the differences between England and America the main reason is a willful corruption just to prove independence.
I.e. "I'm not a colony any more and I'll prove it by doing everything backwards!"
.
Now you see I think thats a bit of an over simplification.

[Lioness_Heart]

Perhaps it's because America and Britain split so long ago, so their language just evolved slightly differently: it's fundametally the same, but there are differences because of the slightly different ways they evolved. But may I just express my annoyance at spelling sulphur 'sulfur'? No idea why, but that just bugs me.

[Dori]

Noah Webster, the lexicographer behind the American Dictionary (1828).

Webster's influence on the American language was as great as Samuel Johnson's influence was on British conventions in the English language. Webster sought to simplify the language to reflect the way it was spoken, and to do so he made moderate changes in spelling such as ommitting the u in colour, honour, armour, etc., or changing centre to center, etc. He compared the language to the Mississippi River in that it would be fruitless to alter the course of the language as it would be to alter the course of the river. Thus, he meant only to make simple innovations in the language rather than completely reforming the language.

[amanda_isabel]

uh.. i suddenly just felt like posting this here. don't know if you already got this in your email.. hope the content does not offend anyone.


The European Commission has just announced an agreement whereby English will be the official language of the European Union rather than German, which was the other possibility.

As part of the negotiations, the British Government conceded that English spelling had some room for improvement and has accepted a 5- year phase-in plan that would become known as "Euro-English".

In the first year, "s" will replace the soft "c". Sertainly, this will make the sivil servants jump with joy. The hard "c" will be dropped in favour of "k". This should klear up konfusion, and keyboards kan have one less letter. There will be growing publik enthusiasm in the sekond year when the troublesome "ph" will be replaced with "f".. This will make words like fotograf 20% shorter.

In the 3rd year, publik akseptanse of the new spelling kan be expekted to reach the stage where more komplikated changes are possible.

Governments will enkourage the removal of double letters which have always ben a deterent to akurate speling.

Also, al wil agre that the horibl mes of the silent "e" in the languag is disgrasful and it should go away.

By the 4th yer people wil be reseptiv to steps such as
replasing "th" with "z" and "w" with "v".

During ze fifz yer, ze unesesary "o" kan be dropd from vords kontaining "ou" and after ziz fifz yer, ve vil hav a reil sensi bl riten styl.

Zer vil be no mor trubl or difikultis and evrivun vil find it ezi tu understand ech oza. Ze drem of a united urop vil finali kum tru.

Und efter ze fifz yer, ve vil al be speking German like zey vunted in ze forst plas.

[Virgil]

yeah thats a good question. Why do they leave the U out of colour?

Why put it in? :lol: Do you pronounce that "U"? :p

I think several people have hit upon it. But you can read the details here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_and_British_English_spelling_differences.

It comes down to two separate lexicographers writing dictionaries before there was standardization. Perhaps it's because I'm American, but the American spelling seems to make more sense to me. ;)

[ben.!]

I'm Australian so I spell with all the "u"'s intact. :p

I find the word just looks more full and better in Australian spelling.

Colour as opposed to color. I prefer the spelling 'colour'. But then again, that could be just because I'm brought up under the Australian grammar system.

[SleepyWitch]

uh.. i suddenly just felt like posting this here. don't know if you already got this in your email.. hope the content does not offend anyone.


The European Commission has just announced an agreement whereby English will be the official language of the European Union rather than German, which was the other possibility.

As part of the negotiations, the British Government conceded that English spelling had some room for improvement and has accepted a 5- year phase-in plan that would become known as "Euro-English".

In the first year, "s" will replace the soft "c". Sertainly, this will make the sivil servants jump with joy. The hard "c" will be dropped in favour of "k". This should klear up konfusion, and keyboards kan have one less letter. There will be growing publik enthusiasm in the sekond year when the troublesome "ph" will be replaced with "f".. This will make words like fotograf 20% shorter.

In the 3rd year, publik akseptanse of the new spelling kan be expekted to reach the stage where more komplikated changes are possible.

Governments will enkourage the removal of double letters which have always ben a deterent to akurate speling.

Also, al wil agre that the horibl mes of the silent "e" in the languag is disgrasful and it should go away.

By the 4th yer people wil be reseptiv to steps such as
replasing "th" with "z" and "w" with "v".

During ze fifz yer, ze unesesary "o" kan be dropd from vords kontaining "ou" and after ziz fifz yer, ve vil hav a reil sensi bl riten styl.

Zer vil be no mor trubl or difikultis and evrivun vil find it ezi tu understand ech oza. Ze drem of a united urop vil finali kum tru.

Und efter ze fifz yer, ve vil al be speking German like zey vunted in ze forst plas.


hehehe, this is hilarious :)

[djy78usa]

I once told an English friend that American spelling was just another example of "American Ingenuity." We streamlined the words, made them more efficient. He answered that American spelling was just another example of American laziness. :)

[sprinks]

I'm Australian so I spell with all the "u"'s intact. :p

I find the word just looks more full and better in Australian spelling.

Colour as opposed to color. I prefer the spelling 'colour'. But then again, that could be just because I'm brought up under the Australian grammar system.

As another Australian, I completely agree with you.:) The word just doesn't look complete, doesn't look right, without the "u".

[Niamh]

Well for one thing alot of American spellings are technically more phonetically correct that the Englis/Australian/ orignal correct spelling. For example ou says OW...( as in ouch, you know what I mean) so when we write colour read phonetically it say col-OW-r maybe who ever invented american spellings just thought spelling things phonetically was more logial, but then English isnt a logical languge is it?
:lol: Nightie if you ever get around to coming to Dublin you will quickly discover that there are in fact people that pronounce Colour Col-ow-r!:D

uh.. i suddenly just felt like posting this here. don't know if you already got this in your email.. hope the content does not offend anyone.


The European Commission has just announced an agreement whereby English will be the official language of the European Union rather than German, which was the other possibility.

As part of the negotiations, the British Government conceded that English spelling had some room for improvement and has accepted a 5- year phase-in plan that would become known as "Euro-English".

In the first year, "s" will replace the soft "c". Sertainly, this will make the sivil servants jump with joy. The hard "c" will be dropped in favour of "k". This should klear up konfusion, and keyboards kan have one less letter. There will be growing publik enthusiasm in the sekond year when the troublesome "ph" will be replaced with "f".. This will make words like fotograf 20% shorter.

In the 3rd year, publik akseptanse of the new spelling kan be expekted to reach the stage where more komplikated changes are possible.

Governments will enkourage the removal of double letters which have always ben a deterent to akurate speling.

Also, al wil agre that the horibl mes of the silent "e" in the languag is disgrasful and it should go away.

By the 4th yer people wil be reseptiv to steps such as
replasing "th" with "z" and "w" with "v".

During ze fifz yer, ze unesesary "o" kan be dropd from vords kontaining "ou" and after ziz fifz yer, ve vil hav a reil sensi bl riten styl.

Zer vil be no mor trubl or difikultis and evrivun vil find it ezi tu understand ech oza. Ze drem of a united urop vil finali kum tru.

Und efter ze fifz yer, ve vil al be speking German like zey vunted in ze forst plas.

:lol: :lol: :lol:

[Dori]

I once told an English friend that American spelling was just another example of "American Ingenuity." We streamlined the words, made them more efficient. He answered that American spelling was just another example of American laziness. :)

Yes, because it took no effort at all to alter the English language. :rolleyes: :p I'm sure Noah Webster, not to mention many other Americans, would have a few words to say about that. ;)

[RJbibliophil]

Like many of the differences between England and America the main reason is a willful corruption just to prove independence.
I.e. "I'm not a colony any more and I'll prove it by doing everything backwards!"


Dapper is actually almost correct, from what I have learned in U.S. History. After the War of Independence from Great Britain, there were some issues with the language. American primers were made so that the school children would not be learning the King's English, which was already quite different from American English. Some of this is due to the way language changes and some due to influences of other languages.

It is also interesting to note that not only spelling, but also word usage and pronunciation are different in British.

[Dori]

Dapper is actually almost correct, from what I have learned in U.S. History. After the War of Independence from Great Britain, there were some issues with the language. American primers were made so that the school children would not be learning the King's English, which was already quite different from American English. Some of this is due to the way language changes and some due to influences of other languages.

It is also interesting to note that not only spelling, but also word usage and pronunciation are different in British.

Here's an essay that I have yet to read on the subject (or something similar):

From Ambivalence to Acceptance: American Attitudes Towards Linguistic and National Identity (http://www.tcr.org/tcr/essays/eprize07_Am%20Language%20162.pdf)

[kelby_lake]

american spelling makes less sense. 'paedophilia'- the 'paedo' means children. it's
greek-derived or something. how are you supposed to work out what a word means? is 'pedo' considered a prefix meaning child?

[PeterL]

Why do Americans spell things differently?

One reason was the work of the infamous Noah Webster, who codified some spellings that he preferred. Most of those spellings have continued since then. Another reason is that errors have become so common that the errors are taken as correct in America now. For example, the participles of the verb 'travel in America are commonly spelled with a single 'l'. The rules of orthography say that that speling would have a long e, rather than retaining the short e in travel. The rule is that when adding a suffix to a word ending in a consonant preceded by a short vowel, one doubles the final consonant and adds the siffix; thus: travelling, controlling, stopping, etc.


american spelling makes less sense. 'paedophilia'- the 'paedo' means children. it's
greek-derived or something. how are you supposed to work out what a word means? is 'pedo' considered a prefix meaning child?

The second half is even worse. 'Philia' indicates affection between friends. The earlier word 'paederasty' was more appropriate, because '_erasty' is a combinatory form for eroticism. Paederasty has nothing to do with affection among friends.

[kelby_lake]

lost in translation...?

[PeterL]

lost in translation...?

No, recontextualized for the benefit of the criminals.

[nmmad]

Actually, following the rules of doubling or not, American spelling is more logical. If a polysyllabic word has the stress on the final syllable it doubles and if it doesn't it doesn't:
referred, preferred, admitted, overlapped
remembered, developed, benefited, edited

excel, control fit into the first group, while travel, label etc. fit into the second group better than the first but for some reason the non-US spelling doubles the L for both.

[blp]

The second half is even worse. 'Philia' indicates affection between friends. The earlier word 'paederasty' was more appropriate, because '_erasty' is a combinatory form for eroticism. Paederasty has nothing to do with affection among friends.

This is really off-topic, but, here in England a few years ago, during one of the periodic paedophile panics, the satirical magazine Private Eye ran a cartoon showing a man running from an angry mob, protesting, 'But I'm a paediatrician'. Some months later, this episode came grotesquely true when a paediatrician's office was trashed by an angry and incredibly stupid mob.

[kelby_lake]

Actually, following the rules of doubling or not, American spelling is more logical. If a polysyllabic word has the stress on the final syllable it doubles and if it doesn't it doesn't:
referred, preferred, admitted, overlapped
remembered, developed, benefited, edited

excel, control fit into the first group, while travel, label etc. fit into the second group better than the first but for some reason the non-US spelling doubles the L for both.

english doubling generally just looks better