Why Can't Yanks Spell Properly?

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Red Hadron Collider

Red Hadron Collider

The Hammerhead
Mar 2, 2011
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Warrington
Genuine question. Why can't they? We have a few itinerants on our board and there is at least one on the manc board.

"Mathematics" is plural. The shortened version, therefore, is "Maths", not "Math"

How does "Colour" become "Color"? Why does "Vapouriser" become "Vaporizer"? Why does my computer tell me that the latter version is, in fact, correct?

This is an academic inquiry and I would welcome input from our transatlantic friends on this, as well as fellow Brits.

How did it happen?

Thank you.
 
Americans followed a different dictionary to the Brits resulting in differences in spelling the one the Brits use pre-dates the one followed by Americans. Both dictionaries were written by Englishmen.

The or - our thing is from French and was originally either "or" or "ur" but changed after the Normans invaded to "our".
 
luvgonzo said:
Americans followed a different dictionary to the Brits resulting in differences in spelling the one the Brits use pre-dates the one followed by Americans. Both dictionaries were written by Englishmen.
Click to expand...

This sounds plausible until the end part. Why would two Englishmen spell differently?
 
Red Hadron Collider said:
This sounds plausible until the end part. Why would two Englishmen spell differently?
Click to expand...

To break away from the King and Queen and all that? Americn revolution and that good stuff I would assume. Same reason why an Englishman/British decided to name it soccer over here.
 
Red Hadron Collider said:
This sounds plausible until the end part. Why would two Englishmen spell differently?
Click to expand...

Again down to the Norman invasion, progressive French used "or" or "ur" for example but the Anglo norman language changed it to old French using "our" so straight away there were differences in spelling from the Normans then the preferences of French over latin kick in 1 author preferring one to the other.

So the Americans poor spelling is down to the French which they will love.
 
An American Dictionary of the English Language was written by Noah Webster in 1825 taking him 18 years in total to compile. The idea behind it was to standardise American speech, since Americans in different parts of the country used different languages. They also spelled, pronounced, and used English words differently.

His book contained seventy thousand words, of which twelve thousand had never appeared in a published dictionary before. As a spelling reformer, Webster believed that English spelling rules were unnecessarily complex, so his dictionary introduced American English spellings, replacing "colour" with "color", substituting "wagon" for "waggon", and printing "center" instead of "centre". He also added American words, like "skunk" and "squash", that did not appear in British dictionaries.

His main goal, in essence, was to cleanse America of the complicated, contradictory grammatical errors adopted from Britain and he wanted the US to be independent of European values which he deemed inferior.




Now can you stop posting such ****ty threads. Seriously.
 
Crumpet said:
An American Dictionary of the English Language was written by Noah Webster in 1825 taking him 18 years in total to compile. The idea behind it was to standardise American speech, since Americans in different parts of the country used different languages. They also spelled, pronounced, and used English words differently.

His book contained seventy thousand words, of which twelve thousand had never appeared in a published dictionary before. As a spelling reformer, Webster believed that English spelling rules were unnecessarily complex, so his dictionary introduced American English spellings, replacing "colour" with "color", substituting "wagon" for "waggon", and printing "center" instead of "centre". He also added American words, like "skunk" and "squash", that did not appear in British dictionaries.

His main goal, in essence, was to cleanse America of the complicated, contradictory grammatical errors adopted from Britain and he wanted the US to be independent of European values which he deemed inferior.




Now can you stop posting such ****ty threads. Seriously.
Click to expand...

You can always help by creating footy specific threads. Just a thought. <ok>
 
luvgonzo said:
Again down to the Norman invasion, progressive French used "or" or "ur" for example but the Anglo norman language changed it to old French using "our" so straight away there were differences in spelling from the Normans then the preferences of French over latin kick in 1 author preferring one to the other.

So the Americans poor spelling is down to the French which they will love.
Click to expand...

I'm going to buy that Dr Gonzo. I think everyone on here knows why <laugh>
 
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