America was invader by the British and adopted the English language but could not spell or is there another reason for the error?? I'm not being rude or anything like that I am really curious as I find the sudden change extremely interesting. I would like to know if it was a conscious decision or just happend for habbit, accident etc,...
2006-09-25 20:47:57 · 11 answers · asked by Navyant 2 in Education & Reference ➔ Higher Education (University +)
I am looking for a more historical fact. If I were to teach you french, you then went home and 10 generations later your children were speaking the same language but used short cuts with the written language and mixed up a few words. Is there any point in America history when the first US dictonary was written that this can be look up in as the error must be due to a mistake in history not intelelligence.
2006-09-25 20:58:07 · update #1
Greythebruce, opps, graythebruce post Shakespeare there are other words in use which I think I am starting to get the understanding of how the changes happened. Look at the word for an object like laser or lazer it is new, the same thing, spelt differently. Any thoughts?
2006-09-25 21:13:47 · update #2
It was an attempt at a simplification.
There are other words that fit into the same category. I believe it was Churchill who said we (Brits and Americans) were two people separated by a common language. I have spent some time around Brits and listening to them talk makes me wonder what language I speak.
We all make those sort of errors. For Example:
"Whats" in your second sentence should be "what's" it is a contraction for "what is"
Your third sentence has the word "invader". I think you meant "invaded".
Your last sentence has "habbit" in it. I think you meant "habit".
BTW the British didn't invade during the revolutionary war. The King sent troops to reinforce British Garrisons and put down an uprising in a British Colony. Until their defeat they were supposed to be here.
Like you, I am not trying to be rude, only pointing out that everybody makes mistakes. Even the press can do it. They beat up Vice President Quayle when he used a less common spelling of the word "potato". He ended it with an "e". The press had a field day.
Have a good day. And 1 thumbs up, I had fun, thanks.
2006-09-25 21:23:53 · answer #1 · answered by gimpalomg 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
This whole notion that there's a correct spelling for anything is rather new -- dictionaries being a rather recent invention in relative terms. We split from Britain before Webster came along, and thus the countries have decided upon their "official" spellings separately.
Now, for a point of comparison, take a look at Shakespeare. (Last I checked, he was still English.) He does not spell words consistantly even from sentence to sentence. That's life without a dictionary. Given that one Englishman (a rather famous one) couldn't agree with himself on a spelling before dictionaries came along, is it really that surprising that the Americans and the British would end up spelling some stuff differently post-Webster?
Seriously, I think it's surprising that we spell so many things similarly. It's a bit unexpected, really, and probably a result of the close relationships between the two countries -- if we didn't read so much Jane Austen, and the Brits didn't read so much American stuff, we'd probably be quite a bit farther apart than we are.
Incidentally, if you'd like to see some writing practices that are very wide apart and somewhat more perplexing, take a look at citation styles for different academic disciplines. If you want to cite an article in a journal, you're going to do this in MLA style for an English class, in APA style for a business class, in IEEE style for an engineering class, and so forth. It's the same document, but everyone handles it differently. And that's all in one country.
In short, the different handlings of the letter "u" in a single word aren't that surprising, and comprise an issue of at best miniscule importance.
2006-09-25 21:03:57 · answer #2 · answered by Graythebruce 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Color is the American way of spelling Colour, just like Gray for American or Grey for British... It sounds the same I mean.. lol. Americans want to be different from all aspects, from educations to sports to entertainment, you tell me lol.
2006-09-25 20:50:06 · answer #3 · answered by Tank D 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
When I was in school, both spellings were acceptable. Just like gray and grey, theater and theatre. But then again, I was in grade school over 25 yrs ago.
2006-09-25 20:49:41 · answer #4 · answered by AveGirl 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
(proper) isn't accepteable no longer 2 words (newbie) isn't amature (Embarrass) - isn't Embarass (Drunkenness) has 2 n's no longer drunkeness (glaring) isn't aparent (workers) isn't own Others contain even as to apply that is, it truly is and its also even as to apply they are, their, and they are although in the adventure that they get the point throughout the time of in a non rude way, i imagine all is reliable!
2016-12-02 02:12:44 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
because in pre-schools that sort of spelling was acceptable they thought that we would know how to spell it properly now but they were wrong anyway i live in Australia so i don't misspell it "Colour"
2006-09-25 20:56:50 · answer #6 · answered by Surfer_69 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
why does not most Americans no zilch about the truth about History
2006-09-25 20:49:46 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
Because they are lazy.
Cos you know, typing the 'u' is really hard.
2006-09-25 20:49:41 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Maybe it was just mis-spelled all along! ;)
2006-09-25 20:49:03 · answer #9 · answered by Jennifer M 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
because America can do whatever they want...that's why
2006-09-25 20:57:36 · answer #10 · answered by Mike 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋