Why do the yanks change our English spelling of words?

Question

why do they omit "u' from colour and spell mum "mom" etc , are they to lazy to use the correct spellings, or to thick , trouble is for somre unknown reason our kids are following suit,

Answer 1

I don't know, but the element sulphur has now been 'Americanised' and in a year or two, we'll get docked points on our GCSEs and A levels unless we spell it sulfur. I'm only going to spell it that way for my GCSEs and A levels so I don't get docked points. Hope it helps! (*^_^*)

Answer 2

It's because when Daniel Webster created the first American dictionary, he decided to change the spellings of several English words so that they would follow the words' pronunciations a bit more closely.

centre => center
colour => color
grey => gray
(there are several other words as well)

Americans preserve Webster's spellings because it is part of our cultural heritage. However, over here, we do use the British spellings at times for store names or place names. For example, where I live, there is a street called "New Centre," which, following the American rules, should be "New Center."

Answer 3

Who says that Americans have changed the spellings of British English words? The British pilgrims that left Plymouth for the States in the 1600s took their English with them, and many "Americanisms" (both vocabulary and grammar) are much closer to this version of English than modern-day British English. Since the 1600s, English has evolved independently on both sides of the pond. Don't be so arrogant to think that British English is somehow the correct version. The American influence of British culture, however, should be obvious - we are surrounded by American TV shows, films, computer software, "celebrities", books, video games etc.

Answer 4

Think yourself lucky that you do not live in Canada, stuck between the two cultures.
The US based spell checks default to US spelling. I was brought up in England by Scots parents and immigrated to Canada at age 15. I have learned to adapt to the different cultures. When in U. I would go to the prof at the beginning of term and ask in which culture they wanted the grammar. As in Canada we have many US Profs. I now compose for a living (legal reports) and usually use english english, but if I am in a rush for a deadline I just click through on the good old US spell check.

E.G. Gaol or Jail.

There are also also diction differences, for example, (as an aside) the US and Canada use the commas as a break and UK uses the brackets.

Just as between counties in England you have to adapt to the accents. The "mid atlantic" is the nicest for me, which seems to be used around the educated part of Maryland.

Answer 5

It is called a language divide. Sometimes it is referred to as something else that I cannot recall at this time. But it is when another language influences a population (like the Norman invasion of 1066) or when a language is solidified for the masses (For example when Milton wrote the first book in Italian instead of Latin.) or even when a group wishes to disassociate themselves from another group for political/religious reasons. This happens all the time in history.
As for the "some unknown reason" you brought up it is really very obvious. The US version of English is bombarded across the world via TV, Internet, mass media/merchandising, and lastly in literature. Book publishers are the last stand for the language due to different publishing houses have country locations which tend to stick to the local variations.Don't believe me? Look at the Harry Potter books and you will see the differences in colloquialisms and spellings.

Answer 6

We're not changing your spelling of words . You can spell any way you wish. We are not trying to make you change anything.
If we have a different way of spelling, don't you think that's our business ? Just because the English language started in England,do you believe we must get permission from you if we find it easier to omit unnessary letters from some of the spelling ?
Little kids in America call their mothers mom or mommy. I'm glad they don't call her mummy.

Answer 7

The "Yanks" do not change YOUR English spelling, they change THEIR English spelling.
What makes you think that the English language is the property of the English? Only because it originated in England?
Get off it, English is the property of all English speakers and a nation with 250+ million English speakers certainly has the right to choose its own way of spelling its language.

Answer 8

Well, to start with I guess everyone could be fussy and take you to task for not appearing to know the difference between "to" and "too" (too lazy? too thick?).

The US way of spelling English has evolved over time and some of course are more true to original forms - such as "colour / Color" - the UK way is influenced by French spelling - thanks to the French way being seen as the "correct way" at the time many of our (UK) spellings became fixed and uniform.

As long as your/ our kids are comprehensible when they write / type I wouldn't be too worried. That's what it's all about, after all.

Answer 9

For one thing, MOM (rhymes with bomb) is pronounced differently from MUM.
On this side of the pond, a mum is a chrysanthemum.
Our using the word "elevator" for "lift" is scarcely an example of laziness, even though one of your compatriots did make that statement earlier today.
We use different orthography for the same reasons that you do not spell the same way that Chaucer did. Languages change.
BTW, my congrats on country's decision to switch to decimal money. Or are you still angry about that, too?

Answer 10

It's a difference in dialect, bud. It's not very difficult to see how something like the Atlantic Ocean and 200 years of seperation might change the language slightly. Besides, a lot of the more recent additions to the English language originated in the States.

Speaking of lazy, why is the capitalization and punctuation in your question all messed-up/incorrect? Remove the plank from thine own eye...

Answer 11

The evolution of the language over our many years without English rule.

Because America is a cultural superpower, our language(for better or worse) is the language of the Internet. I doubt it was conscious or intentional but all languages diverge with distance from the source, look at all the varying dialects of English in England and the US.