Why do Americans have different words than in Britain?

Question

Why do you call rubbish garbage?
Why do you go a lift an elevator?
Why do you say color instead of colour when it makes more sense to put the u in the word?
Why do you call a lorry a truck?
Why do you call a chemist a drugstore?
Why do you call football soccer?
Why do you call trousers pants?
Why do you call knickers panties?
Why do you call trainers sneakers?
Why do you call nappy diaper?

I could go on all day

Answer 1

It's just part of the ever-evolving life of language. Language is always growing and changing, and American English is a conglomerate of many different languages. Indeed there are many dialects of American English where the lexicon changes depending on where you are in the country. There's a really good book called The Story of English if you're truly interested in investigating the etymology of the words.

Answer 2

First it was part of a break from British traditions but, you also must consider the fact that the United States is a far more diverse country . Because of that diversity of peoples we have an influx of different languages including English, French, German, Swahili, and a few hundred others. The American form of English derives many words from these various language forms. Also, so of the things that Britain considers normal are different here. Football is called Soccer because Soccer did not become a big sport here until long after Football (sometimes called American Football) had made its nitch. Some people do still call pants trousers...knickers are a form of short legged pant here...the word Sneaker comes from the fact that you can walk quietly in tennis shoes and here, in America, a chemist is different from a pharmacist and so a pharmacist who specializes in medications and drugs works in a drugstore (or today in KMart, Walmart, etc.)

I hope that helps

Answer 3

Americans often forget that they are historically a settlement of the UK.The break from the British Empire & the Queen, unlimitedly formed a new nation,thus a creation of yet another culture entirely,with its own customs & traditions.As one of many changes,language based on the "Queens English" was altered through slang and a need for further individualism.

Answer 4

Simple. In America, they use a lotta slangs in their language and in Britain they speak Queen's English or Classic English. Adding to this, after the American War of Independance Americans decided to have nothing common with the British.

Answer 5

Who knows why, I believe it was the early Americans that changed the words to distance them selves from England, I actually wish we all spoke the same English, Hey you know we could post the same question to the other English speaking countries of Australia, and Canada, they have there own words for everyday things, just like you and I, One things I do know that's it's a bit cool, It gives each one of our English speaking countries a little bit of flavor, It's also nice to as a culture to have your bit of identity, even though we speak the same language I don't have the faintest idea what your saying.

RS

Answer 6

Assuming that by Americans you really mean those of us from the USA -- you owe apologies to all the other countries from the continents of North America and South America.

Why should the USA have the same word as Britains? USA is a melting pot of cultures and ethnic groups. We're not all from English ancestors!

Answer 7

Americans do not speak and write grammatically correct English language. May be they want to breakup with British English or they are ignorant.For them centre of the Universe is America.Please do not waste your time they are not going to change.

Answer 8

As G.B. Shaw is reputed to have said, Britain and America are "two nations divided by a common language."

Answer 9

Even though we SEEM to speak the same language, there are clear, cultural differences and hence the differences in our languages.

Answer 10

I feel it was a desire to break away from all things British

And we will NOT be discussing the problems with "fanny", OK?