Why do American's omit the letter 'u' from certain words?

Question

For example as I come from England, I spell neighbour, colour, favourite with u's. Why does the American spelling differ?

And why is it 'z' for Yanks and 's' for Brits? i.e. personalised and personalized ?

Answer 1

This particular aspect of American spelling is, in fact, faithful to the original Latin form of the words in question (apart from "neighbour", which is an Anglo-Saxon word, but which has fallen in line with the rest). English derived its Latin words mostly as the result of the Norman conquest and the imposition of Norman French words on the Anglo-Saxon spoken by the English of the time. That is why in English we imitate the French spelling and maintain a letter "u" after such words as you have quoted. The Americans made a conscious decision to revert to the original Latin spelling. English spelling was really consolidated by Dr Johnson's Dictionary. Dr. Johnson’s spelling has undergone some simplification in both countries: almanack, musick, errour, horrour, interiour, successour, emperour, oratour, have everywhere dropped unnecessary letters. The abandonment of the French -our for Latin -or has gone a little further in the American printing-houses; honour, humour, vigour, harbour, labour, neighbour, valour, clamour, clangour, saviour, and a few others have joined the overwhelming majority of -or words. British men of letters could be cited who have employed the same simplification. Other French spellings like theatre and centre are less common in America than in England. Parallel to the simplification of almanac(k) are wag(g)on, travel(l)er. Of the British attempts to distinguish by the spelling story, narrative (plural stories), from storey, floor (pl. storeys), and curb (bit) from kerb (stone), the first has some etymological argument in its favour, but neither has commended itself to American usage. Britons themselves are quite as likely to spell cider and pajamas in the fashion always employed in America as they are to write cyder and pyjamas.

Answer 2

I do not know why there are the spelling variations in American-English.. One part undereducated, two parts untamed... It may be a lingering scar from the nonexistent state of the educational system during the colonial period. There are occasional reminders that generations of people once lived here without knowing how to read or write at all. So, there were some vowels dropped from ye olde merrie queen's language to make it more concise and modern. Independence came in the time of the Enlightenment, and the framers ran with it. It is all generally accepted now, and you can spell it whichever way you prefer. Don't forget "grey"! ^_^

Answer 3

Because the american english tries more to be spell the word exactly the way it sounds, trying to be a bit more efficient. Also, I think historically, being more capitalist we realized that it would be more economical to have fewer letters (in terms of printing costs).

Another thing: have you noticed how in British English they spell Centre, while in American it is Center and so on.

Answer 4

Just a different way.

Canadians use the English version to spell words, but its not uncommon to see some American spelling here also.

I could care less how its spelled or where its from. Its easy to understand the word with either spelling.

Answer 5

Most Americans are not taught proper spelling. You'll notice that over time how the skill of spelling has degraded. Also some words are taught here as 'old' English and not enforced spelling. There is currently talk among the higher powers in America to totally re-vamp the spelling structure...to leave out silent letters and things like that as its claimed that its too complicated to learn.....

Answer 6

American spelling is just different. It isn't to the point where we can understand one another though. That is why when you look in a spell check, there is English English and American English.

Answer 7

Those letters have become superfluous to the American pronunciation.

Britons still pronounce the word color, for instance, with the ending accent "oor," however most Americans pronounce the same word as "col-er." Thus the modified spelling.

Answer 8

I think it's because they decided on a more phonetic spelling. For example, in America it's 'center' but we still spell it 'centre' because although (altho) we retain the French spelling (as it was pronounced) we now say center. We know this because we have to spell and pronounce 'central' as in the old French.

Answer 9

I think American's got lazy. Also, when type was set by hand -- letter by letter -- that's probably why short cuts like that came in.

Also, I thought it was more of an American thing to use contractions like -- can't, won't, shouldn't, I'm -- instead of the full version. I always summed it up to being lazy -- or maybe I shouldn't say lazy -- but an effort to be more productive. Yeah that's sounds better.

Answer 10

Check out EtymOnline.com. It's an English dictionary specifically to show the historical roots of English vocabulary. You might be able to find your answer there.