A friend of mine from England spells some of his English words with an extra "u." An example -- in the USA, we write "RUMOR," but in England, they spell it "RUMOUR" This is not the only case.
What is the history or reason for dropping the "u" ?
2007-01-12 09:20:43 · 10 answers · asked by KGJ 5 in Society & Culture ➔ Languages
When Noah Webster created the first dictionary of American English in the early 1800s he made a conscious effort to eliminate what he considered superfluous British spellings.
Rumour, honour, valour, ardour, and many other words lost that unnecessary "u".
2007-01-12 09:40:38 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 4⤊ 0⤋
The way words are spelled in America differs substantially from the Commonwealth, this is believed to originate from the War of Independence when Americans began changing things in order to be different from the British - this is also why Americans eat differently with a knife and fork.
Canada, although part of the British Commonwealth, has been influenced by its American neighbor and has a kind of a pick and choose attitude with spelling, some words are spelled the American way and some the English way.
The OUR versus OR difference
"-our" in the Commonwealth is replaced with just "-or" in the USA.
2007-01-12 09:28:07 · answer #2 · answered by sage seeker 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I will again second the answer concerning webster; wasn't it sort of a goal to further break away from the british crown by making their own form/interpretation of the language?
I feel bad about being called lazy/ignorant for not knowing british english over american english, but be glad that I'm at least proficient in my native dialect (and most certainly be happy that I'm a pretty good typist).
2007-01-12 10:46:04 · answer #3 · answered by Neil-Rob 3 · 2⤊ 0⤋
i think of we individuals have larger issues than struggling with over the pronunciation of our community tongue. You look to ignore languages evolve. some Texans loathe a brand manhattan accessory and vice versa. So somebody from yet another usa could no longer be use to a Aussie accessory or a clean Zealand one. undergo in recommendations even in super Britain purely like the USA pronunciation isn't uniform. you will discover that for the period of any usa you will bypass to.
2016-10-07 01:49:00 · answer #4 · answered by ? 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I'm quite sure our English and Canadian cousins will be quick to point out Americans are uneducated idiots.
It is the natural progression of a language within a society. Perhaps it is the many immigrants who came here so quickly and influenced our language.
Why do they say "lift" and we say "elevator?"
2007-01-12 09:26:52 · answer #5 · answered by fluffernut 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
The founding fathers probably saw no need for it, as it doesn't really alter the pronunciation, nor does it add anything to the word. It seems stuffy and pretentious and it's extraneous, so who needs it? Let the Brits keep it if they want.
2007-01-12 09:26:47 · answer #6 · answered by gldjns 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
collect it back.It's just a "u".Ok,I've heard my english teacher Kim complaining about this decline of the authentic english language.So i think it's rumour,humour,favourite,flavour e.t.c.U are confusing us ,the students, guys.Try and find a golden mean!
2007-01-13 22:55:21 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
What Richard said. Webster decided it.
2007-01-12 09:57:26 · answer #8 · answered by Goddess of Grammar 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
no one ever saw a need for it (unless it's fancy writing)
2007-01-12 09:29:12 · answer #9 · answered by jet 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
americans are lazy!
2007-01-12 09:27:04 · answer #10 · answered by day 2 · 1⤊ 3⤋