Why are the same words spelled differently in England and the USA?

Question

Like, color and colour, dyeing and dying, favorite and favourite, realize and realise, foetus and fetus... etc

Answer 1

acutally it is just because british spelling (which is used by a lot more countries) prefers to use it's french roots in words(that are based on Latin AND french) than Latin for example Honour, in latin is honor but in french it is honneur. colour, Latin color, french couleur. but it is alot because our accent (UK, NZ, Australia some others) can't say mom as easily as mum (and that we don't say mom in the first place), also dyeing and dying are two different words, also americans have phoneticasised (i know it's not a word but hey!) it's words more, and we have retained older spelling. like haemophilia, foetus, paedophile, are all french based spellings as well

Answer 2

Well, those words were originally spelled that way in the US, as well, but Americans made an effort early on to simplify spelling and language usage, and one of the things that started happening was that letters that were deemed "unnecessary" were dropped from words. If you look at the list you provided, the English spelling usually has at least one extra letter which has been dropped in the Americanized version of the word. I had a college prof once who described the process as: Americans are lazy; we aren't going to learn to spell words with any extra letters if we don't have to. Interestingly enough, his best friend, also an English prof, described the process thus: Americans are very clever, and will simplify things when they can; they took out the unneeded letters in some words. Feel free to pick the description of the process which you find most pleasing.

The only real problem with the dual spelling of so many words is that in places where the two types of English meet (such as Y!A), you get a lot of people nagging about spelling. The fact of the matter is that both spellings are correct: one is correct in England and one is correct in the US.

Answer 3

Bisdak has the answer mostly right: the British have retained spellings that match the French spelling, of words as old in English as 1066 when certain French peoples conquered most of Britain. In -or vs. -our words, like "color," and in similar cases, the reason they are spelled so in America is almost entirely due to the influence of Nathaniel Webster, of Webster's Dictionary. Early dictionary-makers often spelled words the way they though they "should be," rather than report them as they are. Influences like his on spelling have been going on for hundreds of years, all the way back to the first dictionary of the English language, that of Samuel Johnson.

Furthermore: dyeing is only a form of the verb "to dye" (referring to color), "dying" is only a form of the verb "to die", "pass away," favourite reflects the French form, as does realise (French realiser, realize is a change from the French that more reflects the Greek heritage of -ize, rather than the influence of French spelling) and foetus reflects the French, the Latin is fetus, American spelling was probably changed to reflect this.

Answer 4

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Answer 5

Because there is no governing body for spelling. Mostly it's down to the way the majority of the public spell things. If the public spells a word a particular way for long enough to become mainstream then if becomes official.

It's also partially due to stubbornness on both side's part and dislike of using the same spellings as the other uses.

Note that we say things differently too. My favourite is herbs and I think Eddie Izzard said it best - "You say 'erbs' we say 'herbs' - because there's a f**cking H there."

Answer 6

We have evolved our spelling just as we have evolved our pronunciation of words. Americans have tended to simplify the British words that were originally of French origin "humour, colour, honour, etc.) and we have dropped the letter "u" in our spelling. Also, over time, we have tended to blend together those words of Latin and Greek origin that have letter combinations of vowels such as "ae" and "oe" such as foetus and fetus. Modernization of these medical and scientific terms has changd these to one vowel instead of two. The letters "z" and "s" have changed our spelling of words that end in "...ize" and "...ise". They are pronounced the same in practice.

But I have to disagree with you about the use of the word "dyeing"--it is used properly the same in England and in America when referring to coloring cloth, for example.. "dying" means in the process of ending life in both countries. It should not be used to describe changing colors (or colours ! )

Answer 7

There are people called etymolesists and lexicographers that work on the U.S. language and help develop the annual dictionaries. These people have committes and they are not international. The U.S. modern dictionary was developed by Noah Webster, who wrote down the common American spellings of the time when most people couldn't read or write. These dictionaries became very popular and created a common sense of the language.

Answer 8

Read a hundred year old publication from Britain and compare spellings to modern Britain. Do the same for American publications. Spelling is fluid.

Answer 9

Same reason why people leave the "g"'s out of gerunds like bangin, ringin sippin jumpin. Language evolves either through sheer laziness or outside influences.

Answer 10

Geographical separation.