why dont americans use the letter U when spelling words like flavour and colour?

Question

thanks for all the answers, here i was thinking that they dropped the letter u because americans were too busy shooting each other, smoking crack and rooting their sisters! boy is my face red!

thanks for all the answers, here i was thinking that they dropped the letter u because americans were too busy shooting each other, smoking crack and rooting their sisters! boy is my face red!

Answer 1

There's a lengthy article on wikipedia on this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_and_British_English_spelling_differences

Basically it boils down to that spellings weren't standardized until the first dictionaries were published in the late 18th / early 19th centuries. Samual Johnson published one in Britain and preferred the -our and Noah Webster published one in America and preferred the -or.

Answer 2

I am guessing at this...so, you may need to do some research on it.

When Americans began separating themselves from the "Mother Country" they (Americans) decided to change the spelling. Sort of a small way to show independence. So, that could explain why the "u" is dropped from words like flavour and colour.

There is a very good book about the history and development of the English language:

The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language by David Crystal. It's not all "academic."

Check out pp 306-307. He discusses the differences in the languages in the US and in the UK.

Answer 3

Spelling things with a "U" is European. When they created the American language they decided to drop the "U"s.

I've traveled to London and all the buildboards had that too.

Answer 4

There is a very very good answer.
Look down at your keyboard.

The 'U' is between the Y and the i
You never noticed that before did you?

Well - nor did the Americans!

Answer 5

cus they were mostley crims when they first went to the usa. so most could not spell so the langauge changed just likethe english langauge today here in blighty. it is changing everyday through migration. even our signs are changing t polish and urdu in some areas so the langauge is bound to change more soon.

Answer 6

well because americans dont spell things like that

Answer 7

Because it isn't spelled that way.

Don't you know that if we tried to use "check spelling" while spelling it flavour, it would say it was wrong every time?

Answer 8

Because they are different to us I suppose they spell MUM.... MOM also

Answer 9

because its Un-American

Answer 10

u just answered your own question because were AMERICANS