Why do Americans spell ENGLISH words their own way?

Question

I live in England. I speak English. I write in English.

I don't understand how or why Americans have their own way of spelling English words. What's that all about? Whenever I do spellcheck on my computer, I only get the American version. Why do we need English versions of English words, and American versions of English words? If I were writing this in French or Hindi, I wouldn't just decide to have my own 'English version' of certain words would I?

I think many of you are missing my point. I wasn't asking about pronunciation, dialect or street talk. I was asking about spelling alone.
In England we have many different accents & dialects. From one region to another words may be pronounced in a different way, but we all spell 'colour' & 'favourite' just as they should be spelt. I obviously understand that Americans will say everything with an American accent. That wasn't my question. My question was why do Americans spell some English words another way?

Shareef.... let me spell it out for you....

In italian you say 'ciao' when you leave, and that's the correct spelling for the word 'ciao.'
I wouldn't just invent or modify my own English version of an italian word & start spelling it as 'chow.'

Answer 1

Honestly, why do people have to take simple questions so personally???!!!
Ive often wondered this. I think its a good point that over the years the language & spelling is bound to have changed, but its just a shame we cant all stick to one way of spelling one word, is that really so difficult?? I understand Americans have their own words (ie, lorry/truck) but thats not the point at all. We should all at least be SPELLING lorry & truck the same way. And yes I know we do spell those words the same way, but there are others (not ALL) that are spelt differently & there's really no need.

Answer 2

Well, if you have any sense at all you would realize that the UK and American are separated by the Atlantic Ocean and are thus two *different* countries! Amazing, isn't it? Learn something new every day, eh? Sure, we may share the same base language, but why should we become a mirror-image of British English when we live in America? Do you see us whining about the fact that y'all call trucks "lorries" and spell words differently from us?!

If you want to pose a sensible question, why not ask us why we *continue* to reject the metric system and stick to our antiquated *British* system of measurement?

Use your head. There are variations region-to-region in the Italian language, as well as many other languages. The American system is no better nor worse than yours. Get off it.

Answer 3

Some words customs etc were not remembered clearly after the colonization. Example Appalachian music is base on old English folk tunes but is clearly different musically. As well popular use makes a word right or wrong. That is why they change the dictionary periodically. Example American color English colour it became popular in early America and became correct after a period of time. Besides you know the quote: England and America forever divided by the same language.

Answer 4

There was a feeble attempt at "spelling reform" in America, that is why the word "color" lost its useless "u" and other words that had useless u's also lost them. So in American English dictionaries we have slightly different spellings.

Actually, many more words in the English language need to be fixed in this manner. There is a society that is called the "Simplified Spelling Society" that addresses this problem. Why is English so damn unphonetic? Because of that fact, even many native speakers have to suffer the awful spelling and that is why only English speakers can even have what are called "spelling bees." Just think, is there any other language (well maybe French which also leaves phonetic spellling to be desired) that has spelling bees?

Americans are not stupid, we led the way in science and technology, so how can we be "stupid?" Didn't we invent the stupid internet itself? Maybe we are just too gullible.

Answer 5

It's just an evolution of a language. We are two countries, separated by an ocean, but bound by a single language. This is true, to a point. English, just like Spanish, has various spellings for the the same word. Words in England may mean something differently in America.

The same can be said between Latin countries such as Mexico, Chile, Cuba and Puerto Rico.

Our language came from the same base language, but, because we grew with different histories, influences and habits, the language has adapted to what fits our needs best.

I wouldn't be surprised if, hundreds of years from now, our language becomes so different, it doesn't even seem like the same language any more.

Answer 6

As with any dialect, it's a variation of the original language.
For instance the creoles of Louisiana claim to speak 'french' but if they went to Paris or any part of France they wouldn't be understood.
So the english language is the same way.....a lot of the words are also borrowed from other languages and made into english words.

Answer 7

Noah Webster decided to make an American dictionary, spelling some words more like they were pronounced. Hence the "z" which makes a "zzzzzzz" sound and the "or" which makes an "or" sound.

In a few other cases, he changed the pronunciation to match the spelling, instead. (waistcoat, lieutenant)

What I don't get is "neighbor". Kept the weird-looking "eigh" but still dumped the "u". Why?

Answer 8

Every country does things their own way. I mean England may have proper way of spelling words and what not. But here in america, we have people from all over the world that are americans. Its not just one set of people that are here. There is so much culture and so many words from all the different cultures here, you just can't say "english" must be one way. Because that would really cut off much of who americans are.

Answer 9

languages change.

When you're separated by 3,000 miles of ocean, and have the influences of millions of immigrants, the changes might occur a little faster.

and yes, other languages have different versions. For example, Spanish in Spain is pronounced and uses different words than Latin American Spanish.

another tasty tidbit- it was originally color, then changed to colour.

Answer 10

its how the language has evolved. english is becoming so widely spoken around the world that there is hardly a single "correct" english anymore

there is american, english, pidgeon english, "street" english, spanglish, many languages in africa are based on english, with grammar such as:

"ah bin gwine ta tell'em i dun felled don"

yes, its true, some schools in america lack the same quality of education that there is in england, but its just the way weve been taught, just like you were taught to put an extra U in words like "color" and "favorite"