It's English.

[dragonslayer32]

hello fellow escapists, i was thinking today, why do Americans spell some words different to the English, yet they say they speak English? i'm not having a go at anyone, i think that it is good that we have cultural differences but i just think it is interesting that the same language is spoken, yet it is different. Also, what are the origins of words like 'soda' which is in the English language but the English never use?

 

[delet]

Because of those good many years we've spent not being part of England, and people teaching us otherwise.

Personally, I spell a few words like colour differently from most Americans because I prefer it, but it really doesn't make much difference.

And 'Soda' is 'Soda pop' but just shortened to one word.

 

[martin's a madman]

People moved to the now US, they were pissed at England and wanted to be different from them.
It's like asking why Norman French, or Quebec French is different from Southern France French.
People grow up in different areas and develop things differently.

 

[reg42]

It probably had something to do with the Americans trying to differentiate themselves from the English after the whole war they had. I really dunno, that's just a shot in the dark.

 

[Crayzor]

Well, I expect the Americans changed some spellings after the War of Independence to seperate themselves linguistically from the British. Also, it's been over 200 years since they rebelled, so the language has evolved in a different way than it has in Britian. English is an international language and is evolving all the time, it is no longer based solely on the way English people speak it.

 

[unoleian]

Who cares?

There's this giant void between our two worlds called the ocean. That kind of geographical disparity tends to make things evolve a little differently. You people across the sea get hung up on some pretty nonsensical things sometimes.

I've never once in my life worried about how you spell "colour" or "aluminium" or call flashlights "torches" or why trucks are "lorries," it just doesn't matter. But it's interesting how many times I've seen the subject broached.

We can communicate. That's what matters.

 

[snowman6251]

I highly doubt its deliberate or by design. Since its not like American colonists were talking to the Brits on a day to day basis since telephones and the like weren't invented we just ended up branching off into our own little dialect which ended up with some changes in spellings. Its not like many people went to school and learned to spell properly back in those days.

Language constantly evolves. "There'd" is underlined as misspelled but its definitely an accepted word where I live.

 

[Eldritch Warlord]

Some guy, Merriam Webster I believe, had a grand idea to make the English language phonetic and more consistent. Most of his suggestions didn't stick, but a few did for whatever reason.

Now Americans spell spell several words more phonetically than their British English writing counterparts. Words like color, saber, and so on. We also pronounce the letter 'z' as 'zee' rather than 'zed' in keeping with the trend of having only one consonant in the pronunciation of any consonant.

 

[FeetOfClay]

I dont really see it as any different from the regional dialects in England itself. Apart from 'Aluminum'. I hate 'Aluminum'.

 

[Dags90]

The theory goes that-as the world sees America as a bunch of backward retards- they simplified the language to suit said retardism.

Personally I think its pretty sensible to shorten words that have unnecessary letters. Like "colour" becomes "colour." Although I say 'colour' because I was brought up in the UK.

I'll never understand spellings like "centre", I mean I get that it comes from root words like "centro" in Italian, but Italian actually pronounces it the way one would expect. Also, Americans make liberal use of the letter "Z", which is great for Scrabble.

Really though, I think it speaks to the nature of spelling in the English language when it's so convoluted that it's a form of competition. Italians have it right, I think. With few exceptions, spelling follows from pronunciation.

Apparently there's a UK group called Spelling Society advocating for spelling reform, to make English more consistent and/or phonetic. I think this is one of the biggest hurdles in learning English. Certainly the least necessary hurdle.

 

[Macflash]

Historically, most of the spelling differences came when Webster made a dictionary and wanted to show that Americans were different from the English. He was like "Hey England, F*** all the extra U's in your words. Color, Favorite, Armor. Boom!"

 

[Jack and Calumon]

It's accents. Except that accents are also in your hands and fingers. Also, I demand that the BB code becomes friendly to Brits. I die inside when I write "COLOR" instead of "COLOUR". Also, I want World Peace. No wait, that's too easy compared to that other one. A'ight, just the first one, and make it snappy boy!

Calumon: Jack's been playing Saint's Row 2. : /

 

[NeutralDrow]

Some guy, Merriam Webster I believe, had a grand idea to make the English language phonetic and more consistent. Most of his suggestions didn't stick, but a few did for whatever reason.

I'm surprised someone beat me to the punch, but yeah, that's pretty much it.

Wish I had some examples of some of his more outlandish suggestions on hand. "Color" and "program" and the like are all well and good, but he went to pretty absurd lengths.

 

[MelasZepheos_v1legacy]

I think the more pressing question should be:

Why, despite our languages being so similar, do we find it so hard to communicate between England and America?

After all, we are two countries separated by a common language-George Bernard Shaw

 

[rokkolpo]

i guess it's just an outgrown dialect.

or they forgot how to spell the words.

 

[Doctor VonSexMachine]

Language is fluid.
As mentioned above, the deliberate changes in spelling were a political act to differentiate the US from the UK.
I don't think we have any major problems communicating across the pond, we just have different dialects of the same language.

 

[tomtom94]

I personally prefer to use the longer, more colourful (haha) English spellings of words.
In the future I foresee our language being simplified greatly a la Newspeak. Probably when it comes to creating a unified world language.