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Anonymous Posted 20 years ago
Grammar
American english language versus British English language
I have often wondered why American English spell many words different to ourselves (I am from England) such as neighbour/neighbor, humour/humor, and also organisation/organization. Can anyone enlighten me?
Top answer
As I recall, many of these differences came from a spelling-simplification movement in the US in the early 19th century. Wikipaedia has this to say: Many of the differences were introduced into the by 's dictionary; he was a strong proponent of for a variety of reasons, both nationalistic and philosophical. There were many advocates of spelling reform in as well, but the influences of those who preferred the (or ) spellings of certain words proved decisive.
- As I recall, many of these differences came from a spelling-simplification movement in the US in the early 19th century.
- Wikipaedia has this to say: Many of the differences were introduced into the by 's dictionary; he was a strong proponent of for a variety of reasons, both nationalistic and philosophical.
- There were many advocates of spelling reform in as well, but the influences of those who preferred the (or ) spellings of certain words proved decisive.
- org/wiki/Latin_language (or ) spellings, often to words which had borrowed from French (or indirectly, Greek).
- At the time, spelling in English was not regular, and Webster was eager to distinguish American usage from usage – and in some cases to create distinctions.
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2 Answers
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As I recall, many of these differences came from a spelling-simplification movement in the US in the early 19th century. Wikipaedia has this to say:
Many of the differences were introduced into the by 's dictionary; he was a strong proponent of for a variety of reasons, both nationalistic and philosophical. There were many advocates of spelling reform in as well, but the influe
Many of the differences were introduced into the by 's dictionary; he was a strong proponent of for a variety of reasons, both nationalistic and philosophical. There were many advocates of spelling reform in as well, but the influe
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Thanks Mr. M - that was really interesting! I knew that spelling was not at all standard until quite recently (I love the quote that is attributed variously to Benjamin Franklin or Andrew Jackson that says that a man who knows only one way to spell a word has a shocking lack of imagination), but it's interesting that Mr. Webster went out of his way to create "standard" spelling that was distinct f
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