Why do Americans have to spell words differently to us English?

Answer 1

The lighter side

• After the American Revolution, the British we're not at all happy with the colonists and had had enough. The very first thing they did was repossess the u in colour, leaving Americans with the much less colorful spelling of color. They took back most of the e's that like to hang around the back end of a lot of English words and King George insisted that all access to the word bloody used as an adverb be denied the upstart Americans. The colonists were actually fine with this as they had long favored goddamned over bloody anyways. There was a bit of a sting felt to the loss of cheeky, and it remains a mystery to this day why in replacing the words Water Closet, and the loo the Americans chose Bathroom and toilet.

• For the same reason we are required to "press one for English". Makes one wonder, doesn't it?

So in conclusion aside from all that literal and historic imformation... It is basically because the history between England and America was so tense and annoying that they kinda and secretly despised each other so they found as many possibilities to make them different to each other. Of course because people have different opinions and are from different places there are different answers but secretly I think we all know its just because of pure rivalry :)

Answer 2

They are a rebellious people, born from colonial rebellion - what else do you expect?

Seriously, language evolves. The English we speak and spell today differs hugely from Tudor English, and I recall in school TRANSLATING Chaucer's 14th century English into English for English Lit O-Level!! What is happening, is that the English and American forms are drifting apart, and variances in spelling are becoming obvious to us.

The English language is always evolving and certainly evolved after it was exported to North America by settlers. Many current US words are as they were spoken in England at the time of American settlement.

American lexicographer Noah Webster (1758-1843) had an enormous influence on American English, and made great contributions towards standardizing the language.

Differences between American English and other forms of English are very apparent with our global communication which exists now on a scale never before contemplated. Some distinctions are becoming blurred, and people are becoming more accepting of the fact that all language will continue to evolve.

So, American terms are found in other English forms, and vice versa, which takes nothing from any one language and in no way diminishes any language: our cultures are enriched by every new concept and nuance which we absorb from other cultures.

The English language is a wonderfully rich mosaic of other languages from all over the world, and while some people can be petty about what they perceive as debasement of the language they see as their own, most English-speakers manage not to feel threatened by differences in spelling or usage.

It's interesting to note that those inclined to be the most pedantic seem also to be those with very fixed ideas, who might tend to believe a word they learned at ten years old has always had, still has, and ever will have, the same meaning. Frequently people will argue on this point without every opening a dictionary to check whether they're right!

The truth about language is that being ruled by dictionaries is a very modern concept and language has always been, and always will be, determined by how the person in the street speaks. That, thankfully, cannot be changed; people are too smart for that.

See link below for more information:

Answer 3

American 'English' is quite similar to Shakespearean, 17th, 18th and 19th century English. In fact many words in the US that have been in use since before the War of Independence have been lost from or had their usage changed in modern English English. There were many English accents and dialects spoken in colonial America even by colonists from outside the UK and many indigenous American, and eurpoean words, were also anglicised into US English. To accomodate all that diversity a more phonetic written form of the language appeared; as compiled by Webster. I suppose the short answer is that American English removes all the 'nuance' letters from words. The down side is that you have to work harder to amass a big Scrabble score.