Why did America Remove the U from Colour?
Whereas British dictionary compilers opted merely to record established usage (which tended to favour French-looking words, hence the superfluous 'u'), early American dictionary compilers, notably Noah Webster, felt that simplifying the spelling - such as 'color' or 'meter' - would aid literacy and create a distinct ...
Motivated both by nationalist fervor and a desire to reform spelling, Webster proposed numerous spelling changes in his work. Some of these, such as dropping the U from honour and mould, were accepted in America. Others, such as masheen (and spelling women and ache as wimmen and ake), were not.
The “u” was introduced into English spelling via mediaeval French, and we've chosen to keep it. The Americans decided to omit it, so that they now spell these words exactly as they were spelt in Latin.
Americans and British people have many differences in the way they spell things. Those differences can be largely attributed to Merriam Webster founder Noah Webster, who proposed spelling reforms in the United States starting in the late 1700s.
By the mid-16th century, the "v" form was used to represent the consonant and "u" the vowel sound, giving us the modern letter V. U and V were not accepted as distinct letters until many years later. The rounded variant became the modern-day version of U, and the letter's former pointed form became V.
Gray and grey are both common spellings of the color between black and white. Gray is more frequent in American English, whereas grey is more common in British English. The varying usage of both grey and gray extends to specialized terms such as animal species (gray/grey whale) and scientific terms (gray/grey matter).
Spelling as a patriotic act
His motivation was both pedagogical and patriotic; he thought that making American English easier to learn, as well as more removed from British English, would help unite the young country. Most of Webster's invented spellings failed to take hold, what a surprise.
Color is the spelling used in the United States. Colour is used in other English-speaking countries. The word color has its roots (unsurprisingly) in the Latin word color. It entered Middle English through the Anglo-Norman colur, which was a version of the Old French colour.
Our lexicographical forefather, Noah Webster, was a great believer in spelling reform, and was in a powerful position to make that reform a reality. Among his many contributions to distinctly American spelling was his insistence that words like realize have a "z" to match their \z\ .
While the accent of the American South might be difficult to comprehend for many students of the English language, its original form was actually much closer to British English, albeit with a playful inflection.
Why do Americans not have British accents?
The first is isolation; early colonists had only sporadic contact with the mother country. The second is exposure to other languages, and the colonists came into contact with Native American languages, mariners' Indian English pidgin and other settlers, who spoke Dutch, Swedish, French and Spanish.
Why do the British use an 's' in words like 'realise' but the Americans use a 'z'? It's because American English spelling, many of the rules of which were devised by Noah Webster, who thought it would develop into a separate language, follows the rules of Latin and Greek, whereas British English uses those of French.
The “American English” we know and use today in an American accent first started out as an “England English” accent. According to a linguist at the Smithsonian, Americans began putting their own spin on English pronunciations just one generation after the colonists started arriving in the New World.
The primary exception, of course, is in the United States where “z” is pronounced “zee”. The British and others pronounce “z”, “zed”, owing to the origin of the letter “z”, the Greek letter “Zeta”. This gave rise to the Old French “zede”, which resulted in the English “zed” around the 15th century.
In all reality, the standard British accent was the one that changed significantly in the last two centuries while the American accent stayed more or less the same. During the American Revolution, the English language started to change in Britain. A new wealthy sector emerged during the industrial revolution.
According to dictionary.com, the reason is history. Most buildings that encompass Roman-style architecture use the Latin alphabet, which only had 23 letters at one time, not including the letter U. The “U” sound still existed, but it was represented with the letter V.
The Romans meant V as V, which they might sometimes write as U. They had only one letter, V, where we have two letters, U and V. They also had only one letter, I, where we have I and J.
The answer lies in the advent of the printing press in the 15th century. Originally, it was a single double-u block or even two “v's” if they didn't have the less commonly used “w” block. Then, as the technology continued to progress and became more streamlined, it was replaced with a double-v block.
We'll do you a solid and tell you that “grateful” is the correct word and greatful is actually a common misspelling. Grateful has its word origins in Latin gratus, which means 'for thanks'.
Canadians prefer the spelling grey, although gray is also correct. Grey is the preferred spelling in Britain, while gray is favoured in the United States. A tolerant and forgiving person, my aunt never saw the world in black and white, but always in shades of grey.
How does Crayola spell grey?
How Does Crayola Spell Gray? Crayola spells the color gray with an A.
Webster decided to chop the past tense of “cancel” down to one l. This variation first showed up in the Webster's 1898 Dictionary, though it didn't fully beat out the double-l spelling until about the 1980s. It's not a hard-and-fast rule, but it's the accepted form in American English to this day.
It used to be tested nationally. And even though spelling is now proven to increase reading scores, it's not uncommon for principals to tell teachers to skip teaching spelling because they need the time for test prep.
Grey and gray are two different spellings of the same word. Gray is more common in the U.S., while grey is more common in other English-speaking countries. In proper names—like Earl Grey tea and the unit Gray, among others—the spelling stays the same, and they need to be memorized.
It's no secret that we Canadians spell differently from our cousins in the United States: We put a “u” in words like “colour” and “favour”; Americans leave it out. We spell “theatre” and “centre” with an “re” at the end; they spell them with an “er”
You must choose all US spelling or all UK spelling. You can't write some words with American spelling and other words with British spelling. Choose your language and stick to it.
The American Chemical Society (ACS) officially adopted aluminum in 1925, but in 1990 The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) accepted aluminium as the international standard. And so we land today: with aluminum used by the English speakers of North America, and aluminium used everywhere else.
Aluminum is preferred in North America, whereas Aluminium is the spelling preferred in the United Kingdom and most other English-speaking nations.
realize vs. realise Our respondents had a preference for realize with a “z”. This is the spelling most common in the United States, while realise dominates in Britain. These results confirm those in published studies that find Canadians also prefer “z” in the –ize/ise suffix (realize, finalize).
Bostonian. One of America's most imitated and parodied accents, Boston almost comes out on top of the country's sexiest accents.
What is the nicest American accent?
Overwhelmingly, people like the Southern accent best, followed by British and Australian accents. Southern accents tend to be thought of as friendly and welcoming, while British and Australian accents are more exotic.
According to the renowned American linguist William Labov, the New York accent is often perceived as the “most American” as it's the one that appears all the time in popular culture. Like it happens in Boston, New Yorkers tend to drop their r's and change the quality of vowels.
The British Accent
The Great British accent proved to be the most difficult of all the accents to imitate – along with the regional Yorkshire and Cockney pronunciations, in particular.
Bloody. Don't worry, it's not a violent word… it has nothing to do with “blood”.”Bloody” is a common word to give more emphasis to the sentence, mostly used as an exclamation of surprise. Something may be “bloody marvellous” or “bloody awful“. Having said that, British people do sometimes use it when expressing anger…
It is the standard British accent that has drastically changed in the past two centuries, while the typical American accent has changed only subtly.
The American Chemical Society adopted “aluminum” because of how widely it was used by the public, but the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry officially designated the metal as “aluminium” as recently as 1990.
Some People Move the S Back
Linguists call this pronunciation S-retraction or S-backing, because the SH sound is made with the tongue slightly farther back inside the mouth than it is for the S sound. So you're moving the S farther back in your mouth: S-backing.
Zee became the standard way to pronounce Z in the United States in the 19th century. It's said that zee most likely came about because it rhymes with other letter pronunciations in the English alphabet (e.g., e, d, c, b, g, and p).
Difference Between Color and Colour
Color is the spelling used in the United States. Colour is used in other English-speaking countries. The word color has its roots (unsurprisingly) in the Latin word color. It entered Middle English through the Anglo-Norman colur, which was a version of the Old French colour.
A London court called the Old Bailey ruled in the 17th century that -our endings were the correct British spelling. It became commonly accepted in Britain that in cases where an English suffix or suffixes of Greek or Latin origins are attached, the u is kept.
Why does America spell color differently?
In order to differentiate American English from British English, Webster wanted the American version to be free of the “clamor of pedantry” he thought marked the English language.
The main difference is that British English keeps the spelling of words it has absorbed from other languages, mainly French and German. Whilst American English spellings are based mostly on how the word sounds when it is spoken.
Magenta doesn't exist because it has no wavelength; there's no place for it on the spectrum. The only reason we see it is because our brain doesn't like having green (magenta's complement) between purple and red, so it substitutes a new thing.
Gender-neutral colours like yellow, white, brown, green and orange are great choices for boys and girls alike. Even better, all of these colours can be paired with various shades of blue or pink if desired.
The team of researchers discovered bright pink pigment in rocks taken from deep beneath the Sahara in Africa. The pigment was dated at 1.1 billion years old, making it the oldest color on geological record.
Red, White, and Blue.
Hawaii takes the crown with the most common misspelling across the United States. The most common misspellings are “Hawiia” “Hawaai” and “Hawiie.”
- Coolly (common misspelling: Cooly)
- Minuscule (common misspelling: Miniscule)
- Sergeant (common misspelling: Sargent)
- Liaison (common misspelling: Liason)
- Protester (common misspelling: Protestor)
- Supersede (common misspelling: Supercede)
Zee became the standard way to pronounce Z in the United States in the 19th century. It's said that zee most likely came about because it rhymes with other letter pronunciations in the English alphabet (e.g., e, d, c, b, g, and p).