Curious about the use of the letter "U" in some words between American English & Britian English

[Sonic Angel Knight]

I dunno why but this is something that i was curious about long time ever since talking to other people, how spelling some words, come to conflict cause it contradicts what i learned in school. Usually one who didn't know would say "You spelled it wrong, there is no U in color or armor" But is all due to not knowing the reason why people do spell it that way. If one knew, American English maybe fair to say is a very bad "port" Of Britian English. Use of port is just like anyone would describe video games from one console to another, is done perhaps rather poorly or unfaithful. While i am no expert on the american english with questions about it myself, the use of "Phone" Sounding like "Fone" Or "Knuckles" with unneccary K starting it cause is never sounded or pronounced, like pneumonia or pterodactyl. With so many unclear explanations, one will ask "Eh, what the heck is this?"

There is some clear distinctions of things and not so clear, that is my point. The clear thing is, the American English is probably a bad rip off "Port" Of English from England. Suddenly wondering my self the use of some words contaning a U within them like "Colour" and "Color" The one without the U is how Americans use the word while With U the "Englanders" Use the word (If englanders is offensive, please let me know, i didn't know a better word to describe people from england) So i googled my question, and got few responses here is one.

Phillip Newton says
Because of French.

Words in -our come from a Latin ending -ōrem with a long "o".

During the development from Vulgar Latin to Old French, vowel sounds changed, and this was reflected in the spelling - so -ōrem became -our (with the ending -em, which may have simply been a nasalised vowel in Vulgar Latin anyway, dropped as well).

Such words were then borrowed into English with that spelling.

Noah Webster, in his dictionary, simplified the spelling of many words; one of these simplifications was changing -our to -or. This explains why US English has the shorter ending.

Do note that "UK has -our, US has -or" is not true all across the board; for example, "governor" has -or on both sides of the Atlantic, and "glamour" often has -our even in the US.

SOURCE
There is more commets about it on the page but this wasn't as long, if i learned anything from being here is that people will complain to me about long post, so there you go. Anyway, if there anyone able to explain better i hope so, i usually get failed google search results or just bad infomration so there is that too. Teach on!

 

[sj33]

It's essentially political. Webster modified spellings to differenciate American standard from British standard. This was the immediate post-independence era when the US were keen to establish their own standards. He simplified the spellings with the intended purpose of establishing an independent US standard.

It's not uniform even within the UK, however. For example, Oxford standards actually prefer adhering to the Greek root rather than the form as taken from French (so, 'standardize' with a 'z' instead of 'standardise' with an 's'), So, Oxford standards often agree with the American standards. This is not widely adopted in the UK, however. English is a bit of a wild west when it comes to linguistic standards because there is no governing body dictating standards like with French.

It doesn't help that us British are quite irrationally touchy about this. When the Game Boy Color was released in the UK sans the 'u', the media were in uproar over how Nintendo were teaching kids 'bad' spelling.

I teach English to kids in Japan and have a rather liberal attitude towards which standards to use. If the textbook or flashcards I am using use American English, I'll go with that - I don't care, and won't confuse my kids for silly reasons. At the same time however, I work with an American who is adamant that British English is a 'dialect' of English and that American should be the standard that we teach. His stubborness is the cause of friction.

 

[Sonic Angel Knight]

@sj33 Oh, cool i didn't know you were a teacher, Tell me, what language did you learn first? Was it japanese or english, and personally do you recommend american english or original england language?

 

[sj33]

Well I'm bilingual, but English is my native language with Japanese being my second.

It doesn't matter which English you use to be honest. As a teacher, the important thing is consistancy and avoiding confusion - especially with kids. Best to keep it simple. Sometimes it can be hard. For example, I taught playground vocabulary using flashcards and all the vocabulary for playground objects seems to be different between the US and UK. In America, you use words like 'jungle gym' and 'monkey bars' - we don't use those words, we say 'climbing frame'. The only reason I know what a 'jungle gym' is is because of Disney's Recess! But I taught the American words because that's what the materials I had used and I'm not going to confuse my kids for petty political reasons.

 

[DinohScene]

I work with an American who is adamant that British English is a 'dialect' of English and that American should be the standard that we teach. His stubborness is the cause of friction.

HAHAHAHAHHAHAHA.
If it wasn't for the Brits, America wouldn't have existed.
If it wasn't for Columbus, who was a bloody Italian btw, America would've never been discovered.

"American" isn't a language.
It's a dialect of English that derived from British English.
You could say that all the languages the Native Americans spoke are true "American"

Also, I know I'll receive backlash on this but I've joked about it over and over again..
Americans don't speak English, they speak a language called "freedom"

 

[VinsCool]

At the end, it's the same language after all.

I personally was taught (as far as I could remember) to use the 'u' in colour or flavour, for example.

 

[Sonic Angel Knight]

I taught the American words because that's what the materials I had used and I'm not going to confuse my kids for petty political reasons.

Well political or not, i never considered it that way, is just a state of confusion to me, like i explained in the first post, how some teachings contradicts things, is just lot more trouble than is worth. Why have p in both words that the use of the p being pronounced is not used? It makes the word look strange. Again, is my opinion, i have no facts or evidence to say the truth, but i find it unnecessary how some words are spelled but expect me to pronounce it a way i don't find fitting for looking at the spelling.

 

[sj33]

Well political or not, i never considered it that way, is just a state of confusion to me, like i explained in the first post, how some teachings contradicts things, is just lot more trouble than is worth. Why have p in both words that the use of the p being pronounced is not used? It makes the word look strange. Again, is my opinion, i have no facts or evidence to say the truth, but i find it unnecessary how some words are spelled but expect me to pronounce it a way i don't find fitting for looking at the spelling.

English isn't a strictly phonetic language, however. Explain why the world 'enough' is pronounced the way it is. Or 'Wednesday'. Spellings are related to their linguistic origins, rather than being a fully phonetic representation of the word. Anachronisms are all over most languages. Japanese can be much the same.

 

[retrofan_k]

Tbh, being British, I prefer the American way of spelling and names for things. Color, Checks (Cheques) and Plow, (Plough)

Sidewalk instead of Pavement and Elevator instead of Lift to name a few.

 

[Sonic Angel Knight]

Tbh, being British, I prefer the American way of spelling and names for things. Color, Checks (Cheques) and Plow, (Plough)

Sidewalk instead of Pavement and Elevator instead of Lift to name a few.

Why is that, you like the names and words we use better or something? I mean is the samethings, just some longer and shorter spellings.

 

[retrofan_k]

Why is that, you like the names and words we use better or something? I mean is the samethings, just some longer and shorter spellings.

I dunno, maybe because I have spent a lot of time in the states, watch a lot of US movies/shows. I do find it funny when I mix US and UK words together, as it does confuse some when I'm away.

 

[Luckkill4u]

Being a first generation Canadian from a British family I see many differences everyday and living so close to the USA border I see the differences influence here too. Personally I find it strange people from the USA call themselves "Americans". I know its a short version of United States of America but technically Canadians are American too... We all are on the same continent lol.

 

[Kingy]

Well, as an "Englander" I would like to say that the British English language does spell better in pronunciation, but American English it is just easier to type or write. I sometimes type American for rushing things, and for more 'posh' reasons or I am not in a rush (Like right now, or most of the time.) I use my native English.

Pretty much, American English is for writing and typing, while British English is for better sounding words in my opinion.
I like both of the languages the same, but I use British English more :^)

 

[Sonic Angel Knight]

Well, as an "Englander" I would like to say that the British English language does spell better in pronunciation, but American English it is just easier to type or write. I sometimes type American for rushing things, and for more 'posh' reasons or I am not in a rush (Like right now, or most of the time.) I use my native English.

Pretty much, American English is for writing and typing, while British English is for better sounding words in my opinion.
I like both of the languages the same, but I use British English more :^)

I find this a good observation weather is true or not.

Being a first generation Canadian from a British family I see many differences everyday and living so close to the USA border I see the differences influence here too. Personally I find it strange people from the USA call themselves "Americans". I know its a short version of United States of America but technically Canadians are American too... We all are on the same continent lol.

DO canadians call them self "Canadians" Or "Americans" Like you said, both are part of the north americana region which the united states of america is part of but i mean Is all labels right? We use them to depict differences in things, Canada has different culture than USA which is reason enough to be distingished between the two zones. I honestly fall to the confusion part of things rather than understand the reasons or rules behind it. Any complaints, blame our ancessorts, we as individuals have nothing to do with it now, it was the past.

 

[Luckkill4u]

DO canadians call them self "Canadians" Or "Americans" Like you said, both are part of the north americana region which the united states of america is part of but i mean Is all labels right? We use them to depict differences in things, Canada has different culture than USA which is reason enough to be distingished between the two zones. I honestly fall to the confusion part of things rather than understand the reasons or rules behind it. Any complaints, blame our ancessorts, we as individuals have nothing to do with it now, it was the past.

I personally call myself as a Canadian but saying I'm American isn't technically wrong. We are all born on this massive plot of soil called the America's but if I'm traveling I make sure I call myself a Canadian because there are plenty of unfair biased views of people from USA around the world. I blame your forefathers on naming your country USA but I also believe the states weren't as "united" back then as they are today.

We should change your country's name to something like Murika! or Trumpada depending on who wins your election lol jk