Why do Americans spell colour without a "u"?

jsrace2003

darrel m
An American who speaks English yet tells the English they use the wrong spellings! Is that not the height of dumb arrogance?

bored brunette
That was quite funny.

David

I have a question for you. Why does it even matter? we are 2 different nations. Why does Mexico and Spain use slightly different versions of Spanish, because they are each their own country and can do what they please.

â™¥prettyâ™¥

It's mostly because of Noah Webster;; he published the first dictionary of American English hundreds of years ago, and he's probably the one who started the difference in spellings.

â™¥SA-Spursâ™¥

What does this have to do with military?

bored brunette

We dropped yor u's when we dropped yor Qeen.
: ) : ) : )

darrell m

the proper way to spell color is color, notice no "u" in color is there. now if you cross the Atlantic to the Uk it's spelled colour notice the difference? it's different, because we're different. while we speak English we're not English there is a whole Ocean that separates us from you.

George S

We dropped the u also in honour, and probably others. I think Noah Webster (he was our Samuel Johnson) deleted unnecessary letters. I assume those words came from Norman French.

English is a hodge-podge language anyway. It is a combination of Latin, Norse, Norman (Norse) French, Angle's Danish, Saxon's German, and who knows what else. Johnson, I understand, codified the various tongues into English (Anglish? -- I heard some Danes voice that very round "O" often heard from English mouths).

Sorry armouror2000, I'll use our closest proper English, from immigrant descendants still holding some Elizabethan: "Ya'all say et how ye wa-ant, and spell et how ye wa-ant. We ken et aye-ether why."

Of course that's a lot of Scots-Irish influence. Both those had a fairly unique language, not so much a conglomeration.

david g

After the Saxon (German) and Norman (French) invasions of England, the country developed a Anglo-Saxon type of language.English.But it had a more Latin leaning to it.Prior to the mentioned invasions, England was under Roman (Latin) domination.This explains the Latin "U" in such words.
Later on, when the colonist came to the new world, they were mostly English.But later on came the Dutch (Germanic language) and then the Germans.In many parts of the colonies, German was spoken about as much as English.This eventually reduced the French influence in the English language.The US becoming roughly a half Germanic, half English/French/Latin speaking country.
If you look at the US constitution, the letter "s" is replaced by a German "f".By the way, this country was one vote short of becoming a German speaking nation.
As for the French word "colour" and the German word "kolor".Take out the French "U" but replace the German "k" with a Latin "c" and you get the American word "color".

Mrsjvb

yeap.. mainly it was an act of defiance against Great Britain. Besides sticking an extra i in aluminum is silly anyway....

Lu W

This is not the right section.

But if you want an answer: Because we really don't care. We don't use the metric system either.

armouror2000

Because Americans don't spell english don't speak english

they Are Americans

Note aluminium One of early chemistry's true geniuses, Davy was knighted and received a baronetcy in 1812 for developing ALUMINIUM the origional and correct English spelling

So once again the Americans spell it the American way

I used to get Report when i was in the Military and it was so badly spelt i sent it back and got told i did spell check with my computer

so the directive was Not to use Websters and to set spell check to UK English or Australian English

If you spell American I will not except the report and anyone that calls me buddy over the phone i hang up

Like the Phone Call from some sales person from america

Congratulations Budddy you have won and i hung up he was no buddy of mine not even a mate or a pal or a friend so rude

My favorite Phrase is You have a Nice day now Ya Hear and do come back Y all

People in the rest of the world need to remember Americans always think they Are Right and the Colour of Night is right

Bert Weidemeier

After we signed the Declaration of Independence, and kicked the British out, we changed the way we spell things here.

Ross

why do YOU spell it WITH a "U"??
goes both ways in my book.
i'm sure you cant answer my question, just like i cant answer your question with good explanation

NSA

Because we spell it correctly, in our country. In your country you can spell how you wish.

Nemesis

Maybe they are just lazy, and too many letters in a word might confuse them

Alex S

they arent very well educated. There are dozens of words they spell incorrectly.

USA was my mentor

Yes , its true , I am a former graduate at The School of the Americas and they call " eater" what is called dining room in English.

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