What's with American Spelling?

[IrishTickle1]

I was just wondering about the way some words or spelt in the US compared to the rest of the world. Things like sulphur being spelt sulfur and things like that. Does anyone know how this actually came about? Was some moron given a summer job by Websters and they didn't realise until it was too late?

 

[Timewarp]

Same reason why englishmen butcher the language with their accent, that's just how it is somewhere else.

 

[TheChameleon]

actually, I believe it has to do more with the uneducated-ness of the 'mericans.

 

[Senshi1]

Actually, I'd prefer the American spellings - they tell it like it is, bro! Unlike our words, trying to cram in as many fancy spellings as possible.

Anyway, American-English is technically another language (so that makes us all bilingual), so it's allowed. 😛

 

[Beaunanza]

If I had my way, I'd spell everything according to how it sounds. Keep "C" either with an "S" sound or a "K" sound. Now that I write this, I don't see any need for "C" at all. Oh wait....we need it for "CH" sounds. Krap.

 

[Senshi1]

If I had my way, I'd spell everything according to how it sounds. Keep "C" either with an "S" sound or a "K" sound. Now that I write this, I don't see any need for "C" at all. Oh wait....we need it for "CH" sounds. Krap.

Just invent a new symbol for "ch" - problem solved. ^_^

 

[Celtic_Emperor]

Some words I don't mind, like daemon instead of demon. As long as it supposed to be pronounced the same way its not that bad.

 

[Yet_One_More_Idiot]

I saw one reformation idea for the English language, where soft c was replaced with s, hard c with k. X was replaced ks, and then the symbol X was used to denote what is currently written as ch (I think). Among other ideas, such as removing double consonants and the like. 🙂 I think it was written by Mark Twain.

 

[Timewarp]

You know what be weird, an actual new letter. I can't even wrap my mine around a new letter.

 

[ticklefiend30001]

I saw one reformation idea for the English language, where soft c was replaced with s, hard c with k. X was replaced ks, and then the symbol X was used to denote what is currently written as ch (I think). Among other ideas, such as removing double consonants and the like. 🙂 I think it was written by Mark Twain.

I think you will find it was Ben Franklin, and he started to write letters like that, but it didn't catch on.

 

[cpr1815]

I remember in an anthropology course I took some years back, the instructor said that language evolves at an average of 19% every 500 years. That's how linguists can determine how many years ago particular groups of people who speak similar languages, split. Of course, I doubt that the British and American versions of English changed as rapidly as 19% due to the fact that the two nations have been in continual contact, but there is enough time for the two countries to definitely have evolved the shared langauge in different directions, somewhat. Two different institutions of thought, obviously.

In fact, I recall another discussion with another instructor who said that Americans have the habit of when they are eating, let's say, steak, to take the fork out of their right hand, place it in their left hand, place their knife in their right hand and cut the meat. When they are done cutting, they will set the knife down, and return the fork to the right hand to eat. He said that this is unique to Americans (I cannot personally say, because I have not watched the eating habits of foreigners), and that it was first done in the 1770s as a way for American colonists who were "patriots" to make each other known to one another in a secret manner. I've never heard this anywhere else, and frankly, I don't know why I have recalled such a vague piece of information years later LOL.

 

[BigNorm]

I was just wondering about the way some words or spelt in the US compared to the rest of the world. Things like sulphur being spelt sulfur and things like that. Does anyone know how this actually came about? Was some moron given a summer job by Websters and they didn't realise until it was too late?

that isn't anything like hearing ghetto talk. like wassup, aight?

lol, i must say, the american english language is the hardest to learn. takes kids 6 years and 12 grade levels and they still don't learn it all.

 

[Betchass1]

In fact, I recall another discussion with another instructor who said that Americans have the habit of when they are eating, let's say, steak, to take the fork out of their right hand, place it in their left hand, place their knife in their right hand and cut the meat. When they are done cutting, they will set the knife down, and return the fork to the right hand to eat. He said that this is unique to Americans (I cannot personally say, because I have not watched the eating habits of foreigners), and that it was first done in the 1770s as a way for American colonists who were "patriots" to make each other known to one another in a secret manner. I've never heard this anywhere else, and frankly, I don't know why I have recalled such a vague piece of information years later LOL.

Amazing, I never knew that. I do remember being specifically taught to do it though, I didn't just pick it up. It sticks with you though.
Many American traditions came about to buck the English ones. I don't remember which way is which, but supposedly our horse tracks were set up to run the opposite direction. We largely gave up tea in favor of coffee. I don't know how the opposite-side-of-the-road thing came about. I would not be at all surprised if some of the spelling here were intended to simply be different from the British.

 

[Betchass1]

I was just wondering about the way some words or spelt in the US compared to the rest of the world. Things like sulphur being spelt sulfur and things like that. Does anyone know how this actually came about? Was some moron given a summer job by Websters and they didn't realise until it was too late?

English itself is a mongrel bastard language, formed from several pre-existing languages.
Our capacity for language is more closely linked to our ears than our eyes. The part of the brain that processes language is far closer to the left auditory cortex than the visual cortex, which is at the back of the brain. A simple, obvious fact is that *spoken* language precedes *written* language by many many years. Even dogs can follow some bits of human speech, but never the writing.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A31130-2004Jun10

The earliest written languages attempted to imitate the objects described. Heiroglyphics, Chinese. Extremely inefficient, because the visual cues have to go farther in the brain to be transformed into meaning and sound. A language like most modern languages, which has letters that represent the sounds of the word, as opposed to the meaning, is much faster to learn and use. This was the great advantage of languages like Hebrew and Greek. The faster the visual symbols turn into aural associations, the faster we can make sense of them.

It is extremely difficult to learn to read if you cannot speak. Speech almost always comes first, unless an individual is deaf or mute. So it is totally understandable that, while trying to scrape by in a "savage" land, when harvesting and storing food for the winter is a bit more urgent than reading Shakespeare, spellings get morphed. But languages always exist before dictionaries, so this is no different than the way the English did it, or the Germans, or anyone.

Elision also seems to be a constant in language. Shorter and shorter words and phrases suffice when people have been communicating for a long time. In Philly, I often hear "Yunawmee" instead of "You know what I mean," which is already an abbreviation of "Do you know what I mean?" Look to Jamaican and Cajun speech for many more examples.

Incidentally, they say Dutch is one language that has not changed at all in the last 500 years. High level of education there. The Dutch were also reknowned for their slave trading...

 

[Horse1]

On a related note: I'm sure you all have tried to discern a common denominator among us tickling "enthusiasts." But it certainly isn't education level, is it? 🙂 There are people here who write in an extremely sophisticated style, and others who appear to be far less bright. Interesting, isn't it?

 

[Senshi1]

You know what be weird, an actual new letter. I can't even wrap my mine around a new letter.

You know what'd be weirder than that? A new color. Not a different shade of an existing colour, a completely new one.

that isn't anything like hearing ghetto talk. like wassup, aight

If that were the case, wouldn't it be "sulfa"? 😛

 

[BigNorm]

If that were the case, wouldn't it be "sulfa"? 😛

dats wut i'm sayin, aight?!

 

[Hungarian21]

*looks at title* tell me about it...XD

 

[Journia]

Simply, I believe it was because the americans wished to be liberated from the english, and also decided to, "Americanize" or Americanise, whichever you would like, certain words which they thought could be changed without damining the hwole hting to an abyss of confusion. I mean, hey, make small changes, rather than big changes, and they reformations are bound to happen right?

 

[Cbarton]

Many are because Noah Webster wanted to make spelling easier for the colonists (being mostly small farmers with not much 'proper' British education) and to make American English unique from British English.

Reminds of the joke about an American and a Brit arguing over words. The American said you should call it a "windshield' and not a 'windscreen' since we invented the car. The Brit calmly replied. "Well, WE invented the language..."

(and no one please flame me over who really invented the automobile...it's just a joke...role with it, ok?)

 

[Journia]

Tyclonian?
Oh yeas...Um..
Webster..Good.

 

[Cbarton]

Tyclonian?

yes, Tyclonian (Tie-clo-nian)...it's a story series I've developed that will soon be released...

 

[Journia]

Okay, It had the exact spelling of an alien race I made once, but differen't pronunciation...hmm...

 

[TheChameleon]

On a related note: I'm sure you all have tried to discern a common denominator among us tickling "enthusiasts." But it certainly isn't education level, is it? 🙂 There are people here who write in an extremely sophisticated style, and others who appear to be far less bright. Interesting, isn't it?

"Yeah, I've wondered how many people believe i'm a bumbling idiot."

*sees the show of hands*

"...nevermind."

 

[Kalamos]

(and no one please flame me over who really invented the automobile...it's just a joke...role with it, ok?)

Or who really invented the language...