tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3794697684312522467.post2824997657276411407..comments2024-03-14T04:13:52.274-04:00Comments on Lost in the Pond | British accent. American life.: Why Do Americans Spell 'Colour' Without a 'U'?Laurence Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12273049523024052213noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3794697684312522467.post-21903893534289711182013-11-08T19:36:15.545-05:002013-11-08T19:36:15.545-05:00Artistic independence in and of itself was not so ...Artistic independence in and of itself was not so much Webster's goal as was standardization and, crucially, the promotion of republican linguistic habits. He wanted, in other words, to purify American English of what were considered aristocratic embellishments, and to base inclusion in his dictionary on the standard of how people spoke, as opposed to a written standard. Plus, there was a perceived need to further unify the states by adopting a single spelling for both New Hampshire and Georgia and everywhere in between, u-inclusive or not. Irene C.https://www.blogger.com/profile/09000968524312501709noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3794697684312522467.post-54735190137232220912013-11-03T21:47:20.605-05:002013-11-03T21:47:20.605-05:00While Webster was very influential in ensuring tha...While Webster was very influential in ensuring that spelling like "color" became the American standard, he did not invent them. "Color" was the original spelling in Latin, and it was a long-established variant in English (<a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=gmtbAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA357&dq=color&hl=en&sa=X&ei=qwl3UryTFM3rigKIvoDABA&ved=0CE4Q6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q=color&f=false" rel="nofollow">here</a> is a random hit from Google Books, from an English book published in the mid eighteenth century).<br /><br />In several words, such as "error", "mirror", and "governor", both British and Americans have dropped the formerly common "u". Search Dr Johnson's dictionary, and you will find these words listed as "errour", "governour", etc.vphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16647609487352038948noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3794697684312522467.post-27556825516404882042013-09-26T21:16:32.515-04:002013-09-26T21:16:32.515-04:00Good post! As an English teacher, the questions ab...Good post! As an English teacher, the questions about the relationship between the spelling of the word and the pronunciation often stump me, so simpler is better. In some cases, the American English is closer to the pronunciation, like in color or theater. In others, it's still mystifying. This document is one of my favorites: http://www.harbeck.ca/James/harbeck_spelling_handout_20090606.pdfKaley [Y Mucho Más]http://ymuchomas.comnoreply@blogger.com