Important notice from the GRAMMAR POLICE. Plz read. This means you.
Roflganger:
Quote from: Audrey on 2009 July 14, 07:54:07
BTW, where did you Americans learn to spell? When you read an 'English' novel, you must wonder about why Shakespeare added a 'u' to Love's Labours Lost. What happened to all the 'u's in the words ending in 'our'?
Just as with pronunciation, how can anyone call regional variations in spelling or grammar incorrect? American English is not subject to UK English rules. Regardless of the reasons for the deviations, the deviations are there, they're real, they're official, and they're right.
And no one wonders why there's a U in labour/flavour/colour or why it's centre instead of center beyond about the 3rd grade, because we Americans learn pretty early that American English is different from UK English.
Audrey:
Quote from: Roflganger on 2009 July 14, 08:15:50
Quote from: Audrey on 2009 July 14, 07:54:07
BTW, where did you Americans learn to spell? When you read an 'English' novel, you must wonder about why Shakespeare added a 'u' to Love's Labours Lost. What happened to all the 'u's in the words ending in 'our'?
Just as with pronunciation, how can anyone call regional variations in spelling or grammar incorrect? American English is not subject to UK English rules. Regardless of the reasons for the deviations, the deviations are there, they're real, they're official, and they're right.
And no one wonders why there's a U in labour/flavour/colour or why it's centre instead of center beyond about the 3rd grade, because we Americans learn pretty early that American English is different from UK English.
Why have the Americans changed the English language? What was wrong with the original English? Do the Americans think that their version is the correct one or are they aware that it is a deviation from the standard of spelling used around the world EXCEPT in America? I find this a little arrogant of the US, no offence to any American on here as you did not make the changes.
chaos:
It's supposed to be more efficient.
Roflganger:
Languages evolve. Is it arrogance that Mexican Spanish differs from the language spoken in Spain? Or, closer to home, that Afrikaans differs from Dutch? Americans, in general, are not trying to foist their spellings on everyone else. On the contrary, as seems to be the case here, there's this frequent insistence that American English is somehow wrong, just because it's different. Many languages share a common starting ground but have all developed and changed beyond them.
rufio:
Quote from: Audrey on 2009 July 14, 07:54:07
BTW, where did you Americans learn to spell? When you read an 'English' novel, you must wonder about why Shakespeare added a 'u' to Love's Labours Lost. What happened to all the 'u's in the words ending in 'our'?
So, are you Brits seriously confused as to why so many American authors leave out the u in those words? Do they not teach you that the "Queen's English" is not a universal phenomenon, or even that English is not spoken everywhere else?
Quote from: Audrey on 2009 July 14, 09:17:42
Why have the Americans changed the English language? What was wrong with the original English? Do the Americans think that their version is the correct one or are they aware that it is a deviation from the standard of spelling used around the world EXCEPT in America? I find this a little arrogant of the US, no offence to any American on here as you did not make the changes.
This is like asking why the Romans decided to stop speaking Latin and start speaking Italian (was there something wrong with Latin?!!!!1111) Language change happens. Brits these days are not speaking the same English as Shakespeare did either.
As for spelling reform, there has been (and still is) a school of thought that English should be phonemic, or something, and that we should just get rid of silent letters or ridiculous spellings from French, and so forth. I don't particularly sympathize with them, not because I like the French spellings and silent letters, but because if you change the way English is spelled then everyone has to re-learn how to read. Changing ou to o is not a drastic change like that, though (it's a bit like how you now see "thru" instead of "through" (e.g. "Drive-Thru") or "donut" instead of "doughnut", which is practically standard). I don't think it really accomplished anything, but it didn't hurt anything either.
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