# American Incorrect Spelling **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 7, 2005, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-incorrect-spelling/325185 "2005-10-07T14:12:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2005, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-incorrect-spelling/325185/21 "2005-10-07T15:23:41Z")
> [@Giles](#): > > Do you say “It is me” or “It is I”? When my mom was working at Gibbs Flight Service (MYF, San Diego) one of the pilots who rented there would say, ‘Whom, I?’ ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2005, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-incorrect-spelling/325185/22 "2005-10-07T15:29:17Z")
> [@The Chao Goes Mu](#): > > To the OP, I realize you may be trying to be cute but you do realize neither way is wrong. It’s strictly cultural. What is acceptable and “correct” in England may not be so here and vice versa. While that’s true, there IS one way you can be grammatically “wrong” in using the British or American spellings. That’s if you mix them up. Use Britsh spellings _consistently_, even if you’re not British; use American spellings _consistently_, even if you’re not American; either way, you’re grammatically correct. But PLEASE don’t use SOME British spellings and reject others because you “like” some. I’ve known people who like “armour” but reject “honour” for example. It is confusing and alienating to the reader to switch back and forth. Worse, it is an _affectation_ that makes you, the writer, look like the kind of person who thinks he or she can pick and choose what rules to follow just to be cute. Sailboat ---
**Author:** ![toadspittle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c0e974/32.png) [@toadspittle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toadspittle)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2005, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-incorrect-spelling/325185/23 "2005-10-07T16:45:43Z")
> [@The Flying Dutchman](#): > > Why do Americans spell “colour” incorrectly? We’re colorblind. However, we see most other words just fine. ---
**Author:** ![Mathochist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c89c15/32.png) [@Mathochist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mathochist)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2005, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-incorrect-spelling/325185/24 "2005-10-07T17:13:18Z")
> [@Johnny L.A.](#): > > I’ve used the ‘u’ since I was a kid, because I found it more aesthetically pleasing. And you survived? I used to get beat up for that. ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2005, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-incorrect-spelling/325185/25 "2005-10-07T22:04:32Z")
I looked up color in my encyclopædia. It ought to have the extra “u”. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2005, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-incorrect-spelling/325185/26 "2005-10-07T23:18:22Z")
> [@Mehitabel](#): > > Anyway, there’s almost 300 million of us, so we win. 😃 The country with the highest number of English speakers is, in fact, India. “Colour” wins. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2005, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-incorrect-spelling/325185/27 "2005-10-07T23:27:24Z")
> [@Giles](#): > > Do you say “It is me” or “It is I”? I say, “It is I.” I also answer the phone about half the time with, “This is he.” The rest of the time, I answer with, “나는 몬티 입니다.” 😃 Of course, those responses depend on the question (and language) that precedes them. ---
**Author:** ![Neurotik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/91b2a8/32.png) [@Neurotik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neurotik)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2005, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-incorrect-spelling/325185/28 "2005-10-07T23:27:53Z")
> [@TheLoadedDog](#): > > The country with the highest number of English speakers is, in fact, India. “Colour” wins. 😃 Yeah, but we’d win in a fight. And as everyone knows, might makes right. ---
**Author:** ![seosamh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce7236/32.png) [@seosamh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seosamh)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2005, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-incorrect-spelling/325185/29 "2005-10-07T23:29:45Z")
I once felt compelled to complain to a newspaper in Australia (the Adelaide Advertiser, if you must know) which, in its coverage of the 1987 UK General Election, kept referring to the “Labor Party”. The letter was actually printed, under the sarcastic title “Laboring A Point”. (Yes, **Giles** , some, if not most, Australians use the simplified spelling.) ---
**Author:** ![Plynck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Plynck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Plynck)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2005, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-incorrect-spelling/325185/30 "2005-10-07T23:41:46Z")
I know! Let’s ask [John Cleese](http://www.snopes.com/politics/satire/revocation.asp)! > [@TheLoadedDog](#): > > The country with the highest number of English speakers is, in fact, India. “Colour” wins. 😃 Yeah, but we have WalMart and SUVs and fast food and… Okay, “colour” wins. In payment, please send Stilton and Best Bitter. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9fc348/32.png) [@The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Flying_Dutchman)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2005, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-incorrect-spelling/325185/31 "2005-10-08T00:26:54Z")
> [@Mehitabel](#): > > (quoted by Mehitabel) > As a spelling reformer, Webster believed that English spelling rules were unnecessarily complex, so his dictionary introduced American spellings like “color” instead of the English “colour”, “music” instead " of “musick”, “wagon” instead of “waggon”, “center” instead of “centre”, and “honor” instead of “honour”. He also added American words that were not in English dictionaries like “skunk” and “squash”. At the age of seventy, Webster published his dictionary in 1828. Yet the misspelling of “honour” has been documented some 50 odd years earlier in The [Declaration of Independance](http://www.usconstitution.net/declar.html) > [@](#): > > And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred **Honor**. ---
**Author:** ![chrisk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@chrisk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chrisk)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2005, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-incorrect-spelling/325185/32 "2005-10-08T00:47:41Z")
> [@Neurotik](#): > > Yeah, but we’d win in a fight. And as everyone knows, might makes right. Hmmm… okay, not quite sure if this is appropriate for GQ, but your post just made me think of something… if the US really thought that combat power was more important than mere numbers, wouldn’t we have: **Republicans versus Democrats – Rumble for the Union** No holds barred. Whoever wins gets to put their strongman in the white house. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2005, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-incorrect-spelling/325185/33 "2005-10-08T00:50:00Z")
Libertarians would win. We have all the guns! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2005, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-incorrect-spelling/325185/34 "2005-10-08T00:51:18Z")
> [@The Flying Dutchman](#): > > Why do Americans spell “colour” incorrectly? My Mom is Canadian, and Dad’s American. My spelling is terrible! I can’t tell you how many basic words I have to think twice how to spell! For example, “Please write me out a cheque for the colour paints and cash for the grey paints…” Drives me nuts! - Jinx ---
**Author:** ![Excalibre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@Excalibre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Excalibre)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2005, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-incorrect-spelling/325185/35 "2005-10-08T02:11:17Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > It was we who changed the name… > It was us who changed the name… > > If you say so - I’m not a grammar expert ‘we who’ doesn’t roll off the tongue though, does it (I understand that this doesn’t make it wrong). It’s “us”, not “we”. Using “we” there I suppose could merely pass as extremely outdated and pretentious, but I’d argue that it’s at very least poor style. The compliment to “be” in English has always been an objective pronoun - “It’s me”, not “It’s I”; this is another case in which a rule from Latin was misapplied to English. In Latin, the compliment of any copulative had to remain in the same case as the other noun; in English, not so. The choice that “rolls off the tongue better” is of course the correct choice; the fact that it’s more natural to say reflects that it’s the product of your underlying, unconscious mastery of English grammar, even if that goes against misbegotten ideas from prescriptivists grammar school teachers. ---
**Author:** ![Excalibre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@Excalibre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Excalibre)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2005, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-incorrect-spelling/325185/36 "2005-10-08T02:12:41Z")
> [@The Flying Dutchman](#): > > Yet the misspelling of “honour” has been documented some 50 odd years earlier in The [Declaration of Independance](http://www.usconstitution.net/declar.html) The Declaration of Independence is notorious nowadays for its inconsistent spelling. Such things were simply less standardized back then, and quills didn’t automatically leave squiggly red lines under misspelled words. ---
**Author:** ![Nic2004](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/4491bb/32.png) [@Nic2004](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nic2004)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2005, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-incorrect-spelling/325185/37 "2005-10-08T02:34:02Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Libertarians would win. We have all the guns! 😃 Once again you’ve beat me to it. Only I was going to say Repulicans and the NRA! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2005, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-incorrect-spelling/325185/38 "2005-10-08T04:54:26Z")
> [@TheLoadedDog](#): > > The country with the highest number of English speakers is, in fact, India. “Colour” wins. 😃 You sure of that fact? I mean about the number of English speakers in India. The numbers I’ve seen have usually been significantly less than those in the US. Of course whether you count people with low levels of fluency also makes a difference in the counts. As for the words with the -our/or spelling differences, there are actually over 30 such words. I used to have a list of them somewhere, lets see… ah, here we are arbour arbor ardour ardor armour armor behaviour behavior candour candor clamour clamor clangour clangor colour color demeanour demeanor dolour dolor enamour enamor endeavour endeavor favour favor favourite favorite fervour fervor flavour flavor harbour harbor honour honor humour humor labour labor misdemeanour misdemeanor neighbour neighbor neighbourhood neighborhood odour odor parlour parlor paviour pavior rancour rancor rigour rigor rumour rumor saviour savior savour savor splendour splendor succour succor tumour tumor valour valor vapour vapor vigour vigor There’s lots of other British/American spelling differences, all told perhaps a thousand or so words, although many of them are just a difference in whether the last letter of a word is doubled when adding a suffix. ---
**Author:** ![fortytwo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f9ae1b/32.png) [@fortytwo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fortytwo)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2005, 9:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-incorrect-spelling/325185/39 "2005-10-08T09:56:11Z")
> [@Tapioca Dextrin](#): > > I looked up color in my encyclopædia. It ought to have the extra “u”. 😉 I wonder why? 🙂 On a similiar note, most of the words already mentioned I have got used to seeing and have learnt to accept the difference, but the one that grates on me is **fetus**. I can’t explain it though. ---
**Author:** ![Fridgemagnet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/22d042/32.png) [@Fridgemagnet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fridgemagnet)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2005, 10:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-incorrect-spelling/325185/40 "2005-10-08T10:23:56Z")
Spelling wasn’t standardised (standardized) on either side of the Pond until Johnson and Webster produced their respective dictionaries. Until then, all spelling had been phonetic, inconsistent, and dependent upon accent. Shakespeare famously spelled his name several different ways. The roots of particular American accents can generally be traced to original (European) settlers. Likewise social attitudes, as we sent you all our Puritans. 😉 US English spelling will ultimately supplant UK English spelling, purely due to cultural domination and Microsoft spell checkers. A shame really, but all things must pass I suppose. Interestingly, the Australian accent seems to be some sort of English mixed with Aboriginal inflections and cadences. Any cunning linguists among us who can shed light on this? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-incorrect-spelling/325185.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-incorrect-spelling/325185.md?page=3)