# spelling things **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 12, 2004, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-things/244769 "2004-05-12T12:05:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![olihale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/858c86/32.png) [@olihale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/olihale)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2004, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-things/244769/1 "2004-05-12T12:05:25Z")
what is the reason behind the differences in American and English spelling- like colour here in britain and color in America? What else is there… sulphur and sulfer foetus and fetus is it just that you guys realised our spelling was a bit odd? ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Kobayashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4af34b/32.png) [@Mr.Kobayashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Kobayashi)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2004, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-things/244769/2 "2004-05-12T12:10:56Z")
[Here’s](http://www.gsu.edu/~wwwesl/egw/jones/differences.htm) a big list of other differences. [Here’s](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_English#History) a wikipedia on why it occured. ---
**Author:** ![olihale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/858c86/32.png) [@olihale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/olihale)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2004, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-things/244769/3 "2004-05-12T12:17:40Z")
ah, thank you, so it seems it was just because we’ve got some odd spellings, which is fair enough, but this guy webster with his dictionary, what gave him authority to change a language? and why did people listen? I understand that in france they have some kind of counsel to prevent new spellings coming into use. webster had a good idea though. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2004, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-things/244769/4 "2004-05-12T12:26:52Z")
Many of the changes came after Webster. IIRC the usage of “gaol” and “cheque” stopped in the US during Teddy Roosevelt’s time. Webster took it upon himself to write a dictionary of American English. Since no one else had, it became the authority. But it was a matter of people accepting his choices, not his dictating them to anyone, and many of his suggestions (e.g., “-tion” pronounced “si-on”) were not accepted. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2004, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-things/244769/5 "2004-05-12T15:52:34Z")
It has seemed to me that, in cases where the British and American spellings of words differ, the British spelling is quite often closer to the way the French spell things. For example, “centre” vs. “center” or “metre” vs. “meter”; “colour” vs. “color” or “honour” vs. “honor”; “cheque” vs. “check”: the first, British spelling just looks “Frenchier” to me. Or, in the case of words with those sily-looking "oe"s and "ae"s that Americans have dispensed with, the British spelling is closer to the original Latin. The American spellings seem to me to be truer to the spirit of the English language by itself, the British spellings to the whole family of Romance languages. Could the difference be partially related to Britain’s proximity (geographically, historically, and culturally) to France and the rest of Europe? ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2004, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-things/244769/6 "2004-05-12T16:14:20Z")
> [@](#): > > sulphur and sulfer sulphur and sulf **u** r ---
**Author:** ![BoringDad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ad7895/32.png) [@BoringDad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BoringDad)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2004, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-things/244769/7 "2004-05-13T01:53:07Z")
> [@olihale](#): > > ah, thank you, so it seems it was just because we’ve got some odd spellings, which is fair enough, but this guy webster with his dictionary, what gave him authority to change a language? and why did people listen? Right. This guy Webster was working at his kitchen table, trying to get his new book done. But his wife was gone for the morning, so he was watching his 2 year old. The kid was having breakfast and kept spelling milk all over the book. Well the deadline came, he turned in his blurry manuscript, and he told the typesetter, “Just make it out as best you can.” Answers like these seem as logical as any as to how we spell words in English (Both British and American English.) ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2004, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-things/244769/8 "2004-05-13T02:51:29Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Many of the changes came after Webster. IIRC the usage of “gaol” … What? Gale? Goal? Gail? Cheese? ---
**Author:** ![Daver914](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@Daver914](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daver914)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2004, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-things/244769/9 "2004-05-13T07:06:53Z")
['Murrican] \*Gaol \* is a commie pinko plot of a way to spell “jail”. [/Murrican] Just kidding. In any case, I only seen it used once in the US, and it was at one of those old-timey restored villages where everybody dresses in uncomfortable linen and gives lectures on flour milling and glassblowing. ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2004, 7:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-things/244769/10 "2004-05-13T07:52:14Z")
_Gaol_ is a very cool word, but it is the bane of small Australian kids learning to spell. They invariably write it as “goal”. Another thing to remember is that many American words are actually the original English ones, and it is the British who have changed: eg. fall vs. autumn. Normally, the differences don’t matter at all. There are some cases in which one or the other has a strong claim on superiority though. An example of this would be: _In hospital_ - UK and Commonwealth _In **the** hospital_ - US In this case, I think the British version has the advantage, because it can be used to differentiate between a patient who is _in hospital_ and doctors, nurses, visitors etc, who are _in the hospital_. If I’m not mistaken, Americans have singled out the word “hospital” for this treatment, and _in church_ (attending a sermon) vs _in the church_ (in the church building for any other reason) and _at school_ (being educated as a student) vs _at the school_ (on the school premises for another reason) are used in the US and Commonwealth alike. I’m open to correction on this though.