# why does U.S spelling omit the 'u'? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 30, 2013, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-u-s-spelling-omit-the-u/670007 "2013-09-30T15:08:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2013, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-u-s-spelling-omit-the-u/670007/21 "2013-09-30T16:24:05Z")
> [@sentrix](#): > > the great bard would be turning in his grave. > > then again most of his works in today’s modern diction is unintelligible. Who, Shakespeare? The guy who made up vasty to fit his meter? Yeah, I’m sure he’d be just distraught at the thought of people playing fast and loose with spelling. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2013, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-u-s-spelling-omit-the-u/670007/22 "2013-09-30T16:27:44Z")
> [@sentrix](#): > > the great bard would be turning in his grave. > > then again most of his works in today’s modern diction is unintelligible. Skakespeare? The man who couldn’t seem to spell his own name the same way twice in a row? ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2013, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-u-s-spelling-omit-the-u/670007/23 "2013-09-30T16:30:32Z")
> [@Frank](#): > > “Though the tough cough and hiccough plough him through.” Forget unnecessary U’s. This, in a nutshell, is the biggest problem with the English language. The best thing that could happen to our language would be if we could get away from the “ough” combination, replacing it with more phonetic combinations, and consign this convoluted combination to dusty old books from bygone days. “Tho the tuff coff and hiccup plow him thru.” ---
**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:** [September 30, 2013, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-u-s-spelling-omit-the-u/670007/24 "2013-09-30T16:32:27Z")
> [@sentrix](#): > > phonetically though, the ‘u’ is necessary I don’t understand. “-or” is closer to the way I (an American) pronounce words like “color” and “humor.” [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_and_British_English_spelling_differences#-our.2C_-or) actually has a fairly extensive discussion of the issue. > [@](#): > > Most words ending in an unstressed -our in British English (e.g. colour, flavour, harbour, honour, humour, labour, neighbour, rumour) end in -or in American English (color, flavor, harbor, honor, humor, labor, neighbor, rumor). Wherever the vowel is unreduced in pronunciation, e.g. contour, velour, paramour and troubadour the spelling is the same everywhere. > > Most words of this kind come from Latin non-agent nouns having nominative -or. These words were first borrowed into English from early Old French and the ending was spelled -or or -ur. After the Norman conquest of England (1066), the ending became -our in Anglo-French to try to represent the Old French pronunciation, though color has sometimes been used in English since the 15th century. The -our ending was not only used in English borrowings from Anglo-French, but was also applied to the earlier borrowings that had used -or. After the Renaissance, new borrowings from Latin were taken up with their original -or ending and many words once ending in -our (for example, chancellour and governour) went back to -or. Many words of the -our/or group do not have a Latin counterpart; for example, armo(u)r, behavio(u)r, harbo(u)r, neighbo(u)r; also arbo(u)r, meaning “shelter”, though senses “tree” and “tool” are always arbor, a false cognate of the other word. Some 16th- and early 17th-century British scholars indeed insisted that -or be used for words from Latin (e.g. color) and -our for French loans; but in many cases the etymology was not clear, and therefore some scholars advocated -or only and others -our only. > > Webster’s 1828 dictionary had only -or and is given much of the credit for the adoption of this form in the United States. By contrast, Johnson’s 1755 dictionary used -our for all words still so spelled in Britain (like colour), but also for words where the u has since been dropped: ambassadour, emperour, governour, perturbatour, inferiour, superiour; errour, horrour, mirrour, tenour, terrour, tremour. Johnson, unlike Webster, was not an advocate of spelling reform, but chose the spelling best derived, as he saw it, from among the variations in his sources. He preferred French over Latin spellings because, as he put it, “the French generally supplied us”. ---
**Author:** ![sentrix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ac8455/32.png) [@sentrix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sentrix)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2013, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-u-s-spelling-omit-the-u/670007/25 "2013-09-30T16:33:51Z")
exactly. it goes down to pronounciation. standard or otherwise. ---
**Author:** ![sentrix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ac8455/32.png) [@sentrix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sentrix)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2013, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-u-s-spelling-omit-the-u/670007/26 "2013-09-30T16:36:45Z")
pronounciation/dialect/accent. my partner is from seattle and he has a wonderful gist of the tongue. i find other americans more difficult to understand. then again most aussies have a problem understanding south africans or new zealanders. ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2013, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-u-s-spelling-omit-the-u/670007/27 "2013-09-30T16:57:36Z")
> [@sentrix](#): > > pronounciation/dialect/accent. > > my partner is from seattle and he has a wonderful gist of the tongue. i find other americans more difficult to understand. then again most aussies have a problem understanding south africans or new zealanders. That’s probably because Seattlites are nearly Canadian! ---
**Author:** ![Unpronounceable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9de0a6/32.png) [@Unpronounceable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unpronounceable)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2013, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-u-s-spelling-omit-the-u/670007/28 "2013-09-30T17:05:09Z")
Besides, isn’t it past time the British return the vowels they pillaged from the Welsh? ---
**Author:** ![sentrix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ac8455/32.png) [@sentrix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sentrix)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2013, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-u-s-spelling-omit-the-u/670007/29 "2013-09-30T17:07:57Z")
along with the irish, scots another unintelligible nation. when will you people stop bastardizing ( notice i used a ‘z’) the bloody english lingo? ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2013, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-u-s-spelling-omit-the-u/670007/30 "2013-09-30T19:54:52Z")
> [@sentrix](#): > > zed’s dead baby. zed’s dead 555. ( pulp fiction) > > and its arse not ass. beats me to it… It always amazes me there are a billion or more people in the world who speak English of some form, but only about 20 million people, all in Canada, who speak it _ **and** _ spell it properly… And know it’s \*zed \*not _zee_. (Unless you’re Dutch) ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2013, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-u-s-spelling-omit-the-u/670007/31 "2013-09-30T20:15:40Z")
> [@sentrix](#): > > then again most aussies have a problem understanding south africans or new zealanders. No, they don’t. ---
**Author:** ![Dublin11](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Dublin11](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dublin11)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2013, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-u-s-spelling-omit-the-u/670007/32 "2013-09-30T20:41:57Z")
> [@Unpronounceable](#): > > Besides, isn’t it past time the British return the vowels they pillaged from the Welsh? Welsh people are British. Pillaging yourself is a bit masochistic. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2013, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-u-s-spelling-omit-the-u/670007/33 "2013-09-30T20:45:32Z")
> [@sentrix](#): > > phonetically though, the ‘u’ is necessary but if it is not translated into the spelling mode this confuses kids later on. > [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > I don’t understand. “-or” is closer to the way I (an American) pronounce words like “color” and “humor.” **Sentrix** , could you explain to us (the best you can, considering we’re communicating by writing) what you hear as a difference between “color” and “colour”? Most Americans pronounce both spellings identically, and rhyme them identically with “poor” “pore” and “pour.” A few of us, however, do pronounce poor/pore/pour slightly differently, and rhyme color with one of them. What do you hear? ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2013, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-u-s-spelling-omit-the-u/670007/34 "2013-09-30T20:49:09Z")
> [@TheChileanBlob](#): > > We call it a U-turn. We are not allergic to the letter U. Actually, in my experience, when Americans talk about a U-turn, they quite often seem to mean what a British person would call a [three-point turn](http://activerain.com/blogsview/505780/a-slice-of-life). Actual U-turns, however, are probably more commonly performed in the USA, given that most US roads are much wider than most British ones. ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2013, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-u-s-spelling-omit-the-u/670007/35 "2013-09-30T20:49:28Z")
> [@sentrix](#): > > what do you call a ‘U’ turn then? I think we Americans call it “soccer.” ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2013, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-u-s-spelling-omit-the-u/670007/36 "2013-09-30T20:55:33Z")
> [@Dublin11](#): > > Welsh people are British. Pillaging yourself is a bit masochistic. As if British=English. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2013, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-u-s-spelling-omit-the-u/670007/37 "2013-09-30T20:57:03Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > Actually, in my experience, when Americans talk about a U-turn, they quite often seem to mean what a British person would call a [three-point turn](http://activerain.com/blogsview/505780/a-slice-of-life). Actual U-turns, however, are probably more commonly performed in the USA, given that most US roads are much wider than most British ones. I have never heard someone here in the US refer to a three-point turn as a U-turn. I have only ever heard U-turn to mean a turn in which direction is changed to the opposite way in one movement with no stopping. A three-point turn is a three-point turn. ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2013, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-u-s-spelling-omit-the-u/670007/38 "2013-09-30T20:58:47Z")
O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo? Deny thy father and refuse thy name; Or if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love And I’ll no longer be a Capulet. Oh Romeo, why do yer have to be Romeo? Tell yr dad to get lost and change yer name, Or, if ya can’t do that, Then I’ll change mine. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2013, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-u-s-spelling-omit-the-u/670007/39 "2013-09-30T21:00:48Z")
> [@Rhiannon8404](#): > > I have never heard someone here in the US refer to a three-point turn as a U-turn. I have only ever heard U-turn to mean a turn in which direction is changed to the opposite way in one movement with no stopping. A three-point turn is a three-point turn. A three-point turn is a K-turn. At least it was when I took my driver’s exam. ---
**Author:** ![Rucksinator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/898d66/32.png) [@Rucksinator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rucksinator)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2013, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-u-s-spelling-omit-the-u/670007/40 "2013-09-30T21:01:14Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > … > While most attempts at radical spelling reform failed… > [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > …Noah Webster … was actually much more extensive in what he wanted to do but the dropped U, the reversed ER at the end of words, and -ize instead of -ise, along with a few other changes were the ones that stuck… > [@Colibri](#): > > …Noah Webster made many other changes to American spelling, some of which caught on, and some of which didn’t… What were some of his other changes that didn’t catch on? Were they in his original dictionary? If so, did he (or someone later) change them to what everybody was using? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-u-s-spelling-omit-the-u/670007.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-u-s-spelling-omit-the-u/670007.md?page=3)