Originally posted by Great Big Stees Do you know why, since for a period up to 1776 "Americans" would have spelt certain words with a "u", they dropped it?
Are there any other English speaking countries that dropped it?
I know I could probably google it but I'm lazy. "😉
"Up to 1776"?
Before 1776, everyone here were British subjects, you know, colonists.
Before 1776, everyone here were British subjects, you know, colonists.
Now after 1776, they could be called Americans.
After 1776, didn't the "colonists" now "Americans" refer to their Republic as The United States
(with "of America" not added as the suffix until all states were unified at a later date)?
Originally posted by Grampy Bobby After 1776, didn't the "colonists" now "Americans" refer to their Republic as The United States
(with "of America" not added as the suffix until all states were unified at a later date)?
Originally posted by ChessPraxis Bob, you were there, don't you remember? 😛
CP, I actually don't remember but my Mom does. That Thursday evening, December 16, 1773, the Wives of the Sons of Liberty who dumped British Tea in Boston Harbor gave my Mom a Baby Shower in anticipation of the birth of her first son.
Originally posted by kevcvs57 My problem with losing the 'u' is that it's job is to take the emphasis off the first 'o' so 'color' should be pronounced like 'colon'.
Don't matter too much because English relies heavily on context. 😛
Originally posted by Silverstriker Hello everyone here is a heads up about the next prose competition i have had the pleasure of organising since 2012. The last two years we have had some brilliant entries. Can anyone prevent a potential hat trick from mike169?
Here are the rules
Maximum word length is 750 words
You can submit up to two entries
The 2014 topic will be a c ...[text shortened]... entry's title so i know who has written what)
Deadline is January 12th 2014
Good luck all
"A writer is someone for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people." -Thomas Mann
Originally posted by Great Big Stees Do you know why, since for a period up to 1776 "Americans" would have spelt certain words with a "u", they dropped it?
Are there any other English speaking countries that dropped it?
I know I could probably google it but I'm lazy. "😉
It wasn't until the 1800s that spelling on either side of the Atlantic was
standardised. When it was, the USA went with Webster who favored -or
to -our.
Other English speaking countries kept the same spelling as England
thanks to being part of the Empire.
Originally posted by Suzianne Well, no, the facts are we kicked them out twice out of twice, that's 100%, not 50-50. They still haven't gotten over it because they still try to tell us how to spell and how to speak just because the language is named after them. Our improvements, though, are just that, improvements that their vanity keeps them from acknowledging.
I prefer the vanity of maintaing the 'original u', as opposed to something like the vanity of such across the pond products as Grecian 2000, which included the lead acetate to balance the brain (and getting it banned here). I mean, which has the greater vanity? To maintain one's standing, or change in order to, supposedly, look good? 😛
Originally posted by mikelom I prefer the vanity of maintaing the 'original u', as opposed to something like the vanity of such across the pond products as Grecian 2000, which included the lead acetate to balance the brain (and getting it banned here). I mean, which has the greater vanity? To maintain one's standing, or change in order to, supposedly, look good? 😛
-m.
Dropping letters is just lazy and probably they like to change stuff for the sake of changing stuff (new broom n all that). we know what they mean when they misspell colour and they know what we mean when we misspell color or do I mean collar.
Spelling football s-o-c-c-e-r is a step to far though.
Originally posted by Grampy Bobby After 1776, didn't the "colonists" now "Americans" refer to their Republic as The United States
(with "of America" not added as the suffix until all states were unified at a later date)?
The first two lines of the Declaration of Independence are:
In CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,
Originally posted by mikelom I prefer the vanity of maintaing the 'original u', as opposed to something like the vanity of such across the pond products as Grecian 2000, which included the lead acetate to balance the brain (and getting it banned here). I mean, which has the greater vanity? To maintain one's standing, or change in order to, supposedly, look good? 😛
-m.
If you prefer French to English, why not just speak French?
15 Nov '13 23:02
2014 RHP Prose Competition
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