some PSers spell COLOR and others spell COLOUR...

[Dancing Fire]

who''''s correct?

 

[kenny]

Both.

Various countries use various spellings.

 

[Farleysmom]

Both

It just depends your country of origin. Here is Canada it''s colour.

 

[kenny]

But what should we do to people in Britain who spell it color or people in America who spell it colour?

 

[CharmyPoo]

I believe british english is colour. Thus, it would be the correct spelling for Canadians, British, and many asian countries.

What do we do to americans who spell it as colour? Nothing - didn't think this was a grammar / spelling forum.

 

[Kaleigh]

US it''s color. Outside of the US, colour. Not a big deal to me, now you are sounding like Kenny...

 

[Dreamer_D]

Date: 4/18/2010 10:29:02 PM
Author: CharmyPoo
I believe british english is colour. Thus, it would be the correct spelling for Canadians, British, and many asian countries.

What do we do to americans who spell it as colour? Nothing - didn''t think this was a grammar / spelling forum.

hahaha.... I bet such a foum exists!

 

[Gailey]

Date: 4/18/2010 11:49:00 PM
Author:Dancing Fire
who''s correct?

Speaking strictly as a representative of the nation that introduced the English language to the wider world, "colour" is correct.

But of course DF, you did not expect me to say anything less did you??

XX

 

[Garry H (Cut Nut)]

I think a big smack on the knuckles should fix everyone in USA who makes a mess of the English language.
Mind you, since I can''t spell to save myself, i probably live in a glass house.

 

[Dancing Fire]

Date: 4/19/2010 12:10:36 AM
Author: Gailey

Date: 4/18/2010 11:49:00 PM
Author:Dancing Fire
who''s correct?

Speaking strictly as a representative of the nation that introduced the English language to the wider world, ''colour'' is correct.

But of course DF, you did not expect me to say anything less did you??

XX

but since when did they learn to speak English themselfs?

 

[Gailey]

Date: 4/19/2010 12:41:15 AM
Author: Garry H (Cut Nut)
I think a big smack on the knuckles should fix everyone in USA who makes a mess of the English language.
Mind you, since I can''t spell to save myself, i probably live in a glass house.

Gawd love you Sir, even if you are descended from villans and brigands!

 

[Gailey]

Date: 4/19/2010 12:43:15 AM
Author: Dancing Fire

Date: 4/19/2010 12:10:36 AM
Author: Gailey

Date: 4/18/2010 11:49:00 PM
Author:Dancing Fire
who''s correct?

Speaking strictly as a representative of the nation that introduced the English language to the wider world, ''colour'' is correct.

But of course DF, you did not expect me to say anything less did you??

XX

but since when did they learn to speak English themselfs?

Approximately 2000 years ago.

Is that long enough to claim ownership?

Any more out of you DF and I shall decree you be put in the "Stocks"

 

[Deelight]

Colour is the British way of spelling so as others have said Aussies, Brits, Canadians spell it that way also applies to centre rather then center and honour instead of honor

If your coding web pages it would be correct to use color rather the colour as it uses American spelling.

 

[Lorelei]

Date: 4/19/2010 12:55:40 AM
Author: Gailey

Date: 4/19/2010 12:43:15 AM
Author: Dancing Fire

Date: 4/19/2010 12:10:36 AM
Author: Gailey

Date: 4/18/2010 11:49:00 PM
Author:Dancing Fire
who''s correct?

Speaking strictly as a representative of the nation that introduced the English language to the wider world, ''colour'' is correct.

But of course DF, you did not expect me to say anything less did you??

XX

but since when did they learn to speak English themselfs?

Approximately 2000 years ago.

Is that long enough to claim ownership?

Any more out of you DF and I shall decree you be put in the ''Stocks''

What a GOOD idea......

 

[arjunajane]

I have often wondered why it is that english is spelt differently in the US in many instances than the other countries mentioned in this thread. Considering that, as far as I know, the spelling used in england, canada, australia etc is the correct form- does anyone know why it is that the US chooses to differentiate on words such as with "ou" etc. I am genuinely interested if anyone knows the origin of this?

 

[ksinger]

Date: 4/18/2010 9:53:43 PM
Author: kenny
But what should we do to people in Britain who spell it color or people in America who spell it colour?

Vivisection.

 

[Garry H (Cut Nut)]

Date: 4/19/2010 6:31:06 AM
Author: arjunajane
I have often wondered why it is that english is spelt differently in the US in many instances than the other countries mentioned in this thread. Considering that, as far as I know, the spelling used in england, canada, australia etc is the correct form- does anyone know why it is that the US chooses to differentiate on words such as with ''ou'' etc. I am genuinely interested if anyone knows the origin of this?

I am sure wiki and other sites have the explanations - but USA developed its own phsyc and was very anti british (boston tea party etc).

And lots of middle and southern european migrants etc
they would have wondered why tyre should not be tire etc

But I can never understand why entree is not an entree (as in french for first or starter)?
D''oh?
Or you call napolitana sauce "marinara" when it does not have any food from the sea (marine).
d''oh!

 

[ksinger]

Date: 4/19/2010 6:31:06 AM
Author: arjunajane
I have often wondered why it is that english is spelt differently in the US in many instances than the other countries mentioned in this thread. Considering that, as far as I know, the spelling used in england, canada, australia etc is the correct form- does anyone know why it is that the US chooses to differentiate on words such as with ''ou'' etc. I am genuinely interested if anyone knows the origin of this?

No reason, except that English, like any living language, evolves over time. We didn''t choose, there is no formal Board of American English Usage, it just happened. I''m sure someone from the 18th century - on either side of the pond - would be appalled and confused at the English coming from the mouths of Brit and American alike. And it''s not like there was some great standard back then either. If you look at the spellings of words from that time, many were non-standard and regional. The language was in a state of flux even then.

English is a fabulous language, and it is evolving down different paths now. I don''t see that that fact makes Brits any more "correct" than Americans, just different. They like to claim that, kind of like supporting one football team over another. But we pretty much started out as Brits too, it is our language as much as theirs. It''s not like most of us don''t have it as a birth language after all, right? And we borrow words and phrases from one another all the time. We still understand one another quite well - we all still speak English, we just each have slightly different phrasing (which I find delightful), different slang and a few different spellings.

We usually don''t say "spelt" here in the states either, just for the record. We say spelled. Which is more correct? Like others have said, depends on where you are.

PS - I use the term "Brit" here to indicate anyone with a link back to The British Isles, just to be clear. I didn''t feel like typing all the countries mentioned.

 

[Garry H (Cut Nut)]

Date: 4/19/2010 6:53:56 AM
Author: ksinger

Date: 4/19/2010 6:31:06 AM
Author: arjunajane
I have often wondered why it is that english is spelt differently in the US in many instances than the other countries mentioned in this thread. Considering that, as far as I know, the spelling used in england, canada, australia etc is the correct form- does anyone know why it is that the US chooses to differentiate on words such as with ''ou'' etc. I am genuinely interested if anyone knows the origin of this?

We usually don''t say ''spelt'' here in the states either, just for the record. We say spelled. Which is more correct? Like others have said, depends on where you are.

PS - I use the term ''Brit'' here to indicate anyone with a link back to The British Isles, just to be clear. I didn''t feel like typing all the countries mentioned.

Don''t think you can get away with that. You can''t
anyhow

 

[vanderaf]

There are a lot of words like that...for example...Jewelry and Jewellry. I used to work for a hedge fund that had a UK office. Even though we were based in the US we had to spell everything the British way.

 

[justginger]

I love all these spelling and language differences.

I get to take the best of both worlds, I reckon.

Since I grew up in the States, I''m used to no ''u''s - but I''ve been in Australia long enough now that sometimes I do stick them in there. Just depends on the exact word; I prefer color, but I also prefer favourite. Honestly, knowing the way Aussies like to shorten things, I''m kinda surprised they haven''t dropped the functionless ''u''s themselves.

Since you don''t come across it too much in day to day English, I stick with the "ll" vs "l" as the American way I learned. So enrollment and skillful, instead of enrolment and skilful.

I''ve always used "er" and "re" interchangably anyway, so no difference between center, centre, theatre, theater, etc. I guess I generally end past tense phrases in "ed" instead of "t" as well, but some do come through. I definitely say "burnt" instead of "burned."

My favourite Americanism is using "z" - such an underused letter here (sometimes I call it a "zee", sometimes it''s a "zed"). S gets all the good stuff, while Z is left in the cold. Authorize, memorize, analyze for me, thanks. I don''t think there''s a single version that I prefer having "s" instead of "z."

Pronunciation is a whole ''nother ball game. I still blurt out "a-LUM-a-num" from time to time, but try to stick to "al-U-mini-um" when I think about it. It really is the correct pronunciation when you look at the spelling. It''s a coin toss as to which way "tomato" comes out.

Hope I never have to help my child with English homework, they''ll get a right mess out of me!

 

[ksinger]

I think someone should research the origins of the phrase "tempest in a teapot".

To quote the immortal Michael Palin, "Please please..! This is supposed to be a happy occasion! Let''s not bicker and argue over ''oo killed ''oo!"

I love the language, in all it''s forms.

 

[PumpkinPie]

I''m from Canada so I spell it colour.. but my sister (who lives in Canada too) insists on spelling it color.. I''m right, of course

 

[elrohwen]

*Warning, extremely nerdy linguistic explanation below.*

I posted about this issue a while back in a thread in FHH. Basically, the British adopted the -our mostly as a way to make their language seem more French during the Norman invasion period. Some words, which actually come from French, legitimately have the -our ending (honour is a good example). Other words were originally English or from other languages (Latin, Greek) and would've had an -or ending originally. Both endings were used into the 1800s at least.

During the early days of the US, both -or and -our were common spellings for many words. When Webster created his dictionary he standardized the spellings of many many words in order to give the new Americans a language and spelling that was consistent and make them feel like a unified people with a common language. He decided it was easier to make everything -or, so that's what he did.

In Britain, they also used a combination of -or and -our, but it seems that after Webster's change in the US, the British decided to go the other direction and use the -our ending as a way to make their spelling unified and differentiated from American English.

For what it's worth, "color" comes from the Old French and was originally spelled "colur", but originally comes from the Old Latin word "colos". So neither spelling is right!

 

[dragonfly411]

Date: 4/19/2010 6:31:06 AM
Author: arjunajane
I have often wondered why it is that english is spelt differently in the US in many instances than the other countries mentioned in this thread. Considering that, as far as I know, the spelling used in england, canada, australia etc is the correct form- does anyone know why it is that the US chooses to differentiate on words such as with ''ou'' etc. I am genuinely interested if anyone knows the origin of this?

BC the US is lazy

I''m from the US, but I love the English language... in a very big way. I spell it colour. It shows up as a spelling error on my computer though

. I just added it to my dictionary

.

 

[dragonfly411]

Date: 4/19/2010 10:06:17 AM
Author: elrohwen
*Warning, extremely nerdy linguistic explanation below.*


I posted about this issue a while back in a thread in FHH. Basically, the British adopted the -our mostly as a way to make their language seem more French during the Norman invasion period. Some words, which actually come from French, legitimately have the -our ending (honour is a good example). Other words were originally English or from other languages (Latin, Greek) and would''ve had an -or ending originally. Both endings were used into the 1800s at least.


During the early days of the US, both -or and -our were common spellings for many words. When Webster created his dictionary he standardized the spellings of many many words in order to give the new Americans a language and spelling that was consistent and make them feel like a unified people with a common language. He decided it was easier to make everything -or, so that''s what he did.


In Britain, they also used a combination of -or and -our, but it seems that after Webster''s change in the US, the British decided to go the other direction and use the -our ending as a way to make their spelling unified and differentiated from American English.


For what it''s worth, ''color'' comes from the Old French and was originally spelled ''colur'', but originally comes from the Old Latin word ''colos''. So neither spelling is right!

THAT was fascinating!
I wonder though why it is that Webster chose to give the Americans a consistent language that deviated (even if slight) from the original English Language. Any other language and this probably wouldn''t fly. You can''t just decide to spell tambien as tamben, or cantante as cantant, so how is it that you can change colour to color?

I might get yelled at for this.... but it makes him seem a bit arrogant.

 

[elrohwen]

Date: 4/19/2010 10:29:49 AM
Author: dragonfly411
THAT was fascinating!
I wonder though why it is that Webster chose to give the Americans a consistent language that deviated (even if slight) from the original English Language. Any other language and this probably wouldn''t fly. You can''t just decide to spell tambien as tamben, or cantante as cantant, so how is it that you can change colour to color?

I might get yelled at for this.... but it makes him seem a bit arrogant.

I think it''s totally legit. I would be one thing if spellings were already consistent in British-English, but they weren''t. People often spelled however they felt and Webster wanted to standardize so he had to pick something. Instead of basing his spellings strictly on etymology, which would have been very complicated (since -or, -our, and -ur can all be correct depending on the etymology of the word) he decided to simplify so that people could learn to spell easier and the language would seem more coherent instead of the mis-mash it was. English takes words from incredibly diverse sources, very much unlike the Romance languages, like Spanish, which most consistently borrowed from Latin. He was just trying to make a consistent language out of Anglo-Saxon, Dutch, Scandinavian, French, Latin, and Greek influences.

And he didn''t change colour to color, he just picked one of the two spellings as the "correct" spelling. Both were in use at the time. The British picked the other spelling eventually, probably in reaction to Webster choosing the -or ending.

 

[elrohwen]

Correction to my above explaination -

Johnson created his British dictionary with the -our spelling slightly before Webster's dictionary using the -or spelling. So perhaps Webster choose -or in reaction to the British, rather than the other way around. Regardless, before these dictionaries both spellings were legit (depending on the word and who was spelling, though the -our ending was generally more popular considering the French occupation) and the dictionaries were published about 50 years apart.

Since color/colour comes from Latin, it can be argued that "color" is actually the etymologically correct spelling.

 

[caolsen]

Date: 4/19/2010 12:10:36 AM
Author: Gailey

Date: 4/18/2010 11:49:00 PM
Author:Dancing Fire
who''s correct?

Speaking strictly as a representative of the nation that introduced the English language to the wider world, ''colour'' is correct.

But of course DF, you did not expect me to say anything less did you??

XX

Well, the word came via romance languages such as Italian and French. The word is couleur in french for example and colore in italin.

But you can decide for yoursleves.

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/color

 

[elrohwen]

Date: 4/19/2010 11:30:37 AM
Author: caolsen

Date: 4/19/2010 12:10:36 AM
Author: Gailey

Date: 4/18/2010 11:49:00 PM
Author:Dancing Fire
who''s correct?

Speaking strictly as a representative of the nation that introduced the English language to the wider world, ''colour'' is correct.

But of course DF, you did not expect me to say anything less did you??

XX

Well, the word came via romance languages such as Italian and French. The word is couleur in french for example and colore in italin.

But you can decide for yoursleves.

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/color

It was originally from Latin which would make it more appropriately spelled "color", but the French changed the spelling.