Why do Americans not like to use the letter "u" ? You all leave the "u" out of lots of words :/ favourite, humour... There's more but they Escape me at the moment :/

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8 Answers

Ray Dart Profile
Ray Dart answered

They also miss the "i" out of aluminium, use "z" when "s" is more correct in words ending in "ise". There's no hope for them.

They also play "football" where feet are barely involved - mind you, they do wear silver tights when playing so I guess that is to be expected.

230volts at 50 cycles is what the rest of the World uses for AC power supply, so Americans standardized on 110/60.

The rest of the world defines a gallon as 4.55 litres, so the US uses a gallon of 3.785 liters.

Silly non-standard country.........

Matt Radiance Profile
Matt Radiance answered

Cause we feel like it! Deal with it! ;p

Anyway, am i the cause of this !!!! ? Lol! BAM!


Barb Cala Profile
Barb Cala answered

I think we're just more efficient and don't need to use a lot of extra letters to make our points.  :)

Ancient One Profile
Ancient One answered

LOL I remember having to edit a 725 page military regulation while assigned to NATO. I thought I did a great job. This was before the INTERNET and spell check. I sent the revised copy up through channels. It came back with a note from the Adjutant General of NATO. The note said: "One of the official languages of NATO is English, as in the British English. Americanese is not an official language of NATO." Yes I omitted many "U"s and yes "I"s. Yes I redid it according to the Oxford Dictionary and the Webster's.

Tom  Jackson Profile
Tom Jackson answered

There are several areas in which British and American spelling are different. The differences often come about because British English has tended to keep the spelling of words it has absorbed from other languages (e.g. French), while American English has adapted the spelling to reflect the way that the words actually sound when they're spoken.

British English words ending in -our usually end in -or in American English:

British            US

colour            color

flavour            flavor

humour          humor

labour              labor

neighbour        neighbor

http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/words/british-and-american-spelling


PJ Stein Profile
PJ Stein answered

Because when the pilgrims landed on the Plymouth Rock they forgot to bring a proper teacher with them and all that had was someone who had trouble with spelling. It all cascaded from there. And when others came over, and we were fighting for our freedom we decided to just leave it alone as a way of sticking it to the British. Just like sometimes I do things to get under the internet grammar Nazis' skins.

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