Where Did The "U" Go? Americans, I Need Help!

U R rite! I heart the way things usta B dun. LOL

If it weren't for my kids, there would be such a HUGE generation gap between me and the latest generation! At least, through them, I can keep up on at least SOME of these new-fangled ideas! (I feel like such an OLD codger! )

Maybe I can find something written on the evolution of the American language somewhere. Hmmm, worth a peek, I think!

You know, more and more people prefer American English! It is much easier as well sounds good! Weather u guys dropping something is not that important. Have a great day!

A good way of putitng it lady, you hit the nail on the head there, and now even the Americna language is being butchered. Instead of spelling out the entire words now, it has all boil down to Y? U 2? B4! and so an and so forth

I can handle the Y? U2 & B4. The one that drives me crazy is when they mean you're (short for you are) & they spell it your as these are two DIFFERENT words pronounced two different ways.

Thats interesting, I didnt know that we spelled skillful differently.

Thanks for your sharing. I am currently using a Longman dictonary, which is much more expensive than the Oxford English dicionay. I don't know why! Maybe it contains both American and British English!

For the Firefox issue; you should be able to change that. I downloaded the British English dictionary extension for Firefox from their site... which doesn't come with "Firefox" as part of it's vocabulary. It does make me chuckle to see a Firefox tool not recognising the word "Firefox."

Hi, crisp! Thanks for all that great info! Oops, I mean information.

As for Foxfire, I think it should give you a choice between 'American' and 'English'... not 'British English' because the British spell the same as Australians, Canadians, Irish, etc. It's only in America that the spelling is different. It's so bizzare!

It's also amazing that, if we as Americans, spell those words with a 'U' in school, they say it's spelled wrong. I mean, we're talking English class here! Isn't 'neighbour' correct? Oh, right... it's INcorrect in America.

Our language is messed up! Oh, it's easier to spell, sure... takes less keystrokes on the computer, but it's not English! I wish they'd stop calling it that and call it 'American'. Sheesh!

What other countries use the word 'queue' and not 'line'? I'd LOVE to know how that word changed! Everywhere else, you 'queue' up. In the U.S., we 'line' up. That's a completely different word!

I think, as far as the U's go, the U.S. has been saving them all up for the invention of text messaging, where they're used all the time! U no?

Americans are the only ones that write checks...everyone else writes a cheque. Do I include Canadians....can someone check me on that please?

Hahahahaha! GREAT theory, bunny!!! I'd say it's pure laziness. Less letters, less time to write. Maybe Webster got writer's cramp from writing out that huge dictionary and took out the poor little U's because it was convenient?

I'd think that's because they live in England where they still use 'English' and we're in the United States where we use 'American'.

Hmmm, now that I think of it, Webster's dictionary IS called the "First American Dictionary"! Aha! But, who approved the spellings? Is all this because of one man who had an issue with the British way of spelling things?

Okay, back to the search box! I'm going to find some answers, dang it all!

Although I do agree that our language is very hard to learn, I happen to think it's really amazing and interesting. I mean think about it, root words in almost every language imaginable starting with Latin, a dead language itself. How cool is that? Talk about a melting pot. I just think it's really interesting.

Oh, Grandma! The absolute WORSE example I can think of is the word "phonic". Weren't we taught to spell phonetically? I can remember my teachers saying "Sound it out" so many times!

Yet, the word itself is not spelled phonetically! 'Hooked on Phonix' is downright laughable! It should be, 'Hukt on Fonix'.

Unbelieveable! I was an English major in high school and college and I STILL don't understand the American language!

Oops, look at that! I spelled it wrong... sorry. I meant 'Hooked on Phonics'. See how wrong that is? LOL

Oh, another example is 'pneumonia'. We don't even pronounce the 'p'! Why is IT still there? I'm dumbfounded, flummoxed, flabbergasted!

I agree 101% my friend.

I spell behaviour the same way you do, and it always puts the little red squiggle under it. I even looked it up in the dictionary one time, just to make sure. I also spell the color between black and white, grey. I don't don't know WHY I do it, but I do, and will probably continue to do it.

You're kidding...right? I spell grey grey also. Now that is just really strange that you even mentioned that. I've been told that it should only be spelled that way for a proper name, but that's never detered me. Twilight Zone Sisters Bo?

Whoever told you that 'behaviour' is the British spelling of the word is wrong. It's the ENGLISH spelling of the word. It's only in the United States that it's spelled 'behavior'. So, that should be called the 'American' way of spelling it.

The more I think of these things, the more it confuses me. The trouble is, I can't stop thinking of these things! LOL Help!!!

Ok explain the difference in "British" and "English", please.

Okay, the British way of spelling things IS the English way of spelling things. English is spoken in Great Britain, Australia, Canada, etc. So, technically, it's 'English', not 'British' because the British speak the exact same language as every other country except the United States. The ONLY time 'English' is not the correct word is when it applies to the language in the United States. We speak 'American'.

Every other English-speaking country speaks 'English'. Oh, 'British' is acceptable, but they speak 'English' there, right?

Soooooo............ what did I say wrong?

You're probably right about that, soy. It makes more sense than anything else! But it sure would make it confusing for anyone trying to learn English as a second language! Only in America, eh?