In the US and Canada, organization is preferred in the UK and Australia, organisation is preferred. Should there be one form – that is, one spelling, one grammar, one common meaning - of English words and terms? There are currently two to six or even more ways to spell certain words.įor example, the spellings organization and organisation are different depending on the region of the world. The question of spelling reform is an important one. An American is a person who does things because they haven’t been done before. To quote a great observer of human nature on tradition and innovation:Īn Englishman is a person who does things because they have been done before. We all want to keep our individual identity and cultural perspectives. Our native language is a very personal and emotional subject language is identity. Therefore I would like to ask you, do we really need “u” in our “our” words, or will “or” suffice for communicating on a worldwide basis? One argument for a reform is economic: producing text in all varieties of English can be very expensive.Ĭlearly there is a good argument for retaining the cultural flavo(u)r and historical development. There has not been a real reform since then, in the early 1800’s, so it may be time to rethink some of these inconsistencies and redundancies. Noah Webster is basically responsible for many of the reforms in English spellings such as color ~ colour, center ~ centre and defense ~ defence. The combination of –our plus –ous appears to be a bit too much for all English speakers. Note that the derivations of glamour and humour in the UK are glamorous and humorous, respectively. To add to this situation, some derivations of these words have already begun to lose the extra “u“ in the UK spelling. While it is not going to end world hunger or solve world peace, I can’t help but ask whether we can come to some agreement on the lack of consistency and find some common ground. I must confess that I am a bit OCD and this type of untidiness is somewhat unnerving. Moreover, outside the US, the spellings are hon ourable but hon orary (not hon ourary) so English in the UK is equally inconsistent. Thus the US -our/-or spellings are also not clearly defined. Yes, these are the American spellings, but please note, US English generally prefers glamour. From the standpoint of communication, it does seem that color, glamor, favor, flavor, honor and savor are satisfactory. For that matter, does English need favour, honour, flavour, savour and so many more -our words? Before our Australian, British and Canadian fellow English speakers panic – relax.
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