Posted by Dave Thewlis on June 02, 2002 at 13:20:38 from 148.78.249.10 user dthewlis.
In Reply to: Re: American spelling---was Outdoor pursuits posted by David Bamford on June 01, 2002 at 22:52:53:
"American" (versus British) spelling is a good bit older than the 1940s. In the 1600s and 1700s as the American Colonies were being settled, English usage here tracked pretty well with usage in Britain. My understanding is that much of the divergence in spelling and work usage started to happen during the Napoleonic wars when English spelling and word usage began to change, but American did not change int he same ways. (A good example is English as spoken in remote areas such as the Appalachian valley, which is still pointed to as a place where one can encounter the closet thing left to Elizabethan accent and word usage.)
I have also read that the "u" (as in harbour, etc.) was actually reintroduced into British spelling sometime in the 1800s but I cannot remember the source and certainly cannot substantiate it!