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This doesn't really make sense. American English which they propose adopting is removes more of the European roots of words. For example removing the 'U' from
by Jonnax 7y ago
This doesn't really make sense.
American English which they propose adopting is removes more of the European roots of words.
For example removing the 'U' from words like Colour.
Ireland is also an English speaking country in the EU.
And I don't know how much of the sentiment of "Let's Americanise!" Would be popular.
- bitL 7y agoYou probably don't know that 'u' in colour is a more recent British development than the standard US English is based on. US English is more original than the current British one.
- lifthrasiir 7y agoIs it? Color was already spelled "colour" in the typical Middle English [1]. AFAIK the US development happened later to make all color-related words consistent (since it was spelled "color" in Latin, and English has lots of Latin-derived words). [1] https://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/middle-english-dictionary/dictionary/MED8462 https://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/middle-english-dictionary/dicti...
- foldr 7y agoNo, getting rid of the ’u' was Webster's idea. But standardized spelling is such a recent phenomenon that there's probably no definitive fact of the matter as to which spelling is 'original'.
- ctz 7y agoYou misrepresent the timeline, though. Webster popularised the simplifications in US English in 1828. But this was about six hundred years after colour was borrowed into English from French, not the Latin "color" that Webster preferred.
- s_dev 7y agoI'd be in favor of Hiberno English being adopted. It's not much different to other forms of English and wouldn't allude to the EU being "Americanized" or further flatter a country leaving the EU on acrimoious terms.
- Svip 7y agoWhat confuses me most is the why chose American English? Considering that British English is already a working language of the EU, why go for a new one? That's just going to mean more work. If you are going to promote efficiency, a continuation of what we already have (that works) should be the goal, not open a whole other can of worms.
- jobigoud 7y agoDon't you mean "let's Americanize"?