It's been asked innumerable times: What's the deal with using "colour" in some places of this site and "color" in others? To us, it is the same idea and the same love we're sharing... just with different ways of spelling it. But for those who want more of an explanation, here is some history of the word and why we use both spellings.
Share this Post |
![]() |
Tweet |
The origin of the word 'colour' is in Middle English (developed into Modern English in 16th Century), which actually borrows from Anglo-Norman French in this case. 'Colour' has many definitions and uses (About nine, and then a tonne of little bullets). Somewhere between colonisation, revolution, and the Industrial Revolution, the English language had no central regulation. Samuel Johnson's Dictionary of the English Language (1755) is the source of most of the current British spellings, but American English became somewhat simplified in spelling during the times between this book's publication and Noah Webster and his An American Dictionary of the English Language of 1828. Webster was a large part in changing the spelling of the language because of his philosophies and strong nationalism. What would've been seen then as the "correct" spellings have been listed as variants, and still are today.
So, the unstressed -our (favour, flavour, colour, savour) became -or (favor, flavor, color, savor), the few -re endings in British spelling (centre, metre, litre, manoeuvre) became -er (center, meter, liter, maneuver), and -ce (defence, offence, pretence) became -se (defense, offense, pretense). Because of wide usage in both countries and acceptance onto the pedastal of dictionaries, both spellings are accepted today, though it seems that "when in Rome" follows. And Canada got caught in the middle of it all, using mostly British spellings with some American leaking in.
In 1878 a committee of American philologists began preparing a list of proposed new spellings, and two years later the Philological Society of England joined in the work. In 1883 a joint manifesto was issued, recommending various general simplifications. Among those enlisted in the movement were Charles Darwin, Lord Tennyson, Sir John Lubbock and Sir J. A. H. Murray. In 1886 the American Philological Association issued independently a list of recommendations affecting about 3,500 words, and falling under ten headings. Practically all of the changes proposed had been put forward 80 years before by Webster, and some of them had entered into unquestioned American usage in the meantime, e. g., the deletion of the u from the -our words, the substitution of er for re at the end of words, and the reduction of traveller to traveler.
The trouble with the others was that they were either too uncouth to be adopted without a long struggle or likely to cause errors in pronunciation. To the first class belonged tung for tounge, ruf for rough, batl for battle and abuv for above, and to the second such forms as cach for catch and troble for trouble.
...
Then, in 1906, came the organization of the Simplified Spelling Board, with an endowment of $15,000 a year from Andrew Carnegie, and a formidable list of members and collaborators, including Henry Bradley, F. I. Furnivall, C. H> Grandgent, W. W. Skeat, T. R. Lounsbury and F. A. March. The board at once issued a list of 300 revised spellings, new and old, and in August, 1906, President Roosevelt ordered their adoption by the Government Printing Office.
H.L. Mencken (1880–1956). The American Language. 1921.
US cartoon from 1906 about Roosevelt's simplified spelling
The internet is an international experience, but a large number of the biggest internet companies are American: Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, AOL... These top search engines don't treat the different spelling of color as the same word, ie. A Search for color won't give you a site with the word spelled with a "u." A search for colour won't give you sites with the American spelling.
When we first created COLOURlovers we used the British spelling throughout the site... but overtime we realized we were being penalized by the search engines, so we switched over to using the American spelling. Since we have an international audience of members and writers, they use their preferred spelling of the words so we loosely switch between the two. As we build out our language feature to allow COLOURlovers to be read in German, French, Japanese Etc. We've playfully been considering having American and British options because people seem to be so heated in their preference of the spelling.
A Google search for Colour does not return a "Did you mean" result.
Out of all our color names, one got caught up in the American-British spelling wars... Grey became the established British spelling in the 20th century, and is but a minor variant in American English, according to dictionaries. Canadians tend to prefer grey. Some suggest that American writers tend to assign wistful, positive connotations to grey, as in "a grey fog hung over the skyline", whereas gray often carries connotations of drabness, "a gray, gloomy day."
Color lovers come from all over the world, so what spelling of the word do you use?
No matter how you spell the word, every project needs a little color. Check out Creative Market for awesome downloads for use today.
We’d like to inform you that we have updated our Terms of Use. The most substantive changes are:
This platform was acquired by a joint venture in Israel.
changes have been made to the relevant jurisdiction for disputes which may arise out of your use of the platform.
Changes made to the monetization of users’ creations and the ability to opt out from your account settings.
Please view the revised Terms here. If you don’t mind anything there, then you don’t need to do anything. Your continued use of the platform will constitute your acceptance of the latest version of the Terms. If you disagree with anything there, you can terminate your account within seven days from today.
_stefan
bijouloveshues
Why do Americans always insist on shortcuts?
luffly
retsof
Don't you know the Queen's English?
No, is she?
retsof
---------------------------------------------------------
If you come to a fork in the road, take it. -Yogi Berra
(He lived at the end of a circle. You could go either way.
reverbe
This is a very interesting article - I especially liked the bit about grey/gray perception.
pyramus
tenkerasu
subsomatic
I never realized the difference with -ense and -ence! As tenkerasu mentioned, that must be why I always think I'm spelling it wrong with spell check :)
And just to clear this up, hanged is used when you refere to someone hanging themselves. Hung is used everywhere else. I tried to look up the history of this one and can't seem to get any explanation as to why this is. I think I heard somewhere that hanged implies a momentary action and hung implies a continuous action.
tr67
"Colour" reads like I should say "kuh-loor" rather than "kuh-ler."
marius-rosca
The same in this one.
Nevertheless, I keep using it, it's stuck to my mind this way.
LJK
To those who use an American accent it may, but to the English, 'colour' sounds like 'kuh-ler' much like 'harbour' sounds as 'har-ber' and 'ardour' sounds as 'ar-der.' It is just a matter of different pronunciation!
Having so many of the 'original' English words highlighted in error when you're on the web/using a spell-checker is a source of constant irritation to me.
OogeyBoogey
jerryq
Jerry
stltskn
lukeyg
Having said that... Microsoft Word; stop punishing me! I have changed every possible setting to UK English and still you spite me with ugly red lines?!
the_r
I've been learning British English for quite some time, and I spell "colour".
I don't like American tendency towards simplifying everything.
Now, how would you spell plural form of "antenna"?
cogburn
RIGHT:. TONGUE
_stefan
lostmy
klip
From my point of view, it is English, both the British and American kind, that is erasing the diversity languages in my country. But at the same time, the beauty of it is that the colonized take the colonizers culture and subtly change it to become a crazy hybrid that has its own unique style.
It is essential to recognize that the internet (and other technology like spell checks etc) are not neutral.
Languages change according to circumstances. There is no pure or correct form.
MattyD
When I was in Europe some years ago I met countless Dutch, Germans, Israelis, etc that spoke so much better English than I did. Was I surprised? For a moment, then I remembered: "What does Europe not do better than the United States?" Yes. :P
~Matty
D i v a
my mother language is not English, so it's gr8 to know
the reason =)
koavf
-JAK, American
bijouloveshues
(still laughing)
lizcrimson
i spell it gray. i don't know why, but i think it looks prettier that way. :P
Soul Bee no. 1
bargaining
babaloo1991
eighthmuse
I'm collecting a list of British v.s. American English rules—at the moment my novel WiP's heroine is British, so it just makes more sense. I feel more comfortable semi-swearing the Brit way. ;)
Grey also tends to make me think of pearly greys, silky greys, &c, due to the slightly more exotic spelling for me, whereas gray has been around my whole life and is just that boring workhorse crayon that I never used. I wanted a silver Sharpie. ;_;
But my penchant for spelling things the British way gets me in trouble . . . I believe the Brits spell 'organization' as 'organisation', possibly? Either that or 'metre' got me into trouble with a light (thankfully anonymous) rebuke from my science teacher. "She can spell 'erudite' but not 'organization'?"
Post a Comment