I can see two reasons for this change to happen. Both are conjecture as no one ever puts down in writing at the time of the change, "This spelling shall be changed because..." It doesn't get put down in writing because the change is gradual and the ratifying of a change is almost always a democratic reflection of a trend rather than the autocratic imposition of a new rule. The first and simplest reason I can see for this change is to coincide with pronunciation. This tends to be a difficult reason to prove because the majority of the rest of English spelling is idiosyncratic and seems to be arbitrary. Anywho, in the American pronunciation of the words ending in our (or or in the American spellings) the diphthong which in this case comes from Old French goes unpronounced. Even in most U.K. pronounciations of these words, only the o sound is preserved and the u goes silent; hence it is often referred to as the cosmetic u by people like myself who have studied linguistics. In the American pronounciations, the preceding consonant elides directly into the rhotic alveolar r with a vowel sound being altogether absent so that honor (or honour) gets pronounced in the U.S. as 'onr. The only surpise for me is that it didn't end up as honer instead of honor. The second reason actually goes hand in hand with the first. Lack of printed books in the early U.S. When language is not shackled by the hand of technology (printing) it does what it always does. It changes. Writing is an artifact of man, an invention, and only approximates the spoken word, which is not an artifact of man, but an organic and ever evolving part of us as intrinsic as a hand or a spleen. The written word always eventually bows to its master and creator, the spoken word. The written word has been made brave by its alliance with technology, but still, the power of the spoken word is relentless. The time period for the founding of the U.S. falls right at the tail end of when linguistic flux was still a vigorous phenomenon. The printed word (not the written, but the printed) was just starting to exert its force upon the masses. Had America been colonized a hundred years earlier, I think the differences in spelling on either side of the pond today would be much more profound.
On my travels through literature and history, I remember wondering why spellings of words like colour/color differ. The answer I discovered was that it was UK English that was originally 'u'-less (like the American counterpart) and the cosmetic 'u' was adopted as a flourish a la mode during the 1700s when English well-to-do types (in particular,) were looking to France for all things fashionable. Our cousins across the pond had other things on their mind and retained the original spelling. I don't have time to verify the details at the moment (a 5 day-old newborn!), so I encourage you to Google it. I'm sure my date is completely wrong; it's just a guess.
How many differences are there? The only difference I know of is that, in America, we color our colours, while in Britain, they colour their colors. Actually (paused for a quick google) there are a few others... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_and_British_English_spelling_differences If you want to maintain spelling consistency, I suggest you decide whether you want American or British spellings, then, when you choose your preferred spelling, use the "find/replace" function in Word (if you wrote your manuscript in word) to make your writing consistent. Charlie
You must be from the South. Yous guys should learn to talk like a New Yawker. Or someone from Joisey. PS. I'm from Jersey. Only New Yawkers say New Yawk. Or Joisey. We do, however, say "down the shore." Contrary to popular belief, in NJ, "down the shore" does not mean the same as "to the beach." It means you're somewhere near the shore, at a shore town or near a shore town. "We're down the shore. We just got off exit 82 and we're almost to the Seaside Heights bridge. We're stopping at the Stewart's Root Beer stand for lunch. We're going to the beach later." See 'ya later, y'all! PS. Here are two words often said in New Jersey: Jeet and Yin. Jeet means, "Did you eat?" Yin means "Are you in," and is most often said when everyone is getting into a car.
