The Differences Between British English and American English

Same words, but different worlds- British and American English

“England and America are two countries separated by the same language” says the great linguist GB Shaw, a man known for his smooth yet scathing sarcasm. One might wonder what’s the difference, or does it even matter? Taking inspiration from my own personal experience it does matter, because when I ordered fries in Washington DC during my trip there, I got the chunky version of the double fried potatoes. But the layover at Heathrow got me crispy fried, thinly sliced potato chips. As a 17-year-old girl I was quite confused, how a small word like “fries” could change into an entirely different context just when it crosses the Atlantic Ocean.

The language though same, can be entirely different in terms of usage. That’s such a paradox. Take for example the recent memes that came across social media a few weeks ago. “President Trump needs a translator ahead of Shashi Tharoor’s visit.” For people who actually have heard Tharoor speak know, that even the British need a translator when he speaks. That’s why it begs the question, “What makes it so different?” 

There are few key differences, let’s start with the most obvious one, SPELLING. The most commonly redlined word when typing in a word document is the word “colour”, the “-our vs -or” conflict. In BrE we usually use the “our” format for words like colour, odour, favour, honour etc., are usually written by omitting the letter “u” in the middle. In AmE it is usually written as color, odor, favour, honour and so on. The change happened when Noah Webster an American lexicographer decided to simplify spellings by simply removing the letter “u” and ever since it has never been used in American spellings. The next major difference in spelling is the “-re vs -er” variation. Take for example the word “centre”. This difference usually occurs in the words that originate in French or Latin like centre, metre, theatre etc., This change also occurs with the introduction of the Webster dictionary which simplifies this making it easier phonetically. Finally, we have the “-ise vs -ize” variant. Words like analyse, realise, organise are replaced by a “z” instead of an “s” in the American version. The reason though not clear, could be traced back to the Greek base word form which holds a “z” for the “s” sounds. The BrE accepts both versions (organise and organize), but the AmE strictly goes by the “-ize” variant.

The next one is the difference in VOCABULARY. Due to historic and linguistic reasons, the language grew into a different kind of vocabulary. America being a settler colony incorporated many words from other European languages like French, German, Dutch, Spanish etc., Here are few examples

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