I once came across someone commenting on one of Q-Dance's announcement videos for Defqon.1 Weekend Festival Australia years ago, saying that they spelled "Center" wrong in the video. Someone else replied, saying that "Centre" is technically correct since it's not in the US; Sidney Int'l Regatta Ctr
Most Americans don't even realize the US spelling (aluminum) and the UK spelling (aluminium) are literally pronounced the way they are spelled. They just assumed it's spelled the one way.
"Realise", and most words ending in "ise/ize", are technically spelt with an "s" in the UK and Australia, but many people here write them with a "z" because of widespread use of Microsoft Word spellchecker.
Early American dictionary compilers, notably Noah Webster, felt that simplifying the spelling - such as 'color' or 'meter' - wld aid literacy & create a distinct American identity. Bc Americans are simple!
Didn't work: 21% of adults in the US are illiterate (2024). 54% of adults have a literacy
below a 6th-grade level. 20% are below 5th-grade level. Low levels of literacy costs the US up to 2.2 trillion per year.
But it's more about identity - Americans will *always* choose a different spelling or word if they can, to avoid BrEng. Eg purse i/l handbag, trunk il/ boot, -re/-er words etc.
No, the Brits avoid French. After Norman French having been the official language of Britain for 200 yrs after the Conquest, the English gentry (who were the ones who spoke French) 'demoted' French words & replaced them with Eng: napkin (Eng) i/l serviette (Fr); what? (Eng) i/l pardon? (Fr) etc.
A lot of our weird spelling comes from the need for saving space in newspapers back in the day. Other times it’s to reflect the difference in phonetic inflection, hence why we use a lot more Zs in words.
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Didn't work: 21% of adults in the US are illiterate (2024). 54% of adults have a literacy
But it's more about identity - Americans will *always* choose a different spelling or word if they can, to avoid BrEng. Eg purse i/l handbag, trunk il/ boot, -re/-er words etc.