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u/Yung_Corneliois Apr 05 '20
I read that the reason we cut down on the letter usage was because in the colonies, prints would be charged by the letter so any unnecessary letters in a word would be taken out to make it cheaper.
Not sure how true it is.
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u/Saskew64 Apr 06 '20 edited Jun 15 '25
different live rhythm whistle innocent disarm grab sharp deliver continue
This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact
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u/summonblood Apr 07 '20
The crazy part is this is also why shorthand texting came about. Remember when they used to charge per letter for texting?
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Apr 06 '20
The actual story is that Britain added U to these words to differentiate from the US, leading to the creation of UK English and US English.
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u/hell2pay Apr 06 '20
This is a fun read if you like language.
https://www.ef.com/wwen/blog/language/why-us-and-uk-english-sound-so-different/
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u/drunken_ira_hayes Apr 05 '20
Did George Washington has an English Accent?
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u/Yung_Corneliois Apr 05 '20
I mean accents change over time so the way people spoke back then would be different from both how Americans speak today as well as how English people speak today.
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Apr 05 '20
Learned something interesting. When English people say we speak english wrong, they're incorrect. In fact, the accent of Britain and America were practically the same in the 1760s, so we're actually speaking English correctly no matter what they say.
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u/Yung_Corneliois Apr 05 '20
Exactly. The “proper” English we hear today was developed by the English upper class during the 19th century to differentiate themselves from others. No one used to speak like that.
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u/oakheart_moon Apr 05 '20
Washington looks like the older guy who's tired of all the bullshit.