FAQ / Canned responses.
Noah Webster edit
2006.07.21. Note: This is the first version of this entry. It may contain minor inaccuracies. I will be double-check everything later. Click on the "discussion"-tab above to add comments. Thanks! -CF
Response to claims of the form:
Noah Webster split the English language.
Noah Webster created a bunch of new spellings in the U.S.
Noah Webster is responsible for the main spelling differences that now exist between the U.S. and the rest of the world.
Noah Webster was an orthographic poophead!
(etc.)
You have been directed here because someone has made an incorrect statement about the role of Noah Webster and/or the U.S. in the history of spelling differences in the English-speaking world.
Facts:
- English usage and spelling was never consistent before the existence of mass-published dictionaries (i.e., before the mid-18th century). There were differences within England, differences within the U.S. and differences between the English used in England, and the English used in North America.
- Noah Webster wanted to remove some of the inconsistencies in English spelling. To be sure, he wanted to fight the assumption that the U.S. necessarily needed to follow the prescriptions of people thousands of miles away, especially when many of these prescriptions were not very sensible.
- Many of Webster's suggestions (and those of Benjamin Franklin, who also believed in spelling reform) were too extreme for Americans, and, thus, were rejected (such as "wimmin" for woman, "tung" for tongue).
- Many of Webster's recommended spellings were actually older spellings, most of which were common, even preferred, from before Shakespeare's time up through the mid-18th century (color, center, etc.). Indeed, Shakespeare's first folios use a lot of "American" spelling.
- Samuel Johnson could just as easily be accused
Summary: usage was divided within the U.S., and within England. Samuel Johnson "locked" more "Norman" spellings in place in England, Webster "locked" more Latin (color), or older (defense) or "reform" spellings in place. Many of Johnson's choices were odd, many of Webster's were odd.
Please read at least the first few sentences of this text by Mencken for more useful information.