Shortly after the United States was founded, Thomas Jefferson, the country's third president, believed that the new nation should develop a language distinct from English. In a letter to his friend John Waldo in 1813, he argued that "new conditions require new words, new phrases, and the transfer of old words to new objects," contending that the rapidly growing population and vast geography would enrich the language.
Noah Webster's Spelling Revolution
Jefferson's words were brought to life by the work of lexicographer Noah Webster. Webster made sweeping changes to American English spelling, setting it apart from British English. He dropped the 'u' in 'honour' to make 'honor,' changed 'centre' to 'center,' and 'travelled' to 'traveled.' He replaced 'draught' with 'draft.' Some of his suggestions — like turning 'tongue' into 'tung' and 'leather' into 'lether' — didn't catch on. But his textbook, the American Spelling Book, sold around 100 million copies in a century, rivaling the Bible.
Words from Native Languages and Immigrants
New words were not only the result of spelling reform. American English borrowed animal names from Native American languages, such as 'skunk,' 'raccoon,' 'chipmunk,' 'moose,' 'opossum,' and 'caribou.' Words from French like 'prairie' and Dutch like 'cookie' also became part of the language.
Interestingly, Americans also preserved some old English words that were falling out of use in England. The word 'fall' for autumn was used in 16th-century England, but thanks to the spectacular fall colors in New England, it became permanent in America. Meanwhile, archaic grammatical forms like 'gotten' persisted in the US while British English shifted to 'got.'
Britain's Reaction and Language Debates
This linguistic divergence unsettled the British. As early as 1756, author Samuel Johnson described the 'American dialect' as 'the inevitable mark of corruption in any language spread over a wide area.' In the 19th century, American newspapers mocked pretentious British fashion through characters like the 'dude,' and English-derived words faced ridicule. The word 'trousers' gave way to 'pants.' Oscar Wilde quipped in 1887, 'We have really everything in common with America nowadays, except, of course, the language.'
Modern American English and the Digital Age
Language evolution continues today. Linguist Jack Grieve from the University of Birmingham analyzed Twitter data from 2013–2014 to see which regions of the US produce the most new words. Expressions like 'amirite' (am I right?) on the West Coast, 'boolin' (chilling) in the Deep South, and 'lituation' (a highly positive situation) in the Northeast emerged. The highest creativity was seen in regions with large African American populations; some researchers believe a stronger drive to express social identity may be at play in these communities.
Technology accelerates the spread of these new words across the country and even beyond the Atlantic. While the complete linguistic separation Jefferson envisioned has not happened, American English has been charting its own course for over 250 years, enriching global English.
