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All though the UK and the US share the same language as we know it, there are quite a few differences and variations between the two countries with regards to English. As one writer quoted, "England and America are two nations divided by a common language". Despite some of the peculiarities of the language, English is, in fact, the most widely used and influential languages in the world. With Britain leading the industrial revolution and being one of the most powerful countries of that era, the importance of English quickly spread and continues to do so today. For this reason, English has now become the global language of business. During the British colonization of America, the language managed to spread all over the region as a result of trade and the spread of the British empire. However, in the 1700s, a man called Noah Webster, an American author and teacher, believed that the English language was not adequate and decided to make some changes. This is because he thought the language, especially the spelling, was overly complicated and should be simplified and based on the way its spoken. In order to promote American education and to be suitable for the children and culture, he eventually published a new and updated dictionary which is commonly associated with his name, Webster. This dictionary contained changes to the old British English spelling and vocabulary. As a consequence of this, British English and American English now have their differences. The first most obvious difference is the accent. Both countries are home to a wide variety of accents, dialects, and slang. For example, people in the north speak differently than people in the south. One main distinction between British and American English is the pronunciation of the letter R. In British English it tends to sound more subtle however in American English it is pronounced more. As previously mentioned, Webster made a lot of changes to the British vocabulary. Some examples of these changes are seen in words that have the letter U in them. E.g. color and colour, behavior and behaviour. He thought that the 'U' in these words was unnecessary to the pronunciation so he eliminated certain letters. Some more examples are theater and theatre, meter and metre. This, however, is not the only difference. There are also different words altogether, for example, Americans would say vacation instead of holiday and British people would say jumper instead of sweater. This is just to name a few. There are hundreds of everyday words that are different. Some more examples are that British people would say sweets and Americans would say candy. In conclusion, British and American English do have a lot of differences but as they both speak the same language, most people can understand each other just fine. Apart from the occasional misunderstanding, Americans and British people share the same language and share many parts of each other's culture. The divide between the countries is becoming smaller and smaller as a result of tourism and business. Consequently, Americans and Brits are adopting each other's customs and culture, including the vocabulary and slang.
