Oct 16
marks the 250th birth anniversary of Noah Webster (1758-1843), lexicographer
extraordinaire, who compiled the American Dictionary of the English Language
(1828), the first authoritative lexicon of American English. Webster believed in
establishing cultural independence from Britain and as such he emphasized a
distinct American spelling and pronunciation. His dictionary listed various
unusual and shortened spellings of words. He would hardly have imagined how the
tide would turn one day. According to reports, more British children today spell
"color" instead of "colour", for example. Webster's suggestion of using "tung"
instead of "tongue" didn't stick, though.
I'd like to express my deepest regrets to our British
friends.