So he's the one to blame....

Noah Webster is definitely an interesting fellow, brilliant orator, academic, intellectual, politician, etc..... but did he have to be (more or less) single-handedly responsible for getting rid of those lovely British spellings like favourite and centre?

According to Webster: One Man's Attempt to Define 'America' - New York Times: "When Noah Webster published 'A Compendious Dictionary of the English Language,' purists were horrified. Webster Americanized the British spellings in Samuel Johnson's famous dictionary, turning 'defence' and 'honour' into 'defense' and 'honor,' and dropping the 'k' from 'musick.' Webster included new American words like 'subsidize' and 'caucus,' and left out hoary Britishisms like 'fishefy.' John Quincy Adams, the future president, was shocked by the 'local vulgarisms,' and doubted that Harvard, of which he was a trustee, would ever endorse such a radical 'departure from the English language.'"