![]() ![]() So in 1783 he published the first part of his three-part A Grammatical Institute, of the English Language the first section was eventually retitled The American Spelling Book, but usually called by the nickname “Blue-Backed Speller.” The Blue-Backed Speller taught American children the rules of spelling, and it simplified words - it was Webster who took the letter “u” out of English words like colour and honour he took a “g” out of waggon, a “k” off the end of musick, and switched the order of the “r” and “e” in theatre and centre. His students’ spelling was atrocious, as was that of the general public it was assumed that there were several spellings for any word. There wasn’t much money for supplies and students were crowded into small one-room schoolhouses using textbooks from England that talked about the great King George. He was dismayed at the state of education in the years just after the Revolution. Noah Webster was a schoolteacher in Connecticut. The problem wasn’t just that Americans were looking to England for their language it was that they could barely communicate with each other because regional dialects differed so drastically. ![]() Webster put together the dictionary because he wanted Americans to have a national identity that wasn’t based on the language and ideas of England. ![]() It was on this day in 1828 that Noah Webster ‘s American Dictionary of the English Language was published ( books by this author). “A Hint of Spring” by James Whitcomb Riley.
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