Why do Americans spell words like "theatre" with "er" instead of "re" at the end?

@SunshineGirl I've also noticed that Americans pronounce the "r" more clearly than British people do in words like that.

@BijouPleasurette Standard British pronunciation of words ending in a vowel is generally to use an obscure vowel.

@BijouPleasurette The sound systems of all languages develop (which is how Latin has become Italian), and British English is more advanced than American English as far as that is concerned. The "r" at the end of a word (such as "car" or "war") has become silent in British English.

@helenS It's silent in Boston, Massachusetts too.

@ninalanyon paak the caa in haavard yaad (mom grew up in Newtown MA)

@helenS No , That's English English; not British.

@ffony It's even more specific than that.

@helenS Not in Bristol it hasn't! There are some regional dialects where the "r" is very pronounced . . and it can even make an appearance where none exists (eg. ba-r-th, pa-r-th, etc).

@SunshineGirl Haha that sounds archaic! 🤭

@helenS It's a really odd linguistic feature called rhoticity, that unites certain people from the eastern and western sides of England. There's a lot of theory as to why it evolved, but no real answer.

@ninalanyon There is really no such thing as Standard British Pronunciation

@ffony BBC English perhaps?

@SunshineGirl Ah, rhoticity! That must be what makes so many people think 'Auld Lang Lyne' has a 'Z' in it.

As for why N. Americans pronounce 'Parmesan' so peculiarly, it's anybody's guess.

@ffony "The rhotic dialects of English include most of those in Scotland, Ireland, the United States, and Canada. As of the 21st century, the non-rhotic dialects include those in Wales, Australia and South Africa, and most of those in England and New Zealand."
(source: Wikipedia)

@helenS If there is such a thing as BBC Standard English, most Britons don't speak it.

@ffony When I speak English, I rrrrroll the rrrrr overrrr my tongue! 😏

@helenS So rhoticty means pronouncing all the Rs ... I just call that speaking clearly. Very few people do much of that.

@helenS Do you use the glo ' ' al stop? As in Rrrrra ' ' le.

@ffony It's the pronunciation of an 'r' before a consonant as a hard sound, sometimes inserting one where it has not existed for centuries. In England that can mark you out as a bit rural . . or a native of my home city of Bristol 🙂

@ffony I understood that's a feature of the Cockney dialect?

@helenS It is. They squeeze the "t" sound out of words like "bottle". They say "bo'l". I know that doesn't look right but I couldn't think how else to spell it. Lol :)

@helenS The Cockney dialect among others.