Pyjamas vs. Pajamas

I was just talking to a friend of mine who lives in the UK and he said "pyjamas." I thought he was just being funny until he told me that that's actually how the English spell it. But here in America, we spell it "pajamas."

Heh. I just think it's strange how it can be the same word and we spell it differently. Just like "realize" and "realise."

I wonder how all this...seperated. I probably should know being in 12th grade and all(heh) but I don't so does anyone else have any ideas?

I pronounce it 'pi-jarm-as'. As such, 'pyjamas' works better for me than 'pajamas'.

And you American's are so funny. Flash lights don't flash...

Now thats why everytime I spent realize it said it was wrong...

Anyway, the English way sounds and looks MUCH better.

*blinks* y'all say pajamas different too?!

For goodness sake... if we both speak English why are there so many differences?!

It's called dialect.

Because the Americans wanted to be different!

We speak 'real' English .

what about Colour and Color and Grey and Gray??

http://www.hps.com/~tpg/ukdict/

try looking at that, full of the differences between American English and English English.... yeah...

A lot of the differences in spelling just stem from the American desire after the Revolutionary War to be as different from the British as possible. It's the same reason why New York City is not the capitol of New York and why the Episcopalian church is not called the Anglican church.

I pity the people that call them 'jammies'. Like my little brother's best friend's mother..*shudder*

PAJAMAS ALL THE WAY!

I hate American English...

z's are so... meh
(except the one in my name)
ther are added U's in everything
And I love their word for pants: trousers XD

I spell a lot of stuff the British way. It's fun.

But I think I like pajamas better than I like pyjamas. Of course, that's just me. *shrug*

Mark Twain once said that England and the United States were only seperated by a common language.

I forgot to say this
but a pal who says BOXERS (like underwear) always has a T like... BOXTERS
So... is that like.... spelling boundary or his fat fingers touch the keys?

Pyjamas reminds me somehow of pygmies... Dont' ask... (the P-Y prolly)

I could have sworn I've seen PJs spelled both ways..

I keep spelling realize with an "s" not a "z".. quite possibly becuase the s is easier to get to than the z on keyboards..

and no. flashlights don't flash. got a problem with that? *mutters about "loos" and "torches"*

and yes. I agree with Twain. we are seperated by a common language, that isn't quite so common..

(and apparently, aluminium and speciality are prounced differently in the UK vs. the US..)