webster did create a slightly different identity for american english. but, because his efforts did not address some of the most glaring problems, his variations make little difference to the way the language is used. an example of the real problems in english orthography is the word ending "-ough", which is pronounced several different ways: tough, bough, cough... the root causes of spelling variation are historical. loan words come with their own (foreign) spelling. some french loan words are still spelled in the french way; others have been changed.