When one thinks of the word Math it is realized that all forms of mathematics included in that set are built form the same set of basic rules. When someone can find another type of Math that is not based on those rules then we will have multiple kinds (not branches of) of Math and can say we have Maths.

I capitalized Math and Maths here for emphasis. It is probably a fair guess that most of the people arguing this topic are not mathematicians.

As a side note, my word processor flags Maths as misspelled but does not flag Math.

English was developed from many Germanic and other languages. To state that English was developed by the English is nonsense. When the language was first blended England did not exist as England.

Mathematics is singular in that it refers to a single body of knowledge but Math refers to the components of that body of knowledge and is therefore plural. No one would argue the incorrectness of changing deer to deers or geese to geeses.

Unfortunately, when some less than literate person makes and propagates errors such as these they eventually become part of the changing language. Elementary and secondary teachers are frequently the source of these errors and their propagation. Many times I have had to correct university students that have the habit of saying things like “ I am going to times it” or “ I plused or minused it”. They claim to have been taught this way and I have no reason to doubt that they were. I have personally heard teachers say these things, possibly out of a misguided attempt to make it easier for the student. However, they have not thought this approach through and it brings another level of illiteracy to the culture. Students are then left to sound mathematically illiterate and few people will take them seriously when they use such childish expressions.

Instead of defending these errors, any intelligent and informed person would wish to correct the error rather than continue to propagate the mishap. The world is full of examples of groups within cultures who just can’t seem to get it right and pass on that ignorance to their progeny and the surrounding population.

Often, it becomes in vogue to emulate these unfortunate beings as children seek their own unique identity. They do not have the experience to know that this emulation is neither unique nor literate. This is why they must be guided away from these influences and set on the path that will lead to their success rather than hinder opportunities. An example is they way American kids try to be “ghetto” or “gangsta”.

It is also the case that adults with low self esteem will attach themselves to cute little things such as the European habit of crossing their sevens so they can feel they are more sophisticated than their peers. These fragile egos may be of above average intelligence but not at a level where they can realize the flaw in this line of thought.

As an Englishman “pants” for “trousers” and “fanny” for “bum” all sounds very amusing, but then again for my American friend when we say “toilet” instead of “bathroom” (a bathroom being a room with a bath for us) it sounds quite strange too. Is that not just the variety of language? Surely we pronounce words the way we are used to pronouncing them? 

Even within England my friend from York calls a plaster cast a “pot”, and my Scouser friend says “youse” for a plural “you”.

An Minnesotan friend of mine once criticised me for rhyming the vowel of “roof” with “tooth” rather than with that of “tough”. I had to explain to him that that’s the way we say it in England, and I think in many parts of the USA that is also the case. There was some misunderstanding as I didn’t get what he was saying sometimes, but so what? That’s the beauty of language.

There is not such thing as “correct” form. In fact if you went back to 17th century English you would find that all forms of English, including English in England, have strayed from the “original” form. In fact if you think we should all speak “original” English we would all go back to speaking the Anglo-Saxon of Beowulf. The mere thought is ridiculous. 

We all have neologisms that annoy us. I hate when certain Americans say “if I would have seen him I would have told him”, but that is just a personal preference, and no matter how much it grates, I have no right to dictate to people how they should speak.

English doesn’t belong only to the English, it belongs to all who speak it. The only things that belong to you are the words that you yourself utter. If you do want to go down that road, then the residents of  Schleswig-Holstein and Angeln would be berating the entire anglophone world for “corrupting” their pure tongue.

Chill out and accept the diversity which is inherent in language. No one is stopping the English from saying “maths” and nobody is preventing the Americans from saying “math”. Both have logical reasons for their existence, language is not an exact science. 

I remember the first time I heard the term “visit with” as in “I’m visiting with my grandmother”. My first reaction was “where are you going together?”. I didn’t realise that it just meant that she was visiting her grandmother, not visiting someone or somewhere else *with* her grandmother. But that is the beauty of language diversity, it should open your mind to the way people think and feel.

Another interesting one in American English is “different than”. As an Englishman, I would always say “That picture is different from that one”. I would always reserve “different than” for when “different” is a comparative adjective rather than a normal adjective. I would use it only for a comparison of the relative level of difference of two objects and a third object, eg. “That yellow circle is more different than that purple triangle from that blue triangle” (because it has two unique differences rather than one). Of course this is a much rarer usage as it is a rarer situation.

Again, it is just the nature of diversity. Accept it.