The Word Puro w/Poll

[bobarian]

Originally Posted by shilala

I'm guessing you're asking why people expect people in the same country to use the same words to describe the same things? If so, Joe covered it really well up above.
Otherwise, if everyone calls a spoon something different, it'd really make it a pain in the ass to ask a waitress to get me something with which to eat my soup.

At what point was American English "standardized"? Washing powders, laundry detergent and soap are but one example of regional descriptions for the same product. I believe you will also find a thread here on the many words used for Soda, pop, coke, etc.

There is no such thing as standardized language, each region/country has their own colloquialisms and slang.