[MissouriConservative]

Oh good grief.

[Wolfie]

What a bunch of loosers.

[rattrap]

this iz stoopid

[lesser_satan]

ZOMG we all be teh 1337 h4x0rz nao.

[indcons]

[eleni121]

The spelen be - wat a bncha loozers-—its consept an it’s roolz ar soooo laik over.

[Eccl 10:2]

On a side note, I find it sad that in this era of global economic competitiveness, where better and better jobs are being lost overseas, that the most celebrated intellectual competition in the US is a spelling bee.

How quaint.

[contemplator]

Spelling phonetically introduces all sorts of problems into the written language such as phonetic “accents” and slang pronunciations. It’s hard enough to understand everyone in our society as it is, to further dumb things down on a written level as well is not a good idea.

[the_devils_advocate_666]

A Plan for the Improvement of English Spelling
by Mark Twain

For example, in Year 1 that useless letter “c” would be dropped
to be replased either by “k” or “s”, and likewise “x” would no longer
be part of the alphabet. The only kase in which “c” would be retained
would be the “ch” formation, which will be dealt with later. Year 2
might reform “w” spelling, so that “which” and “one” would take the
same konsonant, wile Year 3 might well abolish “y” replasing it with
“i” and Iear 4 might fiks the “g/j” anomali wonse and for all.
Jenerally, then, the improvement would kontinue iear bai iear
with Iear 5 doing awai with useless double konsonants, and Iears 6-12
or so modifaiing vowlz and the rimeining voist and unvoist konsonants.
Bai Iear 15 or sou, it wud fainali bi posibl tu meik ius ov thi
ridandant letez “c”, “y” and “x” — bai now jast a memori in the maindz
ov ould doderez — tu riplais “ch”, “sh”, and “th” rispektivli.
Fainali, xen, aafte sam 20 iers ov orxogrefkl riform, wi wud
hev a lojikl, kohirnt speling in ius xrewawt xe Ingliy-spiking werld.

[Telepathic Intruder]

Spelling reform is currently enjoying a renaissance in the U.S. and Britain.

I could go along with that (if it had a chance in hell). Few people realize what a science phonetics is, and how badly English represents it. To most, each sound used to construct words seem random, but did you know that they can all be fitted neatly in a matrix and the exact relation between each one identified? The English alphabet doesn't account for this at all, is missing several sounds that require letter combinations instead, and has repetitious letters that aren't even needed (C, Q, and X specifically). Other sounds can't be represented at all, and must be assumed.

[weegee]

[Dante3]

Actually I see their point. How much easier to teach a child to read in many other languages than English.

[NonValueAdded]

Just introduce the Decabet (hey, it’s metric!) /obscure

[HamiltonJay]

A Plan for the Improvement of English Spelling

by Mark Twain

For example, in Year 1 that useless letter "c" would be dropped to be replased either by "k" or "s", and likewise "x" would no longer be part of the alphabet. The only kase in which "c" would be retained would be the "ch" formation, which will be dealt with later. Year 2 might reform "w" spelling, so that "which" and "one" would take the same konsonant, wile Year 3 might well abolish "y" replasing it with "i" and Iear 4 might fiks the "g/j" anomali wonse and for all.

Jenerally, then, the improvement would kontinue iear bai iear with Iear 5 doing awai with useless double konsonants, and Iears 6-12 or so modifaiing vowlz and the rimeining voist and unvoist konsonants. Bai Iear 15 or sou, it wud fainali bi posibl tu meik ius ov thi ridandant letez "c", "y" and "x" -- bai now jast a memori in the maindz ov ould doderez -- tu riplais "ch", "sh", and "th" rispektivli.

Fainali, xen, aafte sam 20 iers ov orxogrefkl riform, wi wud hev a lojikl, kohirnt speling in ius xrewawt xe Ingliy-spiking werld.

[HamiltonJay]

...ours is a mongrel language which started with a child's vocabulary of three hundred words, and now consists of two hundred and twenty-five thousand; the whole lot, with the exception of the original and legitimate three hundred, borrowed, stolen, smouched from every unwatched language under the sun, the spelling of each individual word of the lot locating the source of the theft and preserving the memory of the revered crime.

- Mark Twain's Autobiography

[GunRunner]

English phonetics is a discombobulated mess.

One of the things that amazed me when I took German was how almost every word is spelled exactly as it sounds.

I have a buddy who speaks three languages and competes in several adult spelling bees annually, and I asked him about this. He said that spelling bees are for the most part an English only event, since it wouldn't occur to non-English language speakers to make a contest out of spelling, since it is rarely challenging in any language other than English.

[gura]

Here's the new dictionary for the National Spelling Bee:

http://www.newspeakdictionary.com/

[SoldierDad]

Reformers, including Mark Twain, Charles Darwin and Theodore Roosevelt, argued that phonetic spellings would make it easier for children, foreigners and adults with learning disabilities to read and write.

This is simply not true. A large number of the children with learning disabilities that I work with have little to no phonics skills and are dependent upon the development of site word vocabulary to learn how to read and write. Using a phonics based system would not help, but would certainly hinder their progress.

[SoldierDad]

Reformers, including Mark Twain, Charles Darwin and Theodore Roosevelt, argued that phonetic spellings would make it easier for children, foreigners and adults with learning disabilities to read and write.

This is simply not true. A large number of the children with learning disabilities that I work with have little to no phonics skills and are dependent upon the development of sight word vocabulary to learn how to read and write. Using a phonics based system would not help, but would certainly hinder their progress.

[The Great RJ]

I am reminded of the movie Idiocracy where 500 years in the future the English language has been reduced to a mixture of Hillbilly, Valley Girl and street talk and spelling has been reduced to crude phonetic renditions of words.