Posted on 07/06/2006 7:02:08 AM PDT by Millee
When "say," "they" and "weigh" rhyme, but "bomb," "comb" and "tomb" don't, wuudn't it maek mor sens to spel wurdz the wae thae sound?
Those in favor of simplified spelling say children would learn faster and illiteracy rates would drop. Opponents say a new system would make spelling even more confusing.
Eether wae, the consept has yet to capcher th publix imajinaeshun.
It's been 100 years since Andrew Carnegie helped create the Simplified Spelling Board to promote a retooling of written English and President Theodore Roosevelt tried to force the government to use simplified spelling in its publications. But advocates aren't giving up.
They even picket the national spelling bee finals, held every year in Washington, costumed as bumble bees and hoisting signs that say "Enuf is enuf but enough is too much" or "I'm thru with through."
Thae sae th bee selebraets th ability of a fue stoodents to master a dificult sistem that stumps meny utherz hoo cuud do just as wel if speling were simpler.
"It's a very difficult thing to get something accepted like this," says Alan Mole, president of the American Literacy Council, which favors an end to "illogical spelling." The group says English has 42 sounds spelled in a bewildering 400 ways.
Americans doen't aulwaez go for whut's eezy witnes th faeluer of th metric sistem to cach on. But propoenents of simpler speling noet that a smatering of aulterd spelingz hav maed th leep into evrydae ues.
Doughnut also is donut; colour, honour and labour long ago lost the British "u" and the similarly derived theatre and centre have been replaced by the easier-to-sound-out theater and center.
(Excerpt) Read more at cbsnews.com ...
Bingo. The main difficulty in adopting a universal pronuciation-based spelling system is that there is no universal pronuciation.
Also, as another noted, the spellings of our words often reveal their lineages and allow literate people to figure out what unfamiliar words mean, or see the connection between them.
SD
LOl, that's pretty clever Dave:)
Becky
Still funny, though.
SD
Bad analogy. The metric system isn't easier. See Freedom 2 Measure.
Oh yeah. We live at 415 Spruce Street!
You'd think this man would have something better to do with his time...
So did Melville Dewey (founder of the cataloging system public libraries still use today). He simplified his own first name to "Melvil".
Hey, it's better than femto-dicklencths per megawhosis.
png
That's Edgumakashun.
You're spelling it wrong..
lol
I love it when my Wang gets expanded.
In another thread,
I got to put together
this pic and these words:
This is Wimbledon
Fortnight. About all I've seen
for the last two weeks
is Sharapova
screaming and Roger creaming
everyone he's faced . . .
Also, as another noted, the spellings of our words often reveal their lineages and allow literate people to figure out what unfamiliar words mean, or see the connection between them.
**
So true. Knowing those roots has helped me on many occasions.
Math would be alot easier if everything equaled seven.
&&
You mean it doesn't? No wonder I always have trouble with math.
Bad analogy. The metric system isn't easier.
&&&
Actually, it is. It is just difficult for us because we have always used the American/English system, but SI units make a lot more sense when one is converting from one unit to another. For example, figuring out how many millimeters that x meters equals just requires moving of the decimal point -- no paper or electronic calculations needed -- whereas going from inches to feet requires division that many people can't do in their head.
A timly artical! I have long ben intrestid in speling reform, as words ar very importent to me and making them understandible to everone shood bee given hi priorty.
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