Posted on 06/04/2010 8:07:31 AM PDT by metmom
WASHINGTON (AP) — The nation's capital always draws its share of protesters, picketing for causes ranging from health care reform to immigration policy.
But spelling bee protesters? They're out here, too.
Four peaceful protesters, some dressed in full-length black and yellow bee costumes, represented the American Literacy Council and the London-based Spelling Society and stood outside the Grand Hyatt on Thursday, where the Scripps National Spelling Bee is being held. Their message was short: Simplify the way we spell words.
Roberta Mahoney, 81, a former Fairfax County, Va. elementary school principal, said the current language obstructs 40 percent of the population from learning how to read, write and spell.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
You nailed that one.
It’s what we say it is......
I am certain that they do not have a plan to differentiate between homophones other than saying, "The reader can figure it out from the context."
This does not help children or non-native speakers who have to attach meaning to the word in order to place it in context.
Garde la Foi, mes amis! Nous nous sommes les sauveurs de la République! Maintenant et Toujours!
(Keep the Faith, my friends! We are the saviors of the Republic! Now and Forever!)
LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)
surprise! That’s what Communists did when they took power.
In Russia, they simply eliminated several letters from the alphabet and re-spelled many words.
In China, the Communists “simplified” the characters, and at one point, on Stalin’s advice, even considered getting rid of characters all together.
Destroy the Culture, destroy the People, remake the People.
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.
40 percent can't read, write or spell? 40 percent? So if I get a group of five randomly selected people two will be illiterate? Sounds like a dancing abacus needs to protest those bees over their innumeracy.
What other stoopid cozzes arr awt thar anyways?
YES - and not only that — the real mission of this “movement is that in a very short time it would render all of English literature UNREADABLE to everyone.
Ze drem vil finali kum tru.
That’s funny. Where did Mark Twain write this? Have never seen it.
ping
It reminds me a a science fiction story I read once that I can’t immediately recall.
Gotta think on that one.....
IIRC, even Noah Webster had a crack at this before he settled down and put together the first dictionary of American English.
“Although many people have attributed the “Plan for the Improvement of English Spelling” to Mark Twain, most Twain scholars doubt that this attribution is accurate. It has also (and probably more accurately) been attributed to one M.J. Yilz, in a letter he wrote to the journal The Economist.”
well, it certainly is within the TWAIN sense of humor.
Most of us learn English just fine and can spell IMHO those who have problems need to be tutored by their parents or by paid tutors. If neither work perhaps they have some other learning disability that needs to be addressed?
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