[James C. Bennett]

RELATED:

 

Ohio teenager wins US spelling bee crown

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/us_and_canada/10244237.stm

EXCERPT:

A 14-year-old girl from the US state of Ohio has won the country's coveted annual National Spelling Bee.

Anamika Veeramani, from North Royalton, claimed victory by correctly spelling the word stromuhr - a medical term.

She takes home $40,000 (£27,450) in cash and prizes, as well as the coveted championship title.

It is the third year in a row that an Indian-American has won the championship.

Anamika's winning word, stromuhr, is the term for an instrument used to measure the velocity of blood flow.

The popularity of the spelling bee - a peculiarly American tradition - has grown greatly over the past decade, partly as a result of the Academy Award-nominated documentary Spellbound.

[C19fan]

The Boston Red Sox and Chicago White Sox are examples of what this movement tried to impose during the late 19th/early 20th century.

[pnh102]

What kind of loser complains about the difficulty of a spelling bee?

[nhoward14]

If these people had their way, English would devolve into a mixture of Engrish and LOLcat speak.

[FourPeas]

Oh yes. By all means. Americans are too stupid to learn how to spell our own language. Let's just go phonetic and make any spelling acceptable so no one feels badly because they can't spell. Think of all the extra information with which our children can be indoctrinated if we stop studying spelling. It's for the chill’un.

[CharacterCounts]

Spelling has already been simplified to the extreme. Just ask any teenager who texts.

[Larry Lucido]

[trisham]

What a great idea! I think the Obama administration should make this a top priority, and pass a law that allows them to take over all of the companies that publish dictionaries. Penalties for non-compliance would probably have to be substantial, and of course, there will have to be union involvement, because all IRS forms, government signs, instructions and so on will have to reflect this new law. The possibilities for employment opportunities are endless.

It could cause an increase in taxes, but it would be worth it!

[bannie]

What makes English the most “wealthy” of languages is that we have the largest, richest lexicon. We are, simply, not snobbish about adopting (and adapting) “outside” words as our own. I love this.

Even in an instructive profession, however, I’m just not possessive of particular word spellings. (Don’t worry: I still insist on proper spellings!) We’ve already changed the true ENGLISH spellings of a number of words—like color (colour) and center (centre)—to better suit us...AND Shakespeare spelled even his own NAME in numerous ways.

I see the need for consistency (litigation, and all); but I just don’t feel a moral connection to traditional, particular spellings.

I blame the Great Vowel Shift (and its minor brother) for most of the mess.

(Go ahead...shoot! I have thick skin.)