You write potato, I write ghoughpteighbteau

The Economist ^ | Aug 14th 2008 | Staff

[forkinsocket]

.

[sionnsar]

Written language is more than a phonetic version of its spoken cousin: it contains etymological and morphological clues to meaning too.

Bingo!

[sionnsar]

and may underlie the national test results released on August 12th which revealed that almost a third of English 14-year-olds cannot read properly.

It would be interesting to learn whether that figure was consistent historically or whether the author is evading the possibility that the skewls mai bi to blaim.

[astyanax]

You write potato, I write ghoughpteighbteau
That happens to me, too!
Then I turn off the Dvorak keyboard...

In all seriousness, very interesting. Thanks for posting.

[kalee]

ping

[NonValueAdded]

Anyone remember the decabet skit?

[Army Air Corps]

Yes. Some of the funniest stuff to ever air on TV.

[BenLurkin]

One solution... is to accept the most common misspellings ...rather than correct them.

The exact wrong thing to do!

[sionnsar]

I've learned from my Anglophone/Francophone wife that we have it much easier than the French. Their written language is so far from accurately phonetic that correct spelling is achieved only by a few.

And before everyone jumps me or the French, I have found the French people even in Paris to be polite, helpful and friendly to this non-French-speaking obvious American (I think obvious: in Vienna and in Germany I sometimes get asked directions by native German speakers -- and if French folk are being friendly to Germans now... *\;-).

Scottish Gaelic, on the other hand, is nearly perfectly phonetic. "Smaoineachadh" (thinking) is pronounced exactly as written -- once you know the rules. *\;-)

[ken21]

u mean i can’t say

u sux?

[AndrewB]

You know, it’s true...this whole English language thing just isn’t working out. Let’s try something else.

[IronJack]

a central regulatory authority capable of overseeing standardisation.

Shouldn't that be "standardiZation"?

Don't have one; don't want one; don't need one. Our language is just fine the way it is.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

Orthographic reform is like the Norwegian Blue Parrot. An idea whose time will never come.

[WellyP]

www.hotforwords.com Marina will tell you all about where the words came from!

[The Great RJ]

Perhaps one reason why large numbers of 14 year olds in England do not read English properly is that they are spending most of their time memorizing the Koran rather than reading the King’s English.

[astyanax]

For anyone interested, I highly recommend The Mother Tongue.
Sorry, can't remember the author, it was probably 20(?) years ago,
but it was a fascinating (and humorous) account of the development of the English language, including grammar and spelling.
I don't suppose anyone remembers it?
...cue crickets...

[lowbridge]

"Written language is more than a phonetic version of its spoken cousin: it contains etymological and morphological clues to meaning too"

Ok.

Huh?

[PotatoHeadMick]

That was by American author (and Anglophile) Bill Bryson. Bryson loves the English language and used to work as a sub-editor for the Times of London, he is very defensive of the “Americanisations” which were frequently derided by English snobs but which he proved are very often the proper old English usage.

He also wrote a very useful book for anyone who needs to write properly (or just likes to write properly) “Bryson’s Dictionary of Troublesome Words”. It’s amazing how many simple errors you’ll discover that you make and had no idea they were wrong (eg no such words as “alright” or “alot”), mind you installing a spell checker in your computer will probably do that job for you anyway.

[astyanax]

Thanks!
I usually just avoid 'alot' and 'alright' because they "look" akward, if that makes any sense.
It's not that I 'need' to write properly, but I'd prefer to.
Is his dictionary as entertaining as his history of English was? (i.e. is The Mother Tongue his typical writing style?)

[astyanax]

Speaking of spell check...
I thought that “akward” looked, well, awkward.