Oh the horror, the horror:
Should We Simplify Spelling?
Being a spelling nut, I can barely understand any of Ms. Bell's writing. I agree with all the commentors and Prof Cook's arguments. Leave it alone. For one thing, English is far too widespread to go changing it now, and for another it is part of the history of our language. Changing it at will erases the beauty of the foundations of our language. You can still see the Germanic, French, and Latin influences on our language, and I for one love that. Her spelling is also aimed at a certain accent, which creates a problem when you're revising the spelling based on how it sounds. Like a commenter, I kept reading her change of spelling from "only" into "onely" as won-lee! If we need to help slow readers, do it by improving education, not by changing spelling to the lowest common denominator!
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Dash of Spelling, anyone?
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3 comments:
I read that article earlier and actually couldn't finish it, I couldn't believe what they were talking about! Like you said it's completely dependent on your accent. Waste of time as far IMHO!
By helping the so-called slow readers it'll boil down to the same thing; they'll create more slow readers. I can't follow their logic. Reform should be for the better, not for the worse.
I completely agree, hellojed and alfaking. It's utter nonsense and will cause more problems than it will solve.
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