Push for Simpler Spelling Persists

Ladies and Gentlemen - the dumbing of America.

I'm not sure what the author was trying to accomplish with her choice of spelling in this article. She went overboard and took the spellings to illogical extremes. After reading the article, the entire topic seems to be a farce. Very poor reporting.

I understand that the english language is tough to learn but this is ridiculous.

Yeah I like the reason that it would help "illiteracy" and make it faster to "learn", well no crap (is swearing allowed here?). You could also make crappy tanks so that it is easier for tank commanders to learn how to use them (and faster) as well as increase the errors due to not knowing the equipment.

How stupid.

For subjects like math, the sciences, geography and other important subjects like that, I think it's important that everyone have a basic fundamental understanding of the rules. It's important to be able to add, subtract, multiply, and divide... just as it's important to know the Earth revolves around the Sun, the United States is located in North America, and that general idea of the Periodic Table of the Elements.

I feel the same way about spelling. There are rules to spelling, and it's important to remember the basic ones. Everyone doesn't need to be a spelling master to be successful. Plus, you can always ask someone how to spell something... or look it up, or even use MS Word to check it.

Upper level math isn't easy, but that doesn't mean we should go and change all the rules so everyone can do it, right?

why not just push for smarter people?

gud riteup..

But seriously isn't this what is already happenning with all the lol, rotflmao, hur, brb, cu etc that we are seeing mostly on the internet and SMS messages? With such widespread use, especially by the new generation, it will sooner or later seep into the general public usage and by 2034 - you will then have "Web$ter Dikscionary" "L33t 101 Kourse" as a manadatory class for all freshmen..

As a non-native speaker, I do find some usage confusing or plain arbitary, but the article was too much. Kinda like the Euroglish thing that circulated on the internet a couple of years back.. just can't find that link now...

Eh, we don't need a different spelling system. We need better schools.

I'm an American in China right now, and if people can learn the thousands of Chinese characters here, then Americans can definitely learn our decent, if somewhat arbitrary at times, system. People don't sound out words, though, really. I think we just look at the shapes, kind of like in Chinese. I know I didn't sound out the phonetic words in the article above. I was able to read it from similar shapes and context.

Kids will learn it. Just teach them!

Oh, and I learned the Dvorak keyboard layout just for fun, so I'm not holding this position because I don't want to learn a new spelling system / how to type again. I would relish the challenge.

You are all lazy. This language isn't dead yet. Move to the side so us forward thinking English speakers don't have to suffer under the yoke of our obtuse language.

Seriously though, what's wrong with a little change for the sake of ease? Wouldn't we all be better off it kids got more time in math, science, and the arts rather than English course, after English course, after English course?

New Speak! New Speak!

Changing language is a big reality. A good example is how a lot of black people in South Africa usually speak the language. Blacks who primarily speak a native language and english secondary have their own distinct accent, one effect of which is the flattening of 'a'. For instance, Matric becomes Metric and Pans become Pens. It's just in the language, though I've read a few examples of people writing the words to this effect. It's not in the newspapers and frankly is much more common amongst people with average literacy rates - not unlike meeting any person who can read and write, but purely at a competent level. The accent of the native language (usually Zulu, Sotho or a popular township dialect that mixes several local languages). Another example is how Afrikaans speaking people tend to pronounce the 'r' in an English word. That might not show up in written word, but the example is the same.

My point is that depending on the culture, the language changes invariably. As a writer some of the examples of spelling above, which seem satirical, horrify me, but at the same time you have to respect language's fluid and changing state. It's one reason why writers could consider themselves artists of some form, because working with language lends itself to crafting it. English, imo, is too complicated and generally contradictory. But I push for certain words to be allowed. The ability to add 'ism' to most things without needing a dash if it's not an official word is ridiculous. The same applies to putting two word together to create a specific meaning.

But this is something copy editors can worry about anyway :)

The "experts" won't be finished with"improved methods" until no one in America can read, write, think and we all have Rx solutions.

Yeah lets make it easier for the dumbasses and completely screw over everyone who can already read. Good plan, these guy's elevators really don't make it to the top floor! Like it's not bad enough the web is littered with the grammatical bastardisation of the English language thanks to the IRC and SMS generation - 'c U l8er dude!" - Do me a favor!

This is stupid, why would you lower yourself to not trying to learn how to spell? While we're at it, lets stop using good hygiene because its just so hard to pick out and reason how to pay for soap these days.

HUKD AWN FONIKZ WERKD FOUR MEE!

-J

It's the meaning issue that is lost when people don't learn how to spell--a fact briefly referred to in the article. The spelling "donut" makes me think the item in question may have something to do with nuts, while "doughnought" clearly indicates an "O" shaped pastry. Our evolving language carries its history with it in its spelling. Yes, it is tricky to learn--but it's worth it. Enough with catering to the lowest common denominator, already!

Paradoxically, it's not so simple to read the simpler spelling.

Haha ROFLMAO, LOL!

Many of the above comments come off as elitist to me.

I do feel that reducing barriers to entry for something so fundamental to a democratic society as written discourse is a good thing. Evolving English (languages do evolve!) toward phonetic spelling would result in earlier and broader accessibility to social discourse, not "dumb down" society. Sure, nearly everyone can learn to spell most English words given enough effort. Maybe the process of learning to spell English even has some neurological benefits. But is learning to read and write an end or a means? What if the additional effort to learn or teach English due its non-phonetic spelling comes at the expense of, for example, effort spent on reading and teaching literature itself?

I remember once reading that the barrier to entry caused by the logographic Chinese writing system results in Chinese children acquiring the ability to read a certain level of book at a later age than children learning to read a more or less phonetic languages. Any Chinese or linguistic experts in the house?

Those that disapprove do so because it is inconvenient for them to learn a new way to spell. Yes, you wine that the article was hard to read. Yes, it was because we do not read entire words. We read the words partially and guess their meaning. The article forced you to read every single letter. Until the brain is rewired to read articles spelled like this, it will not be easy. Once you memorize the phonetic alphabet, you will not have a problem anymore.

However, I totally disagree with her spelling choices. have -> hav? No, have -> heav.

Though, it's not your choice to change the spelling! All English speaking countries have to agree on this. When the aforementioned people, like Webster, change the spelling to colour, center, etc. All they created was a mess. They made US English inconsistent. Even though, I live in USA, I still use British English because of its consistency.

How was American English born? During the fight for independence,
Americans chose to find an American identity and differentiate
themselves from the mother country. For example, the American eagle
is only found in US, and it was chosen for the coat of arms. Webster
attempted to create an American language. The hate towards the
English was so great that colonials despised their own language. He
has tried to simplify it, but he has done a horrible job resulting in
inconsistent spelling and grammar.

For example, famous is spelt famous, but colour is spelt color,
independence is spelt independence, but defence is spelt defense,
demagogue is spelt demagogue, but dialogue is spelt dialog. For more,
see

The best idea is for people to make time to read to their children every night. If this is done, it seriously changes a person completely (especially if they decide to take up reading as a hobby). My sister and I were both read to when we were younger and now we cannot fall asleep at night (at least I can't) without reading something. Because of this, I have taught myself to be eloquent in speaking and writing simply by reading, and I've got a decent vocabulary to boot. Reading is an essential part of being human, in my opinion, as is being able to speak more than one language. It makes you a different person.

/*fictional chineese kook in same mold as above*/

Wow, there are too many lines at odd angles in our language, who cares if they are artistic, and have a gentle flow and feel to them...they are two hard for people that are lazy to learn, from now on lets just have words that are only made out of vertical and horizontal lines.

My friends South of the border, your once again assuming that your "dumbing down exercise" is something going on everywhere. In other parts of the world we raise the bar, not lower it. For example, in Canada, we go to the theatre, drop the puck at centre ice and take great pride in an honest day's labour.

Your national standards keep dropping to allow for inclusion to the point where it's ridiculous. By the way America, as a matter of illustrating my point, the entire world uses the Metric System except for you. There are 1000 CM in a M and 1000 M in 1 KM - how many feet are in a mile? It's still amazing to see how narrow minded you can be. Your boasting and chest pounding has begun to bore many of us beyond your borders and propaganda.

Holy Crap, don't even get us started on the Metric System.

That was a total generational problem in the USA when conversion to metric was first tried in the 70's-early 80's.

I firmly believe that if tried again it would work now, just as long as there was enough support to tell those nuts that are against it to get over it.

English is already confusing enough as it is. We don't need to @!$%# it anymore and make it absolutely ridiculous.

She's a space mutant!