Spelling Reform

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From 1972 to 1975, the Australian government informally had a Ministry of Helth.
H E L T H.
Why? Spelling reform.
Every so often, someone has a bright idea to reform English spelling.
There's an old joke from an unknown reformer about how " fish "
can be spelled " ghoti " and still be consistent with English.
Obviously, it can't, because any fluent English speaker would pronounce it " ghoti ",
but that doesn't help anyone learning the language.
And you 're probably thinking that I'm about to go off on a rant
about how spelling reform never works,
and that prescriptivists are doomed to failure.
The trouble is... sometimes, just sometimes, it does work.
Spelling in English used to be a mess.
Okay, it still is a mess, but it was a mess that no one could agree on.
Shakespeare signed his name several different ways,
and we just happened to settle on the current one in the last century.
In 1920, Andrew Carnegie 's Simplified Spelling Board,
an organization with a surprising amount of money behind it,
released the " Handbook of Simplified Spelling ".
It 's been scanned and is available online, and it's worth having a quick look through.
It 's written in simplified spelling, which does tend to get a bit confusing.
But it does make a really good point.
If we were designing a language from the ground up,
and heaven knows, people have tried,
you would design it with a simple method of spelling.
There are natural languages out there which are more or less consistent.
While most of the Spelling Board 's suggestions withered on the vine, some did survive.
They're the reason that American English spells " mould " without a " u ".
Indeed, a lot of American versus British differences are the remnants
of attempted spelling reforms throughout the years.
" Color " and " center " are spelled differently in the US
because Mr. Noah Webster just decided they should be...
and he happened to be writing the dictionary.
There's even the more extreme suggestion of throwing out the current alphabet altogether :
playwright George Bernard Shaw invented a new alphabet,
which was eventually refined into something called Quikscript.
It's actually a rather elegant alphabet, but, well, good luck converting people to that.
When we 're trained from birth to understand one set of squiggles,
and reinforce that training constantly every day,
it's strangely difficult to shift to another set of squiggles.
What we do tend to see is the slow adoption of new spellings.
" Miniscule ", with two " i 's ", used to be an incorrect spelling.
Now it's a variant.
" To-day " used to be hyphenated, as did " wire-less " and " e-mail ".
And the Associated Press Style Guide only switched from " Web site " to " website " in 2010.
But just imposing spelling reform from on high doesn't generally work.
Particularly not now, and particularly given how many accents of English there are.
Would you say resistance is futile, with an " e "?
Or futil, without?
In regular speech, a lot of Americans would say fudil,
voicing the " t " to turn it into a " d ".
How do you spell that?
And more to the point : how do you get everyone to agree to it?
For crying out loud, America has n't even shifted to the metric system yet,
and Britain still... has a monarchy.
That got away from me.
So, anyway, next time that someone says they don't know
whether " judgment " has an " e " in the middle of it?
Tell them it doesn't matter.
Because in those cases?
It really doesn't.

From 1972 to 1975, the Australian government informally had a Ministry of Helth.
a
the
to
had
Australian
From
government
informally
Ministry of Helth
H E L T H.
E
H
L
T
Why? Spelling reform.
Why
reform
Spelling
Every so often, someone has a bright idea to reform English spelling.
a
to
has
English
idea
someone
spelling
bright
reform
Every so often
There's an old joke from an unknown reformer about how " fish "
fish
about
how
an
from
old
There's
unknown
joke
reformer
can be spelled " ghoti " and still be consistent with English.
and
be
with
can
English
still
spelled
consistent
ghoti
Obviously, it can't, because any fluent English speaker would pronounce it " ghoti ",
can't
it
any
English
would
pronounce
because
fluent
speaker
Obviously
ghoti
but that doesn't help anyone learning the language.
the
that
help
doesn't
but
learning
anyone
language
And you 're probably thinking that I'm about to go off on a rant
you
go
I'm
a
on
that
to
about
And
off
're
probably
thinking
rant
about how spelling reform never works,
about
how
never
spelling
works
reform
and that prescriptivists are doomed to failure.
and
are
that
to
failure
doomed
prescriptivists
The trouble is... sometimes, just sometimes, it does work.
is
The
it
work
does
just
sometimes
trouble
Spelling in English used to be a mess.
be
a
in
English
used to
mess
Spelling
Okay, it still is a mess, but it was a mess that no one could agree on.
is
Okay
a
on
that
it
was
but
still
could
agree
mess
no one
Shakespeare signed his name several different ways,
his
name
different
several
ways
signed
Shakespeare
and we just happened to settle on the current one in the last century.
and
in
the
on
to
we
happened
one
just
last
current
settle
century
In 1920, Andrew Carnegie 's Simplified Spelling Board,
's
In
Andrew Carnegie
Simplified Spelling Board
an organization with a surprising amount of money behind it,
with
a
behind
of
it
an
money
organization
amount
surprising
released the " Handbook of Simplified Spelling ".
the
released
Handbook of Simplified Spelling
It 's been scanned and is available online, and it's worth having a quick look through.
is
and
a
it's
look
It
's
having
through
been
worth
quick
available
online
scanned
It 's written in simplified spelling, which does tend to get a bit confusing.
a
in
get
It
does
's
which
bit
spelling
confusing
written
tend to
simplified
But it does make a really good point.
a
it
good
But
make
does
really
point
If we were designing a language from the ground up,
a
the
we
from
up
If
ground
were
language
designing
and heaven knows, people have tried,
and
have
people
knows
tried
heaven
you would design it with a simple method of spelling.
with
you
a
of
it
would
design
simple
spelling
method
There are natural languages out there which are more or less consistent.
There
are
more
or
languages
which
natural
less
out there
consistent
While most of the Spelling Board 's suggestions withered on the vine, some did survive.
the
on
of
some
did
's
most
While
survive
suggestions
Board
vine
withered
Spelling
They're the reason that American English spells " mould " without a " u ".
a
the
that
They're
English
American
u
spells
without
reason
mould
Indeed, a lot of American versus British differences are the remnants
are
a
the
of
American
lot
British
versus
differences
Indeed
remnants
of attempted spelling reforms throughout the years.
the
of
throughout
spelling
years
attempted
reforms
" Color " and " center " are spelled differently in the US
and
are
in
the
center
spelled
US
differently
Color
because Mr. Noah Webster just decided they should be...
be
Mr.
should
they
just
because
decided
Noah Webster
and he happened to be writing the dictionary.
and
be
the
to
he
happened
writing
dictionary
There's even the more extreme suggestion of throwing out the current alphabet altogether :
the
more
of
out
There's
even
throwing
alphabet
current
extreme
suggestion
altogether
playwright George Bernard Shaw invented a new alphabet,
a
new
alphabet
invented
playwright
George Bernard Shaw
which was eventually refined into something called Quikscript.
was
into
something
which
called
eventually
refined
Quikscript
It's actually a rather elegant alphabet, but, well, good luck converting people to that.
It's
a
that
to
but
people
well
rather
actually
alphabet
good luck
elegant
converting
When we 're trained from birth to understand one set of squiggles,
to
we
of
're
from
When
one
set
understand
trained
birth
squiggles
and reinforce that training constantly every day,
and
that
day
every
training
reinforce
constantly
it's strangely difficult to shift to another set of squiggles.
to
it's
of
another
set
difficult
shift
strangely
squiggles
What we do tend to see is the slow adoption of new spellings.
is
What
the
do
we
of
slow
see
new
tend to
spellings
adoption
" Miniscule ", with two " i 's ", used to be an incorrect spelling.
two
be
with
an
's
i
spelling
used to
incorrect
Miniscule
Now it's a variant.
a
it's
Now
variant
" To-day " used to be hyphenated, as did " wire-less " and " e-mail ".
and
be
did
as
e-mail
used to
To-day
hyphenated
wire-less
And the Associated Press Style Guide only switched from " Web site " to " website " in 2010.
in
the
to
And
site
from
Web
only
website
switched
Associated Press
Style Guide
But just imposing spelling reform from on high doesn't generally work.
on
high
But
doesn't
work
from
just
generally
spelling
reform
imposing
Particularly not now, and particularly given how many accents of English there are.
and
are
many
of
how
not
English
there
now
given
Particularly
particularly
accents
Would you say resistance is futile, with an " e "?
is
with
you
an
Would
e
say
resistance
futile
Or futil, without?
Or
without
futil
In regular speech, a lot of Americans would say fudil,
a
of
would
In
say
lot
regular
Americans
speech
fudil
voicing the " t " to turn it into a " d ".
a
the
to
turn
it
into
t
d
voicing
How do you spell that?
you
do
that
How
spell
And more to the point : how do you get everyone to agree to it?
you
everyone
the
get
do
to
more
And
it
how
agree
point
For crying out loud, America has n't even shifted to the metric system yet,
the
to
has
yet
For
America
n't
even
system
crying
out loud
metric
shifted
and Britain still... has a monarchy.
and
a
has
still
Britain
monarchy
That got away from me.
me
That
got
from
away
So, anyway, next time that someone says they don't know
don't
that
they
know
time
next
So
says
someone
anyway
whether " judgment " has an " e " in the middle of it?
in
the
of
it
has
an
e
middle
whether
judgment
Tell them it doesn't matter.
it
doesn't
them
Tell
matter
Because in those cases?
in
those
Because
cases
It really doesn't.
It
doesn't
really