Spelling and written English…

 

[Written with alternative spellings intentionally]

I saw on the news today that 1 in 3 peeple in England have problems with spelling. One of the commentators sujested we shud follow Portugal’s egsample, who have resently proposed changes to simplify and consolidate Portuguese.

I think a revamp of the English langwage is well overdue. Silent letters and multiple spellings of individual fonetic sounds are just plane stupid. Added to that, we have some variations in spelling between English speeking nashons.

It’s ezee to be preshus about “our heritage”, but if English was a new invenshon, I’m sure many wud be quick to identify all the problems.

If there is ever a vote for a spelling simplificashon I will be in favor of it.

[/Written with alternative spellings intentionally]

Cheers

Tim…

Author: Tim...

DBA, Developer, Author, Trainer.

6 thoughts on “Spelling and written English…”

  1. >> Silent letters and multiple spellings of individual fonetic sounds are just plane stupid.

    OMG!!! U R advoc8in we all spk n txt???

    >> I think a revamp of the English langwage is well overdue.

    English is in a constant state of flux. It is the most continuously revamped language in history. It’s just that unlike the French, the Germans and, as it turns out, the Portuguese we don’t have an Academy of the English Language to guard, define and polish it.

    Change comes from the bottom, from the people who write and speak English. The reason why there are so many different ways of spelling words is that English has incorporated words from so many different languages, and it is still doing so. The spelling of written English reflects the source language the word comes from, which has little to do with how it is now pronounced.

    But if you really want to align the spelled language with the spoken language may I suggest the following people for inclusion in your Academy: Brian Sewell, Jade Goody, Jimmy Nail, Rab C Nesbit and Linton Kwezi Johnson. I think John Prescott would make a fine President of this Academy.

    Cheers, APC

  2. Hi.

    Text speak wasn’t what I had in mind, but it was mentioned in the piece on the news. 🙂

    I agree that the spoken language is in a constant state of flux, but I don’t think the rules (or lack of them) for the written language is in the same way. I’ve not seen many words change their spellings in my life time. 🙂

    We’ve been discussing this point at work and there seems to be a lot of variation opinions being aired.

    The point about spelling being an indication of the derivation of a word comes up quite a lot. Although I can see there is some interest value here, I’m not sure most people care about the derivation of a word in every day life. That information can always be put in the dictionary. 🙂

    I’m expecting several replies that are a lot less polite than yours. 🙂

    Cheers

    Tim…

    PS. Jade Goody as an ambassador for English sounds like a great idea. I’d never heard of the alternate meanings of Kebab before I heard her speak.

  3. “Change comes from the bottom, from the people who write and speak English.”

    So there are multiple issues. One big problem here is that, unlike 100 years ago, nearly everybody learns to read and write, but not necessarily all at the same level. Therefore more and more common mistakes get introduced.
    Another one that you have with English especially, is that it is considered “the” international language , and that lots of people write English all over the WWW, but quite often as second or third language… the downside of the colonial successes of the past?
    Boy, I start feeling better about the fact that the new Americans chose English over Dutch in NY so many years ago. That was a close call 😉

  4. My Brazilian collegues inform me that spelling is but a minor issue between the many Portuguese speaking peoples. More importantly they have entirely different words just as we do in British and American English — windshield/windscreen, hood/bonnet, gas/petrol … just to name a few automotive examples. A common approach to spelling does nothing for that.

  5. Hi.

    I guess this is common to many languages. Add in dialects and slang and I guess there are going to be many ways of saying the same thing.

    Cheers

    Tim…

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