Wednesday, July 05, 2006

for those of us who cant spell to save your life....read on please....


By DARLENE SUPERVILLE

WASHINGTON Jul 5, 2006 (AP)— When "say," "they" and "weigh" rhyme, but "bomb," "comb" and "tomb" don't, wuudn't it maek mor sens to spel wurdz the wae thae sound?

Those in favor of simplified spelling say children would learn faster and illiteracy rates would drop. Opponents say a new system would make spelling even more confusing.

Eether wae, the consept has yet to capcher th publix imajinaeshun.

It's been 100 years since Andrew Carnegie helped create the Simplified Spelling Board to promote a retooling of written English and President Theodore Roosevelt tried to force the government to use simplified spelling in its publications. But advocates aren't giving up.

They even picket the national spelling bee finals, held every year in Washington, costumed as bumble bees and hoisting signs that say "Enuf is enuf but enough is too much" or "I'm thru with through."

Thae sae th bee selebraets th ability of a fue stoodents to master a dificult sistem that stumps meny utherz hoo cuud do just as wel if speling were simpler.

16 comments:

Scott said...

This would make my life alot easier. However the new words some how look clumsy visualy, and I am not sure why

Sickboy said...

yeah, I thought the same thing, just looking at the words was difficult to me.

dad-e~O said...

I am so full of anger just thinking about this crap

Sickboy said...

why does it make you mad PJ? Seriously....

dad-e~O said...

why am I Mad.. I'll tell you way..
ever since that silly broad spilled hot coffee on her lap and sued the McD's, and won an assload of cash (for her own stupidity). We have all been subjected to the steady decline of America, the dumbing down of society. and this is just another example.

dad-e~O said...

just cause I can't spell, doesn't mean everyone should be held to my standard.

Sickboy said...

OK, now I understand your point and it is well taken.

Sickboy said...

OK, now I understand your point and it is well taken. I agree, you see a lot of words mispelled in todays times just to be different or to be cool, but it does nothing but confuse children. Id give you an example but I cant think of one....just look at the article that pretty much sums it up.

Martin said...

I'm with Peter on this one. This is ebonics for the written word. For a written language to be worth anything it has to be standardized. If we all spelled words the way we thought they sounded, it would result in confusion. By the way, there's this book, it's called a dictionary.

Martin said...

I've never had a problem reading the posts from anyone due to misspelling. there are tolerances to misspellings that the human brain can tolerate. It sees a word and usually fills in what it expects to be there. By this means the message is conveyed even if the word is not spelled perfectly. But there are times when words need to be spelled correctly, not necessarily phonetically. Homonyms such as "way" and "weigh"; "there", "they're" and "their"; "too", "two" and "to". You get the picture. Not spelled correctly the words can become confusing, even when taken in context.

Scott said...

So I supose we fonettic folks should all be thankful we are Asian.

Martin said...

Phonetically based languages have standardization. They are also usually homogenous. English has integrated words from German(a phonetic language), French(not even close to a phonetic language), Latin and Greek and many other languages. This article makes it sound like we can just spell anything the way we think it sounds. It wuud b kinfyoozing. Additionally there are parts of words, prefixes, suffixes etc. that contain meaning that could potentialy be lost or misinterpreted in purely phonetic spelling. Ante versus anti, for example. Misspelled words in a forum such as this are non-issues. If someone's going to submit a resume, though, maybe they should run it through spell check first.

Scott said...

Some how I for got the word “not” in my comment.

Any how just to further a well made point by Martin. Phonetical grammar only works if you pronounce the word correctly in the first place. Varying demographics would prove problematic with a Phonetic spelling. I.E. an individual from as close as the south side of Chicago might spell “Them” as “Dem”, or “The” as “Da”…ect.

Sickboy said...

just the thought of ebonics makes me wanna puke.

Michael said...

I don't even know where to begin.

Personally, I'm a spelling and grammar snob at times, in spite of my own occasional guffaws.

My lovely niece is being taught to spell phonetically in a very fancy public school in a rich suburb of Philadelphia. Apparently, the theory is that they start by letting the kids spell words however they think they sound to allow them to be comfortable with the rules of phonetics as they relate to the written and read word. As they age, apparently, they are taught and learn to spell better through increased exposure via reading, practice on actual spelling, and shit like that. I'm not certain, I'm out of the freakin first grade, or so they said. Anyhow, I will say that she is insanely literate for a seven year old. She reads like a librarian, and can probably even spell librarian. Not sure how you would do that one phonetically. Liebearean? Whatever.
But, this article is crap. If they want to protest the spelling bees by doing a John Belushi impersonation, why doesn't a counter group pass out speedballs and let them jump off rooves in protest. Whatever. I think we are getting to the point where protesting protestations is really the next logical step. We could also boycott boycotts. Or we could call for institutionalized apathy for all Americans.

Ignorance for the masses. Its like religion, only there's no tithing!!!

dad-e~O said...

no tithing. hahahahaha
I love me some mike