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  OZLelila

  July 5, 2006, 2:06 p.m.

  In theory this is a good idea. However...there are a lot of sub-dialects and accents in the English-speaking world. For this to work, we'd all have to pronouce everything the same way. I don't see that happening anytime soon. Yeah, the way English is spelled is overall pretty stupid, but at least we have an accepted system. We'd pretty much have to re-invent the way the language is written to go this route.
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  Trey

  July 5, 2006, 5:19 p.m.

  Anecdote: The European Commission has just announced an agreement

  whereby English will be the official language of the EU rather than

  German which was the other possibility. As part of the negotiations,

  Her Majesty's Government conceded that English spelling had some

  room for improvement and has accepted a 5 year phase-in plan that

  would be known as
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  Trey

  July 5, 2006, 5:24 p.m.

  Anecdote: The European Commission has just announced an agreement whereby English will be the official language of the EU rather than German which was the other possibility. As part of the negotiations, Her Majesty's Government conceded that English spelling had some room for improvement and has accepted a 5 year phase-in plan that
would be known as "Euro-English".

  In the first year, "s" will replace the soft "c". Sertainly, this will make the sivil servants jump with joy. The hard "c" will be dropped in favour of the"k". This should klear up konfusion and keyboards kan have 1 less letter.

  There will be growing publik enthusiasm in the sekond year, when the troublesome "ph" will be replaced with "f". This will make words like "fotograf" 20% shorter.
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  Trey

  July 5, 2006, 5:24 p.m.

  continued: In the 3rd year, publik akseptanse of the new spelling kan be ekspekted to reach the stage where more komplikated changes are possible. Governments will enkorage the removal of double letters, which have always ben a deterent to akurate speling. Also, al wil agre that the horible mes of the silent "e"s in the language is disgraseful,

  and they should go away.

  By the fourth year, peopl wil be reseptiv to steps such as replasing "th" with "z" and "w" with "v". During ze fifz year, ze unesesary "o" kan be dropd from vords kontaining "ou" and similar changes vud of kors be

  aplid to ozer kombinations of leters.

  After zis fifz yer, ve vil hav a reli sensibl riten styl. Zer vil be no mor trubl or difikultis and evrivun vil find it ezi to understand ech ozer. Ze drem vil finali kum tru!
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  mr_johnwong

  July 5, 2006, 6:37 p.m.

  Trey...I saw the same mock announcement from Governor Schwarzenegger to California. Its still pretty hilarious.
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  Hack

  July 5, 2006, 6:38 p.m.

  Students learn to speak first from their parents. Not school. I you want better diction from students, it has to start with their parents.
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  Plato

  July 5, 2006, 6:54 p.m.

  Is memory really the problem? If an American high school student can remember the proper spelling of a celebrity's name, why can't they remember the spelling for "through" or "night"? Last time I checked, "Al Pacino" wasn't phonetic.

  Another point: If the spelling system of 'American English' were to be altered, how many students would be able to read American literature? Is your solution to kill This Side of Paradise, or do you prefer to urinate all over F. Scott's grave by changing its words?
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  iggy8n

  July 8, 2006, 2:51 p.m.

  Could the resistance to getting our language to use phonetic spelling be that we Americans are used to it and don't want to change anything? It is possible to find a way to improve. But, I understand, there might be some misunderstood phrasing. Accents might be mis-spoken. (I guess that doesn't happen now.) All the double-meaning jokes would be missed. I think other languages that use phonetic spelling would be able to just pronounce what they read instead of - this is how it's spelled - this is how it's pronounced - around here. It would help the English language make some actual logical sense. I guess we should just keep adding words like 'eux' (means water) to help keep slang from getting too predictable. It's an improvement! Are we so stuck in our ways that we don't even try anyomre?
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  MichaelCanfield

  Sept. 10, 2006, 12:03 p.m.

  Judging from the way comments throughout the blogosphere use spelling, I'd say our dominant spelling standard is "freestyle."
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  joedf09

  Feb. 23, 2007, 1:24 a.m.

  A group in favor of "simplified spelling" wants Americans to adopt phonetic spelling of words, but opponents say it would do more harm than good.

  http://www.1leatherjackets.info
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  aleksander23451

  May 16, 2007, 8:50 p.m.

  people don't spell anymore

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