Comments on: I Before E, Except, After C – FU http://uneasysilence.com/archive/2009/06/14241/ Sun, 22 Nov 2009 15:29:57 -0600 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 hourly 1 By: chad http://uneasysilence.com/archive/2009/06/14241/comment-page-1/#comment-725754 chad Mon, 29 Jun 2009 23:24:18 +0000 http://uneasysilence.com/?p=14241#comment-725754 srsly y nawt ghiff et ae tri? ;) srsly y nawt ghiff et ae tri?

;)

]]> By: Larry http://uneasysilence.com/archive/2009/06/14241/comment-page-1/#comment-725689 Larry Sun, 28 Jun 2009 16:14:50 +0000 http://uneasysilence.com/?p=14241#comment-725689 So by your logic, you're totally fine with the English language devolving into txt-speak? So by your logic, you’re totally fine with the English language devolving into txt-speak?

]]> By: Tim http://uneasysilence.com/archive/2009/06/14241/comment-page-1/#comment-725586 Tim Fri, 26 Jun 2009 21:23:04 +0000 http://uneasysilence.com/?p=14241#comment-725586 Great Comment! Great Comment!

]]> By: Taryn http://uneasysilence.com/archive/2009/06/14241/comment-page-1/#comment-724903 Taryn Tue, 23 Jun 2009 06:15:36 +0000 http://uneasysilence.com/?p=14241#comment-724903 Except of course, it's not a grammatical rule, it's a spelling rule. The most important, and apparently overlooked, comment in the article was Jack Bovill's , "... it would be helpful if spelling were allowed to evolve." This idea that there's only one way to spell a word is absurd, and really quite new. Most attribute our bizarre fondness for a fixed and immutable language (in the face of so much contrary evidence) to Samuel Johnson, whose dictionary was sponsored by publishers interested in the cost savings offered by a normalized spelling. "It would be helpful if spelling were allowed to evolve." --- Jack Bovill, 2009 --- "People think that just because you don't spell well, you're dumb. What kind of people? Smart-alecky people who can't think of but one way to spell a word, that's who. That's not spelling, it's a failure of the imagination." --- Donald Kaul, writing for the St. Petersburg Evening Independent - July 3, 1986 --- "My spelling is Wobbly. It's good spelling but it Wobbles, and the letters get in the wrong places." --- A. A. Milne, 1926 --- “A man must be a great fool who can’t spell a word more than one way.” --- Marshall Brown, “Wit and Humor” (1880) --- "I don't give a damn for a man that can only spell a word one way." --- Possibly misattributed to Mark Twain. --- "Correct English is the slang of prigs who write history and essays." --- George Eliot, Middlemarch, 1872 --- Except of course, it’s not a grammatical rule, it’s a spelling rule.
The most important, and apparently overlooked, comment in the article was Jack Bovill’s , “… it would be helpful if spelling were allowed to evolve.”

This idea that there’s only one way to spell a word is absurd, and really quite new. Most attribute our bizarre fondness for a fixed and immutable language (in the face of so much contrary evidence) to Samuel Johnson, whose dictionary was sponsored by publishers interested in the cost savings offered by a normalized spelling.

“It would be helpful if spelling were allowed to evolve.”
— Jack Bovill, 2009 —

“People think that just because you don’t spell well, you’re dumb.
What kind of people? Smart-alecky people who can’t think of but one way to spell a word, that’s who. That’s not spelling, it’s a failure of the imagination.”
— Donald Kaul, writing for the St. Petersburg Evening Independent – July 3, 1986 —

“My spelling is Wobbly. It’s good spelling but it Wobbles, and the letters get in the wrong places.”
— A. A. Milne, 1926 —

“A man must be a great fool who can’t spell a word more than one way.”
— Marshall Brown, “Wit and Humor” (1880) —

“I don’t give a damn for a man that can only spell a word one way.”
— Possibly misattributed to Mark Twain. —

“Correct English is the slang of prigs who write history and essays.”
— George Eliot, Middlemarch, 1872 —

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