> From: Dennis Paul Himes <dennis@...>
> Subject: Re: Conspelling
>
> > My idea (well, other than the dictatorial "alphabet reform") is that a
> > reformed English spelling should at least try to *look* English (as
> > opposed to Dutch or Spanish or Klingon...). It could do that by
building
> > on the actual _current_ spelling rules of English. (The biggest problem
> > with a new spelling is that to the old spelling, so much is spelled
> > wrong!)
>
> That is one of the goals of Vermont Revised Spelling. A lot of common
> words are spelled the same or almost the same, e.g.: "Dick and Jane run
with
> Spot. Dick iz a boy. Jane iz a guerl. Spot iz a dog.".
"guerl" ?
> > [2] 'Air' is different though, closer to "short-E": air, stair, fair,
> > bairn, chair... This might be because "long-A" and "R" tend to appear at
> > syllable breaks and not together. player, mayor, etc. Not sure though.
>
> Do you distinguish between "fairy" and "ferry"?
Not that I'm aware of. People do that? Maybe that's why the dictionary
has different signs for it (an â for 'fairy' and an e-breve for
'ferry').... I hadn't the faintest idea why, without a phonetic form (it
just gives 'care' and 'pet' as examples... but what's the use if they sound
the same?).
*Muke!