Re: OT: English and schizophrenia

Danny Wier scripsit:

> (Dyslexia is highest in English-speaking countries, I read.)
It hardly exists in countries that use sensible orthographies.  But that's
not really a defect of the *language* as such, and it can be fixed.

> In fact, the author George Bernard Shaw once spelled "fish" like this: GHOTI. GH
> from "cough", O from "women", TI from "nation".
Humph.  GH is never /f/ initial, the spelling of "women" is unique, and
"ti" is /S/ *only* in "-tion".  Hardly a fair example.  Better to refer to
the eight (or is it nine?) ways to pronounce "-ough".

> There are dozens of verbs like that. Also, you got the weird plurals: "cat"
> becomes "cats", but "mouse" becomes "mice", "goose" becomes "geese", while
> "sheep" remains "sheep" and "fish" is still "fish". And "child" is not "childs",
> but "children".
And that's just about *all* the irregular plurals:  I think there are a total
of 10-15.  As for strong verbs, we have maybe a hundred left, whereas in German
IIRC about 40% of all verbs are strong, and many of the weak ones are
mildly irregular.  German plurals are 99% irregular, and in 9 different
patterns!

> The floor is now open. Please watch your step.
"Check your assumptions.  In fact, check your assumptions at the door."
        --Miles Vorkosigan

--
John Cowan                                   cowan@ccil.org
One art/there is/no less/no more/All things/to do/with sparks/galore
        --Douglas Hofstadter

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