Re: English is a crazy language

On Tuesday 23 April 2002 20:38, you wrote:
> On Tue, 2002-04-23 at 14:50, Danny Wier wrote:
> > This has been discussed on a list a LOT on both conlang and auxlang,
> > English spelling reform. I promote limited reform much like Irish Gaelic
> > reformed their language by eliminating silent letters. A futuristic
> > vision of English I have is where "lite" become standard instead of
> > "light", just as "draft" (as in beer) is used in the US instead of
> > "draught". And "hiccough" is now spelled "hiccup".
> >
> > Other first-stage reformed words, most of these involving removed silent
> > "gh": fite, laff, ot or aut (ought), eit (eight), coff, troff, caut
>
> My opinion is that it should be <ait>. <ei> has too many readings to
> reliably expect one, indeed, 'either' can be either /aiD@(r)/ or
> /i:D@(r)/! Also, I (and the people on Aussie forums etc. with dodgy
> spelling) would prefer to spell 'ought' as <ort> but I can see why that
> wouldn't be a common feeling ;)
>
> And that brings me to another point... Why not abolish correct spellings
> of particular words altogether and let spellers take charge, just like
> speakers with pronunciations? If you practise it a bit, reading
> forums/chat isn't too hard. (But we must have a few rules, like people
> who use numbers and punctuation to spell with will be shot with no
> trial!)
>
Don't you mean |tiacht| with no trial?  |ti| as in ghoti-ing, convention,
convection, etc; |acht| as in yacht?

Wesley Parish

--
Mau e ki, "He aha to mea nui?"
You ask, "What is the most important thing?"
Maku e ki, "He tangata, he tangata, he tangata!"
I reply, "It is people, it is people, it is people!"

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