USAGE: No rants! (USAGE: di"f"thong)

Hi all!

John Vertical <johnvertical@...> writes:
> *sigh* OK, since the hopes of passing the topic quietly were for
> naught, I'm going into Rant Mode then.
No, no, we won't go into rant mode.

It feels a bit like 'auxlang are a good thing' threads.  Don't tell me
a spelling reform of English is a good thing and don't tell me it is
not a good thing.

Here's a poll:

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1) Do you think English spelling should be reformed?

 [ ] No, it should not be reformed
 [ ] Yes, it should be reformed, but only slightly
 [ ] Yes, and we need a whole now spelling
 [ ] I don't care

2a) Do you think English spelling is phonemic?

 [ ] Yes
 [ ] No
 [ ] I don't know
 [ ] I don't care

2b) Do you think English spelling is phonetic?

 [ ] Yes
 [ ] No
 [ ] I don't know
 [ ] I don't care

3a) Do you think English spelling should be phonemic?

 [ ] Yes
 [ ] No
 [ ] I don't care

3b) Do you think English spelling should be phonetic?

 [ ] Yes
 [ ] No
 [ ] I don't care

4) Which spelling would you prefer for current 'laugh'?

 [ ] laugh
 [ ] laff
 [ ] laf
 [ ] larf
 [ ] _______
 [ ] I don't care

If you only answered 'I don't care' or 'I don't know' up to here,
rethink whether you are really interested in this poll...

5) Who is the most important group of people you think of when
   proposing/rejecting a spelling reform?

 [ ] People who can read already and just want to keep on reading
     undisturbed.  (This is probably the largest group of living
     people now).

 [ ] L1 learners of English

 [ ] L2 learners of English [This will be the largest group of people
     if time is considered and we wait for 100 years.)

 [ ] Myself, I cannot read/write properly/have had problems learning it.

 [ ] _________________

6) How should one cope with different dialects?

 [ ] By neglecting distinctions made in some dialects.
 [ ] By considering all distinctions made in dialects.
 [ ] By using historical state of English and base the spelling on it.
 [ ] By defining a standard dialect and use it regardless of variants.
 [ ] By using a semantics based writing system.
 [ ] __________________

7) Have you thought about or (tried to) invent(ed) a spelling reform
   yourself?

 [ ] Yes
 [ ] No

8) Which other lang do think needs a spelling reform?

 [ ] Chinese
 [ ] Danish
 [ ] Faeroese
 [ ] French
 [ ] German
 [ ] Japanese
 [ ] __________
 [ ] __________

----------------------------------------------------------------------

What else?

**Henrik

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