Spelling is
overrated.
Young people
today write in social media speak. My
wife researched an 1832 house and found the original owner signed his name at
least four different ways.
We write to
relay or transfer information or thoughts, or to tell a narrative. Spelling
can be a nitpicky way of stifling creativity.
To begin
with, we should shorten our alphabet.
Why 26 letters? The number 25 is a lot easier to deal with. Kids could memorize it in groups of 5,
and 25 is an integer of 100 – not a prime number but an easier concept to deal
with.
So to begin
with, I suggest we rid ourselves of the letter C. In almost every case K can replace C
resulting in the same sound: Kat, kake,
kar, kot, kap, krap, kokonut… In very
few cases where K will not fit (Cynthia or ceramics), an S will substitute just
as well: Synthia, seramics…
English is a
difficult language to learn and we have made it so with too many letters in our
basic alphabet.
Thank the gods for spell checkers.
the Ol’Buzzard
DOWN WITH THE LETTER C!!!!!
ReplyDeleteAnd then there's all the "except when..." rules.
ReplyDeleteEnglish has 80 phonetic sounds with 26 letters which, along with our multitude of verb tenses, makes learning ESL a real chore. The letter C in Pacific Ocean is pronounced three different ways. Pasifik Oshean.
ReplyDelete