Yes, you would be spelling it as "dum" too if the simple minds of the Simplifed Spelling Society and American Literacy Council managed to push their agenda through public schools. This CNN article caught my eye today. Interestingly enough, Andrew Carnegie, he of the philanthropic Carnegie libraries and Melvil Dewey, the Father of Librarianship, were both past proponents of simplified spelling. The basic gist of "simplified spelling" is that you spell a word phoenetically, rather than in all of its rich etymological glory. I can see it now. Take the word "pen." You've got some Alabama kid that's going to spell it as "pin" because of course that's how you pronounce it down here, but some other kid in Virginia is going to say "pehn." Or some other person in Michigan who spells roof as "ruf." Total chaos!!! Kind of reminds me of those parents who won't toilet train their kids because they're afraid of giving them a complex about going to the bathroom. I guess they won't be able to figure out the restroom signage either when they finally learn.
Well, I guess that's enough ranting for one night. I'm going to the liberry.
Wednesday, July 05, 2006
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1 comment:
What is the etymological glory of the silent and superfluous B in dumb?
The society would favor allowing the sound spelling to be a variant spelling of dumb. After the reform, *dum would become the preferred spelling and this would become the standard published spelling. People could still use dumb in their personal correspondence.
The society endorses the use of more phonemic spellings. The standard pronunciation is the one used by the dictionary and in the media. It is not spell as you speak when your regional dialect differs from the broadcast standard.
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