| The Push For Simpler Spelling | |
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Ex-Rauc - Student |
Article Interesting.... |
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Buzz - Student 
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Quote: Just to calrify my position: I'm not saying the language should always remain the same. Languages naturally evolve over time. That's fine. But attempting what is practically an overhaul is just not even worth discussing. At least not for these reasons. It would actually be simpler to take anyone who complains about spelling and put them through some sort of course to learn how to spell properly, because language is something most people take for granted. You can't change it overnight. Not even over many controlled nights. It's something that happens naturally over long periods of time. And since the rest of the world wouldn't be switching their written english language its just plain dumb. You'd essentially be trying to implement a barrier in the written word when the rest of the world essentially is working to accomodate you. _______________ When you are going through Hell, keep going. -Sir Winston Churchill. Those who seek power and control of others, no matter the level, no matter the intentions, should never be given it. |
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Bubu - Hubbub 
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Just to calrify my position: I'm not saying the language should always remain the same. Languages naturally evolve over time. That's fine. But attempting what is practically an overhaul is just not even worth discussing. At least not for these reasons. It would actually be simpler to take anyone who complains about spelling and put them through some sort of course to learn how to spell properly, because language is something most people take for granted. You can't change it overnight. Not even over many controlled nights. It's something that happens naturally over long periods of time. _______________ make install -not war |
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xAnAtOs - Student |
You've misunderstood me. I was referring to the fact that the English, or more vaguely the Europeans, being the creators of the English language would obviously find American spelling wrong. You know why? They created the language first - they say American English is wrong because it's wrong. You know better of course. You realise [or realize] that American English is more practical in terms of phonetics. Am I right? Your English isn't wrong; the British just aren't necessarily absolutely correct. By the same token, it is easy to claim that 'thru' is not wrong, 'through' just isn't right. It is not difficult to manipulate the language under such pretences. The very fact that you mention: Quote: they're only right if used in the correct area. is testament to the changing nature of language. Words are altered for the sake of practicality (eg. center and theater) and therefore replacing words such as 'through with' 'throo', while appearing extremely foolish now, may well prove useful if it establishes some level of consistency in terms of phonetics. So yes, it would make more sense if this occurred. Of course, you'd have to rework the entire language to truly bring about such a change. Also, 'alot' and 'alright' are incorrect phonetically so I'd side with you on that one. Phonetics, that's all I'm really referring to with any of my posts. Don't think that I, personally, would like to change the English language, nor that I'm lazy. I'm simply presenting another view on the matter. _______________ Brother to Luke Skywalker and (SKX) Dark Blade 
Lag Brother to Acey Spadey 
Jools is my best friend. 
<Henkes> nebody feeling like abusing me with a lightsaber?|+Smilykrazy grabs Gradius, beats the living CRAP out of him, then throws him into a huge vat of ACID |
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Trad Redav - Student 
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Quote: I'm not quite sure where the logic behind that one comes from. You're saying it's wrong because...it's just wrong? The English could probably say the same for Americans spelling centre as center, theatre as theater, and almost any word ending with 'ise' now spelt as 'ize' (symbolise - symbolize, supervise - supervize). It's wrong because it's just wrong. The Americans changed these words for the sake of consistency with regards to phonetics, making it easier to learn, so why not other words? In fact, "center," "theater," and "-ize" are wrong in British English. Just like in American English, 'centre', 'theatre', and '-ise' are wrong. (Note the punctuation change there, too.) The language between the two changes enough that you can't even say that they're both right, because they're only right if used in the correct area. (Or whatever you use to determine which English to use.) They're not wrong "because they're wrong," they're wrong because they're not right. The only reason anybody would ever write "thru" is because they're lazy, and I really don't want laziness to be the reason we murder our written language. (And a lot of people being lazy doesn't make the shortcut right.) Besides, does "thru" really make any more sense than "through?" If you really wanted to avoid confusion, you'd spell it "throo," and that just looks even worse. There are countless examples of words and phrases in the English language that are wrong yet used disgustingly often. ("Alot?" "Alright?"  This doesn't make them right. _______________ Well then. Just so you know, just because I don't post often doesn't mean I don't lurk this place multiple times every day... This comment was edited by Trad Redav on Jul 11 2006 05:28am. |
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xAnAtOs - Student |
I do speak other languages - 4 including English and one other that I can understand for the most part. All of these are perhaps confusing in the sense that they contain a lot more characters and symbols than English. However, all of them are consistent in the manner in which phonetics are derived. In fact, they don't even have to be derived. There are simply rules and that's that. I don't know how long it takes for you to pick up any other language, but seven years is a freakin long time to perfect the language. Well, at least as opposed to the weeks in which Spanish can be learnt according to the article. Yes, I understand that it didn't literally take you seven years to learn English. However, unless you were here right from the moment you began learning English there's really no way for anyone to comment on the development of your proficiency of the English language. I find that I'm constantly learning more about English each day and it grows further confusing every time. There are so many different ways of learning, speaking etc that, to me, is very confusing. Just for the sake of argument I was really only referring to phonetics when I said that English was confusing. _______________ Brother to Luke Skywalker and (SKX) Dark Blade
Lag Brother to Acey Spadey
Jools is my best friend.
<Henkes> nebody feeling like abusing me with a lightsaber?|+Smilykrazy grabs Gradius, beats the living CRAP out of him, then throws him into a huge vat of ACID |
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Raziel Anjelis - Student 
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MY EYES! _______________ Proud owner of El Vee For's 200th Comment, and Wicek's 2600th comment DaMi3N's 400th, Trad Redav's 666th.
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Bubu - Hubbub 
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If you think English is confusing, you obviously don't speak any other language. I've only been using English since 9th grade. That's about 7 years. Has anyone noticed? There is a reason why English is the agreed upon international language of business. It's not because it's spoken by most people; that would be Chinese. In fact, it's only the 4th most spoken language. It was chosen because it's goddamn bloody easy. "Dumbing down" the language like the article suggests is butchery. It's a joke. That people are even discussing this is mind-numbing. _______________ make install -not war |
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Sared - Retired 
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God help our children. _______________ I'm crazy, not stupid. |
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xAnAtOs - Student |
I don't think it has anything to do with mental inferiority. I don't blame anyone for wanting a more simplistic and consistent language (in terms of pronunciation, spelling, etc) to learn. It's a fact that English is freaking confusing eg.
Quote: When "say," "they" and "weigh" rhyme, but "bomb," "comb" and "tomb" don't I understand that words are derived from variations in meaning or whatever the case may be, but the bottom line is that English is just damn confusing. It doesn't help that a large portion of English words come from languages such as Latin, French, Spanish, whatever. If words could be learned in terms of phonetics then a lot less hassle could result. I don't think that wanting to make a language simpler, consistent and logical is the result of mental inferiority. Quote: The article also mentiones people using words like "thru" and "nite." I don't care what those people think--every time they use one of those, they are wrong. It's not a matter of simplifying the language, it's a matter of spelling things incorrectly. That's just stupid. I'm not quite sure where the logic behind that one comes from. You're saying it's wrong because...it's just wrong? The English could probably say the same for Americans spelling centre as center, theatre as theater, and almost any word ending with 'ise' now spelt as 'ize' (symbolise - symbolize, supervise - supervize). It's wrong because it's just wrong. The Americans changed these words for the sake of consistency with regards to phonetics, making it easier to learn, so why not other words? Agreed about the chatspeak and 1337 talk though, that would work contrary to the goals of simplicity and consistency in language. _______________ Brother to Luke Skywalker and (SKX) Dark Blade
Lag Brother to Acey Spadey
Jools is my best friend.
<Henkes> nebody feeling like abusing me with a lightsaber?|+Smilykrazy grabs Gradius, beats the living CRAP out of him, then throws him into a huge vat of ACID |
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Esta - Student 
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If anything, this would move common language towards internet/l337 speak... Now THAT is depressing. _______________ -Kauyon Draconis [Official master of Ataris] |
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Virtue - Jedi Council 
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Wow... Mentally inferior people really are taking over the world. How depressing.  - Virtue. _______________ Academy Architect |
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Buzz - Student 
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Well quite simply to argue that internet speak preoves that we should go to these "simpler" spellings is completely stupid. Afterall internet relies heavily on abreviations, lack of punctuation, and numbers replacing letters. _______________ When you are going through Hell, keep going. -Sir Winston Churchill. Those who seek power and control of others, no matter the level, no matter the intentions, should never be given it. |
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Trad Redav - Student 
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Oh, come on. Like that would really help? A language's written form develops in two ways. It could be that the people speaking the language decide to sit down and come up with a way to write it. That's why languages like Spanish not only have consistent pronunciations but also change spellings to preserve pronunciation in some verb conjugations. Or, a language like English develops from the written word, and they come up with pronunciations for the words based on where the word comes from. ...I'm really annoyed at the article's spelling bee reference. Yes, if English were dumbed down, more kids would have an easier time in spelling bees. Well--what if there were a common competition that had kids come up and do a quick algebra problem, completely mentally, while on stage? (For all I know, such a competition exists, but I've never actually heard of such a thing.) They could also dumb that down by switching it to pure arithmetic, but what use does that really do anybody? The article also mentiones people using words like "thru" and "nite." I don't care what those people think--every time they use one of those, they are wrong. It's not a matter of simplifying the language, it's a matter of spelling things incorrectly. That's just stupid. And I'm not even going to get into chatspeak, because I could rant about that for a very, very long time. edit: Typos. Heh. _______________ Well then. Just so you know, just because I don't post often doesn't mean I don't lurk this place multiple times every day... This comment was edited by Trad Redav on Jul 08 2006 08:33pm. |
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JamesF1 - Student 
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That's just retarded. So for the people who are unable, or who just can't be bothered, to learn how to spell properly; everyone else should DROP the standard to something entirely less comprehensible, that requires a greater deal of interpretation to understand the context, which potentially could result in a far greater number of misunderstandings? Sorry for the long and grammatically correct sentence, should any of you not be able to read for that long at once... _______________ Website |
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Dicemaster - Student 
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I would boycot the damn change. I had 10 times more trouble with that stupid ass article then I ever had learning how to read. I had to several times think what the hell they were trying to say....screw that change, I'm used to spelling this way, and I won't spell there damn way...lol _______________ Dicemaster |
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Ashyr - Student 
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Wow. For lack of a better way of saying this, that's just stupid. And there would be countless problems that they would run into by changing the spelling of so many words that I'm sure they haven't even considered. _______________ Top ten reasons to get a better computer...|My fan |
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xAnAtOs - Student |
damn that was annoying to read  _______________ Brother to Luke Skywalker and (SKX) Dark Blade
Lag Brother to Acey Spadey
Jools is my best friend.
<Henkes> nebody feeling like abusing me with a lightsaber?|+Smilykrazy grabs Gradius, beats the living CRAP out of him, then throws him into a huge vat of ACID |
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Wicek - Nugget 
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Krzyzewski |
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Buzz - Student
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Yeah but no would still know how to pronounce Krzyzewski _______________ When you are going through Hell, keep going. -Sir Winston Churchill. Those who seek power and control of others, no matter the level, no matter the intentions, should never be given it. |
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