Dumbing Down

[+wildlifewriter]

Q: What's the connection between this new cache, and this geocoin which I dropped off elsewhere today?

 

Not a lot. Just one word, in fact. The word - and it has begun to trouble my sleep, recently - is "Cemetary."

 

Now, I'm not much of a writer. Most of the stuff I write ends up in some editorial bin, followed by oaths and hollow laughter - but I did used to be able to spell.

 

Not any more, it seems: do a keyword search for "Cemetary" and you get (count 'em) ninety-one cache listings. So... it's yet ANOTHER new Geocaching word which only I (and Patrick Hanks) don't seem to know about.

 

"Old fool!" I hear you cry, "Wlw should get up to date, and use words like "Cemetary" in his own cache pages."

 

Over my dead body...

[+Happy Humphrey]

Gee, Paul, ain't it "Sematary"?

[+Team Ullium]

Funnily enough as I was reading your post WLW I was watching the excavation of a Bronze Age Cemetery on TV by the Time Team

 

Isn't 'cemetary' the american spelling ???

 

With so many spell checkers using the american dictionary I think we can see a lot of american dictionary spellings creeping into our written text.

[+Renegade Knight]

Cemetery. But that's not how I say it. Daniel Webster changed a lot of words to a more phonetic (why isn't phonetic spelled more phonetically?) form. A lot of his suggestions became the American spelling.

 

I just wish when they put English down in writing they did it phonetically to begin with. Spelling isn’t about knowing the rules, it’s about memorizing all the words because you can’t keep track of all the exceptions. I before E except in neighbor and weigh and every other word you are trying to spell.

[Lactodorum]

I before E except in neighbor and weigh and every other word you are trying to spell.

Don't get me started!!

[+Team Ullium]

I must admit phonetic spelling seems to make a lot of sense to me

 

Anything that simplifies communication and helps to reduce misunderstandings or misinterpretation I am all for

 

Also, I was always disappointed that Esperanto never took off

 

The advantages are just so obvious and many fold !!!

[+McDeHack]

'I' before 'E' except after 'C'

[+Stuey]

I must admit phonetic spelling seems to make a lot of sense to me

You mean fonettic

[+Learned Gerbil]

Ioo want fonetic speling?

 

tri xis -

 

A Plan for the Improvement of English Spelling

by Mark Twain

 

For example, in Year 1 that useless letter "c" would be dropped to be replased either by "k" or "s", and likewise "x" would no longer be part of the alphabet. The only kase in which "c" would be retained would be the "ch" formation, which will be dealt with later. Year 2 might reform "w" spelling, so that "which" and "one" would take the same konsonant, wile Year 3 might well abolish "y" replasing it with "i" and Iear 4 might fiks the "g/j" anomali wonse and for all. Jenerally, then, the improvement would kontinue iear bai iear with Iear 5 doing awai with useless double konsonants, and Iears 6-12 or so modifaiing vowlz and the rimeining voist and unvoist konsonants. Bai Iear 15 or sou, it wud fainali bi posibl tu meik ius ov thi ridandant letez "c", "y" and "x" -- bai now jast a memori in the maindz ov ould doderez -- tu riplais "ch", "sh", and "th" rispektivli. Fainali, xen, aafte sam 20 iers ov orxogrefkl riform, wi wud hev a lojikl, kohirnt speling in ius xrewawt xe Ingliy-spiking werld.

[+2202]

WLW. I totally agree with your sentiments, but in this particular case its the cachers themselves who can not spell, not the spellcheckers, because as far as I can tell, even our American cousins spell it c,e,m,e,t,e,r,y.

The eastern Europeans spell phonetically and I am told by colleagues from those countries, whose command of English leaves many UK natives for dead, that the construction of many of our words is quite illogical and confusing. But that however is another storey or story if we wish to be correct.

[+wildlifewriter]

I must admit phonetic spelling seems to make a lot of sense to me 

 

Anything that simplifies communication and helps to reduce misunderstandings or  misinterpretation I am all for 

The problem with "simplifying" is that it means setting aside one of the greatest virtues of English - its wide and diverse vocabulary. Mark Twain (as quoted by LJ above) understood this; many crackpots (such as George Bernard Shaw) did not.

 

The effect would be difficult to illustrate, but watch "Celebrity Big Brother" any night this week for a glimpse of one possible future...

[+kbootb]

'I' before 'E' except after 'C'

Keith

 

I get so many phone calls telling me that my e-mail is down and the messages are bouncing back.

 

So I check how they have spelled (spelt?) my name. Guess what...they have followed the golden rule.

[+The Hokesters]

'I' before 'E' except after 'C'

and only when the sound is Eee apart from in some other circumstances that I fail to remember! - oh yeah Keith!

Edited January 13, 2005 by The Hokesters

[+Team Ullium]

I must admit phonetic spelling seems to make a lot of sense to me 

 

Anything that simplifies communication and helps to reduce misunderstandings or  misinterpretation I am all for 

The problem with "simplifying" is that it means setting aside one of the greatest virtues of English - its wide and diverse vocabulary. Mark Twain (as quoted by LJ above) understood this; many crackpots (such as George Bernard Shaw) did not.

 

The effect would be difficult to illustrate, but watch "Celebrity Big Brother" any night this week for a glimpse of one possible future...

I don't think the problem is so much about the process of 'simplifying' because all languages evolve and change over time and part of that process could well be aspects of simplification....no I think the problem would be over what time period any proposed simplification/change would take place and anything that happens too quickly which gives little time for adjustment is not the best way to go about it!

 

In any case.... as I think you were suggesting ... who knows what consequential changes would also be brought about in other aspects of our language which may dilute the variety and richness of expression we enjoy at present??

 

In other words our language is changing ever day and perhaps it is best left to evolve in this unconscious manner

 

Yes I think I see what you mean about CBB on TV

[+Lance Ambu]

personally, I only watch CBB with the picture off and the sound turned down

[Beer Monster]

because as far as I can tell, even our American cousins spell it c,e,m,e,t,e,r,y

 

Don't forget Speilberg's 1989 film Pet Sematary!

 

Or is that Spielberg?

 

Just checked - wasn't Spielberg at all. Doh!

Edited January 15, 2005 by Beer Monster

[+blindleader]

Daniel Webster changed a lot of words to a more phonetic (why isn't phonetic spelled more phonetically?) form.

Daniel Webster didn't change any spellings. He just made a lot of speeches in Congress and in various court rooms, the most famous of which was a fictional one to a jury of the Damned.

 

It was the elder Noah Webster what wrote that dictionary. He had in mind far more simplifications than he published, but wanted to stop short of the point he thought the literate public would balk on the first try. Sadly, He was seventy years old when he published, so never got the chance for a second round.

 

I think Noah understood as well as Sam Clemens (thanks wildlifewriter) did that some peculiarities of English spelling should not go away. English is a stew of many languages, and many spellings reflect their root language. Having words from Norse, Greek, French, Latin, Anglo Saxon, and others, allows us nuances and flexibility denied to other languages. A simple example would be the words 'Super' and 'Hyper'. They are the same word, one of which has been filtered through the Roman Empire and now still mean basically the same but are used differently. But I don't know anyone who seriously mourns the loss of the 'u' in color and harbor, the 'k' in music, or the superfluous ‘p’ and ‘e’ in shop.

[+wildlifewriter]

Nicely put.

 

However - since this topic was barely relevant to Geocaching when I started it, and definitely isn't now - that's probably enough.

 

Or 'enuff' - if you prefer....