Video Conference November 2024

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                                                       Video Conference

You are warmly invited to participate in a special video conference to consider the Society’s medium-term strategy. The title will be: ‘Spelling Reform, Current Prospects’ and will take stock of the movement’s prospects in the light of the International English Spelling Congress, whose work has now been completed.

The Conference will be held by ZOOM on Thursday 21st November 2024 at 20.00 hours (8.00pm), London me. For joining Instructions see below.

There will be three speakers: Chris Jolly, a former Chair of the Society; Simon Vickers, a member of the Committee and of the Website Sub-Group; and Stephen Linstead, the current Chair. The topics of the talks will be:

  • The case for extra letters in English Spelling reform. (CJ)
  • English Spelling Reform: why and how (SV)
  • Radical v. Conservative – the quest for an acceptable alternative to current spelling (SL)

All members of the Society are invited to participate in this event. We are also opening the conference to non-members. 

Please send any questions about the Conference to enquiries@spellingsociety.org or to the Chair – sglrml@btinternet.com

We look forward to seeing as many as possible on 21st November. The Society will only thrive if we nurture further interest in this topic so dear to our hearts. With this in mind, in addition to attending yourself please consider bringing / involving an interested party to join our meeting.

                                                                                                                                               

Joining Instructions

Topic: ‘Spelling Reform, Current Prospects’

Time: Thursday November 21st 2024 20.00 hrs (08:00 PM) London

 

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89396089959?pwd=qQmFVaWoOxuN0KCwihVdsf0iDd2VK5.1 OR

Meeting ID: 893 9608 9959

Passcode: 321925

 

For those wishing to use telephone for audio link, find a local number by visiting:

https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kWbpEmBvq

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Did You Know:

• Ask your friend what Y-E-S spells. They won't have any difficulty saying yes. Then ask what E-Y-E-S spells. It's easy when it's written down, but surprisingly difficult when it's spoken. See a YouTube video of this.

• Who has not heard i before e, except after c. A University of Warwick statistician put it to the test. He plugged a list of 350,000 English words into a statistical program to see if the math checked out. It didn't.

• When Adam met Eve for the first time, he said Madam, I'm Adam. This is a palindrome — a phrase or sentence in which the letters, words or even lines read the same in either direction. Adam hoped to impress the most beautiful woman in the world, but she more than matched him by replying simply, Eve. Not bad given that writing, and therefore palindromes, and English ones in particular, had not yet been invented! More palindromes, and a wonderful palindromic poem.

• How would you pronounce ghoti? Pronounce it like this:

and you get ... fish! Thanks to Charles Ollier for writing this in 1855 — and for showing that English spelling has been ludicrous for quite some time.

• One of the arguments in favour of keeping English spelling unchanged is to show the etymology of words. For example, the silent s in island shows the link to the Latin insula. But island actually derives from the Old English íglund, not from the Latin at all. More examples at Mental Floss.

 

Page editor: N Paterson. Contact by email or form.
FAMOUS ONES WHO WANTED TO IMPROVE
THE ENGLISH SPELLING SYSTEM

​Spelling reform is not a new idea!

Benjamin Franklin "The same is to be observed in all the letters, vowels, and consonants, that wherever they are met with, or in whatever company, their sound is always the same. It is also intended that there be no superfluous letters used in spelling, i.e. no letter that is not sounded [...]"  Franklin proposed a spelling scheme with 6 new letters. (Franklin 1806 p359)

Theodore Roosevelt "It is merely an attempt [...] to make our spelling a little less foolish and fantastic." Theodore Roosevelt promoted the Simplified Spelling Board's gradual reform (see Twain below). (Roosevelt 1906, p3)

Mark Twain "It is my belief that an effort at a slow and gradual change is not worth while. [...] It is the sudden changes [...] that have the best chance of winning in our day. Can we expect a sudden change in our spelling? I think not. But I wish I could see it tried. [...] By a sudden and comprehensive rush the present spelling could be entirely changed and the substitute spelling be accepted, all in the space of a couple of years; and preferred in another couple. But it won't happen, and I am as sorry as a dog." (Twain 1997, pp208-212)

Page editor: N Paterson. Contact by email or form.