The propa way to spel

Joe   Saturday, April 24, 2004, 21:14 GMT
''fungi-funguy

Jim says ''I say [fungi]. So, for you ''fungi'' ends in the ''i'' sound in ''sit''. I say [f^Ngai]. Do you really pronounce ''fungi'' with the ''oo'' sound in ''wood'' and the ''i'' sound in ''sit'' or was that wrong. Who says [fungi]?
British Santa Claus   Saturday, April 24, 2004, 21:37 GMT
How about these,

find-fynd
vitamin-vittamin
depot-deppo
thought-thort
bought-bort
more-mor
water-warter
Tuesday-Choozday
was-woz
Willy   Saturday, April 24, 2004, 21:42 GMT
Joe,

I just say both. I don't reform the English. It's not my busisness. I just
visit here to have a hobby. When the English comform, I shall promise
which "fungi" are "funguses" as in the dictionary. If you think you don't
like how other people say "fungi", then use "funguses". Perhaps you have a dictionary called Reader's Digest ILLUSTRATED ENCYCLOPEDIC DICTIONARY.
Willy   Saturday, April 24, 2004, 21:47 GMT
I said "When the English reform, not "conform", I shall promise
which "fungi" are "funguses" as in the dictionary. If you think you don't
like how other people say "fungi", then use "funguses".
Willy   Saturday, April 24, 2004, 21:50 GMT
The way I write is not how I write in this forum. Sometimes I forget something I didn't write.
Joe   Saturday, April 24, 2004, 22:01 GMT
How about these,

Mrs.-Mss. Abbreviation for ''Misses''. Why write ''Mrs.'' when you pronounce it [misiz].
Ms.-Abbreviation for Miss
hurray-huray
hurrah-hurah
Betelgeuse-Beetuljoose
cinnamon-sinnamun
inventor-inventer
Proxima Centauri-Proxima Sentoree
bowl-bole
Pistol Star-Pistulstar
X-ray-exray
T-shirt-teeshirt
Q-tip-cuetip
fraction-frakshun
fiction-fikshun
mansion-manshun
nature-nacher
caribou-kerraboo
wormhole-wurmhole
black hole-blakhole
white hole-witehole
ascend-ussend
descend-desend
homonym-hommanim
synonym-sinnanim
barbecue-barbacue
Hot water heater   Saturday, April 24, 2004, 22:39 GMT
How about these,

island-eyeland
aisle-ile
isle-eyele
full-ful
pull-pul
you-yoo
Houston-Hustun
Ghoti   Sunday, April 25, 2004, 02:03 GMT
HOw about these,

metre/meter-meter
garage-guhraaj
beta-bata
hot water heater-hotwotterheeter
heater-heeter
gauge-gaje
page-paje
boxing-boxxing
buses-busses
loch-lokh
ketchup-kechup
Georgia-Jorja
New Jersey-Noo Jurzee
Ghoti   Sunday, April 25, 2004, 02:23 GMT
Et cetera/etc. Et Setera/ets.
city-sitty
chandalier-shandaleer
apostrophy-appostruffy
put-poot
xanthan gum-zanthun gum
soccer-socker
check/cheque-chek
lasagna-lazaanya
bologna-buloanee
xylophone-zilafone
xerox-zeerox
Earth-Urth
knock-nok
breakfast-brekfust
smoke detector-smoke dettecter
Joe   Sunday, April 25, 2004, 02:25 GMT
''smoke detector-smoke dettecter'', Why add a redundant double ''e''?
Joe   Sunday, April 25, 2004, 02:28 GMT
''smoke detector-smoke dettecter'', Why add a redundant double ''e''?

I meant

''Why add a redundant double ''t''?
Ghoti   Sunday, April 25, 2004, 03:08 GMT
Karate-kuhrahtee [who cares about the correct way to say it?]
ex-friend-eksfrend
million-milyun
-illion-ilyun
Ghoti   Sunday, April 25, 2004, 03:20 GMT
Kookaburra-Kukaburra
Ingglish   Sunday, April 25, 2004, 09:23 GMT
These,

Tortilla-tortia
lieutenant-lootenant
hot water heater-hotwaaterheater
Asia-ayzha
station-stayshun
aeroplane/airplane-airplane
salt-saalt
either-american-eether british-eyether
vase-american-vaiss Canadian-vaiz British-vaaz
water heater-waaterheater
polygraph-pollygraf
bored-bord
board-bord
fjord-fyord
Jim   Monday, April 26, 2004, 04:55 GMT
All,

The person going by my name on pages 11 and 12 was not me.

Faker,

Why do you bother? I never write that I think I make very good reforms. I never write that I don't need anyone telling me that my ideas are shitty. If they are shitty everyone should tell me so.

In my system [TH] is not "th" nor is [th] "thh" ... you're thinking of Truespel. Nor do I suggest "n'" for [n:]. And I just love it how you've given me an American accent ... and American spelling.

Willy,

I say the digraphs "ei" and "ey" usually represent [ei] in traditional orthography. And you reply like this.

"I think you want to change the spelling as you pronounce a Romance.

"This is English. Remember that the English has nothing to deal with Spanish, Italian, Latin, etc...

"English is a unique language almost at all things you talk about it."

I invite you to remember that the English has a lot to "deal" with the Romance languages. However this is not my concern. Perhaps you misunderstand me. By "traditional orthography" I mean "traditional English orthography". Actually I have no desire to change spelling at all. Though if spelling were to change I certainly have no desire to base English spelling on Latin.

Not only do the words "prey" and "pray" rhyme but they sound identicle. However there are good reasons to keep the distinction in spelling. You want to save children from going crazy. I think children have a greater capacity to accept the complexity of English spelling than you give them credit for. In fact they could well go less crazy if such distinctions are kept. Also remember that spelling isn't only for children. Adults spell too.

You write "British pronounce 'colour' as ( 'kul-@ ). They swallow the r. What's gone one with this Queen's English. Didn't Normans or any other tribes teach them English?"

You generalise. Not all British accents are non-rhotic ("'r' swallowing", if you like). Also not all non-rhotic accents are British. I have a non-rhotic accent. I say it's fine to "swallow the 'r'". There's nothing wrong with non-rhotic accents. I think you'll find that what the Normans taught the Britons is French not English.

Do you really say [fwo:t] and [bwo:k]? If so you are a rare specimen indeed. I still don't think that the words should be respelt to fit your unique pronuncitation. You've seen the word "twenty" that has a "w" ... that's because it's normally pronounced with a [w] unlike "foot" and "book". Perhaps Englishmen won't accept "uu" for [u] or [u:] but they certainly wouldn't get bewildered by it as we all would with "fwaut" and "bwauk".

Steve,

"Americans pronounce 'been' as [bin] regardless of whether or not they are speaking fast or saying the word in isolation." you write and I say [bi:n]. This is just another reason that a phonemic reform is bound to failure. There are so many words which vary so greatly between accents.

I agree with your complaints about Joe's respelling of "where". I think "here", "there" and "where" are best left as they are. The next best option would be "here", "thare" and "whare". With "heer", "thair" and "whair" or "here", "dhare" and "whare" coming equal third and fifth place going to "heer", "dhair" and "whair". I don't know where I'd place "hirr", "therr" and "wherr" but it wouldn't be a favourite.

Bill,

There is such a word as "multiverse".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiverse

Your "-ooey" words.

bouy-booey
dewy-dooey
gooey-gooey
rouillé-rooey

Here's how I pronounce them.

bouy = [boi]
dewy = [dZu:i(:)]
gooey = [gu:i(:)]
rouillé ... well I've never actually said the word.

So of your list only "gooey" will do but that's the one which you've not respelt anyway.

Yes, I do use "whilst" quite often. Whilst it might seem archaic to you it doesn't seem so to me. Though I do acknowledge that it is going out of fashion.

You suggest ''siberspase'' and ''hiperspase'' instead of Joe's "siberspaiss" and "hiperspaiss". Why not? Well, they could be mistaken for [saib..(r)speiz] and [haip..(r)speiz]. Think about the word "laser". Why is it pronounced [leiz..(r)] not [leis..(r)]?

Certainly "'til" is a clipped form of "until" but you're wrong about "till". First there was "till" which got lenghtened to "until" and subesquently shortened (mistakenly) to "'til". If you have evidence otherwise don't write to me about it write the editors of the American Heritage Dictionary from whence I got this info.

The fact that "till" is not short for "until" has absolutely nothing to do with ''phone'', ''bus'', ''plane'', ''piano'', ''cello'', ''maths'' and ''cab''. Yes, these still are the clipped forms of ''telephone'', ''aeroplane'', ''pianoforte'', ''violoncello'', ''mathematics'' and ''taxicab''. If you're smart enough to type then you surely could have figured this one out.


Joe,

"So, 'jail' is fine just throw out 'gaol'." ... but I did so like "gaol" ...

roll-role

But there already is such a word. How about "roal"?

ukelele = in my phonemic system =>> eukylaily

taxicab-taxxeecab

This is the first I've seen of a double "x". It looks like it might become [ksks]. The more usual option would be "cc", "xc", "cs" or something. Also I'd say [t@ksik@b] not [t@ksi:k@b].

Antimoon-Antiemoon

This is another accent thing. I say [@nti] not [@ntai].

disgusting-diskusting

http://www.dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?dict=CALD&key=22306&ph=on has only [disg^stiN]

whence-wenss
white hole-witehole

I say keep the "w"/"wh" distinction.

view-vue

I think "vew" would be better. The digraphs "ew" and "eu" are very common in English. I don't see the need to change them all to "ue".

dictionary-dickshunerry
fraction-frakshun
fiction-fikshun
mansion-manshun

Why the "k"? You could get by with "dicshunerry", "fracshun" and "fricshun".

I think there is a problem with "-erry": it reinforces the American pronunciation over the Commonwealth one. I say [dikS..nri(:)] not [dikS..neri(:)]. So "dicshunry" would be better for me.

Are you going to get rid of all the "-tion-"s, the "-sion-"s, the "-xion-"s, the "-gion-"s, the "-ssion-"s, etc.? You'll have a task on your hands. I don't think they're all that bad. In fact I like the idea of making more use of "-xion-". How about "dixionry", "frixion" and "fraxion"?

museam-muzeam

It's "museum" not "museam" and the voicing of "s" is quite common when there's an "e" to follow.

fungi-funguy

My mistake: no, I don't say [fungi] I say [f^Ngi]. I don't know how you're getting [ai] out of "uy" anyway. I know "guy" is pronounced [gai] but the "u" is there to stop the "g" going [dZ] and I've noticed that you've suggested "gide" instead of "guide", I assume you'll go for "gittar" too. Anyway we're now left with a "y" at the end of a word. But "y"s at ends of words aren't always pronounced [ai] infact you'll notice that where there is a stressed vowel somewhere else in the word the "y" at the end will usually become [i(:)]. So why should "funguy" spell [f^Ngai] instead of [f^Ngi(:)]?

Mrs.-Mss.
Ms.-Abbreviation for Miss

"Mrs." isn't the abbreviation for ''Misses'' nor is "Ms." the abbreviation for "Miss".
http://www.bartleby.com/61/81/M0458100.html
http://www.bartleby.com/61/84/M0458400.html

hurray-huray
hurrah-hurah

Mightn't they be misread [hju:rei] and [hju:ra:]?

Betelgeuse-Beetuljoose
Pistol Star-Pistulstar

Why is "ul" better than "ol", "el", "al" and "le"? How about "-juse" or "juce" instead of "-joose"?

Proxima Centauri-Proxima Sentoree

I don't say [proksim..sento:ri:] but [proksim..sentSu:ri].

Q-tip-cuetip

This is a brand name. You'd better ask the company whether they mind your changing the spelling.

nature-nacher

This looks like [n@tS..(r)]. How about "naicher"?

caribou-kerraboo

I say [k@r..bu:] not [ker..bu:].

ascend-ussend

What's wrong with the "a"? Using "a" for [..] at the begining of a word is the norm in English.

barbecue-barbacue

I say [ba:b..kju:]. How is "a" any better than "e"?

Ghoti,

"Karate-kuhrahtee [who cares about the correct way to say it?]"

What a stupid argument. If you're going to make spelling match pronunciation, you might as well have it match correct pronunciation.