Spelling Reform Thread

Damian   Tuesday, June 22, 2004, 15:24 GMT
Spelling of English words (taken from Sunday newspaper UK 20/06/04)
"Spelln: it's even harder than commas"
"Spelling isn't everything, observed one of Winnie the Pooh's friends.."

Top 10 most commonly mis-spelt words in English in the UK:

Correct spelling Most common wrong spelling

Minuscule Miniscule
Supersede Supercede
Accommodation Accomodation
Ecstasy Ecstacy
Embarrass Embarass
Receive Recieve
Desiccate Desicate
Definitely Definately*
Pronunciation Pronounciation*
Separate Seperate*

* = very commonly mis-spelt

Actually, you sometimes see "seperate" in official documents. Don't they do spell checks?
Jim   Thursday, June 24, 2004, 00:34 GMT
Perhaps they let the computer do the checks. Both "separate" and "seperate" are correct: it's just that they are different words. You might add this too your list too:

Seperate Separate
Joe   Thursday, June 24, 2004, 02:38 GMT
Jim, I just looked at dictionary.com and according to it there's no such word as ''seperate''. Only ''separate's'' a word.
Inglish Respelling   Friday, June 25, 2004, 00:37 GMT
Okay then Jim, what would you think about this proposal? What do you think about this proposal?

a-bat
e-bet
i-bit
o-bot
u-but
y-about

Vowel diagraphs
ai-plate
ea-meat
ee-meet
ie-bite
oa-boat
oe-know
ue-mute

Vowel diagraphs

au-claw
oi-coin
oo-[u:]-boom, threw, moon
ou-found
ue-[U]-soup, through, coup, coupon, loumie, group
uu-book

Consonant diagraphs
ch-channel
dh-then
kh-chemical, Christmas, chlorine, technology, chasm
ng-sing
sh-shine
th-think
hw/w-when ''literally that. ''when'' literally gets respelled ''hw/wen''.
zh-vision
gn-[(g)n]-gnat, gnarl, gnash, gnu, gnome
kn-[(k)n]-know, knot, knock, knee, knight, knife
dd-tied, allowed
wr-[(v)r]-write, wrap, wrong, wreck, wrought
nk-sink, stink
gh-[(K)] night, high, light, thought, caught, through, right, fight

A sentence respelled in my system,

They know what chemicals those are.

''Dhai knoe hw/wut khemykylz dhoaz ar.''

How does this sentence come out in your system, Jim.

Hw/wut doo eu think ybout mie prypoazyl?

I think my old ones the best.
Jim   Friday, June 25, 2004, 01:46 GMT
You're right: there's no such word as ''seperate''. My mistake.
Damian   Friday, June 25, 2004, 02:19 GMT
erm....deffo not added to list. erm...too? :-)
Jim   Friday, June 25, 2004, 02:42 GMT
Inglish Respelling,

There's a problem with your idea:

ue-mute
ue-[U]-soup, through, coup, coupon, loumie, group

Also I think keeping "wh" makes much more sense than using "hw".
Inglish Speaking   Friday, June 25, 2004, 02:51 GMT
Jim, You need to look back at my idea. I'm not using ''hw'' but literally ''hw/w''. ''when'' becomes ''hw/wen'' that shows that most people say [w] and others say [hw].

ue-mute
ue-[U]-soup, through, coup, coupon, loumie, group

That should be,

ue-mute
ui-[U]-soup, through, coup, coupon, loumie, group.

Jim, this sentence in my system,

They know what chemicals those are.

Comes out as,

''Dhai knoe hw/wut khemykylz dhoaz ar.''

not

''Dhai knoe hwut khemykylz dhoaz ar.''

How does this sentence come out in your system?

''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

Anyway, what do you think about my new proposal and how does it compare to yours.
Inglish Speling   Friday, June 25, 2004, 03:37 GMT
Well, once again, Jim, my sysstem is not using ''hw'' but literally ''hw/w''.

How do you think my proposal compares to yours?

This is how this sentence comes out in my system. How does it come out in your system? You might not know at the moment because you're probably working on adding the distinctions listed on the other thread http://www.antimoon.com/forum/2004/4907-2.htm to your system.

''My father knows where to go to get to the store and the chemistry lab''

''Mie fothur knoez whair too goa too get too dhy stoar and dha khemistree lab''.
Inglish Speling   Friday, June 25, 2004, 03:38 GMT
Typo,

''Mie fothur knoez whair too goa too get too dhy stoar and dha khemistree lab''.

should be,

''Mie fothur knoez hw/wair too goa too get too dhy stoar and dha khemistree lab''.
Jim   Friday, June 25, 2004, 03:51 GMT
Dhay noe whot khemykylz dhoaz ar.
Mi faadher noez wheir tu go tu get tu dha stoar and dha khemystry lab.

I see, by "hw/w" you actually mean "hw/w" not "hw" or "w" ... are you really serious? Hw/wie would you want to do this hw/wen "wh" does the job just fine?

Do "father" and "bother" rhyme for you? They don't for me. It seems that you're using "o" for /a:/ and forgetting about /o/. North Americans might not need it but most of the rest of us do.

How about "playing", "clawing" and "toying"? My system leaves them spelt as they are. How about yours?
Inglish Speling   Friday, June 25, 2004, 04:06 GMT
Yeah, I'm using hw/w for [{h}w]

I'm also using ''gn'', ''kn'', ''wr'', and ''gh'' that show some Scottish distinction pronunciations.

gn-[(g)n]-gnat, gnarl, gnash, gnu, gnome
kn-[(k)n]-know, knot, knock, knee, knight, knife
dd-tied, allowed
wr-[(v)r]-write, wrap, wrong, wreck, wrought
gh-[(K)] night, high, light, thought, caught, through, right, fight
hw/w-white, whine

''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

Oh, Jim, do you know how most sentences actually come out in your system at the moment? Aren't you working on adding the distinctions listed on page two of the other thread http://www.antimoon.com/forum/2004/4907-2.htm ? So, if that's so, you wouldn't be sure how all sentences come out in your system at the moment because you're working on the distinctions listed on the other thread http://www.antimoon.com/forum/2004/4907-2.htm .

''When white whiskey whirls''

Comes out as,

''hw/wen hw/wiet hw/wiskee hw/wurulz. Does that look strange?
Inglish Respeling   Friday, June 25, 2004, 04:12 GMT
Distinctions made by some Scots show in my system.

nat/gnat
not/knot
tide/tied
wreck/reck
whine/wine

This is how they're shown.

nat/gnat
not/knot
tied/tiedd
wrek/rek
hw/wien/wien

Also these words come out as,

playing-plaiying
clawing-klauwing
toying-toiying
Inglish Respelling   Friday, June 25, 2004, 04:14 GMT
Yeah, I'm using hw/w for [{h}w]

I'm also using ''gn'', ''kn'', ''wr'', and ''gh'' that show some Scottish distinction pronunciations.

gn-[(g)n]-gnat, gnarl, gnash, gnu, gnome
kn-[(k)n]-know, knot, knock, knee, knight, knife
dd-tied, allowed
wr-[(v)r]-write, wrap, wrong, wreck, wrought
gh-[(K)] night, high, light, thought, caught, through, right, fight
hw/w-white, whine

''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

Oh, Jim, do you know how most sentences actually come out in your system at the moment? Aren't you working on adding the distinctions listed on page two of the other thread http://www.antimoon.com/forum/2004/4907-2.htm ? So, if that's so, you wouldn't be sure how all sentences come out in your system at the moment because you're working on the distinctions listed on the other thread http://www.antimoon.com/forum/2004/4907-2.htm .

''When white whiskey whirls''

Comes out as,

''hw/wen hw/wiet hw/wiskee hw/wurulz. Does that look strange?
Jim   Friday, June 25, 2004, 04:23 GMT
It sure does look atrange.