Bring bæck þorn, eð, ænd æsh.

Smiþ   Monday, September 13, 2004, 11:15 GMT
What do you think about the idea of bringing bæck ðe letters þorn, eð, ænd æsh?
Tom***   Tuesday, September 14, 2004, 00:52 GMT
Suppose we also added the letter ''ç'' for [tS] and ''ş'' for [S]?
David Winters   Tuesday, September 14, 2004, 01:05 GMT
Keep your filthy foreign "letters" out of my language. Unlike the French, I don't have any desire to relearn my own blasted language.
Mxsmanic   Tuesday, September 14, 2004, 02:35 GMT
Why do so many people feel this need to make drastic changes to English?
Dulcinea del Toboso   Tuesday, September 14, 2004, 04:04 GMT
To anyone that loves English and loves reading, English spelling will not be a problem. It's a matter of familiarity.

I don't think a great many people feel the need to make spelling reforms, it only seems that way on a forum such as this where it's easy for a few people to publicize their wishes.

Every so often the spelling reform virus will flare up, with its long word lists that hardly anyone reads, attach itself to a few threads, and eventually fade away.
vn23   Tuesday, September 14, 2004, 10:42 GMT
I agree, I don't see the need for changing the language. A few minor changes wouldn't hurt -removing silent letters for example but a spelling reform never will work because there are so many speakers that already know the language as it is, and no one will ever agree on a reform, there are just too many accents.
Easterner   Tuesday, September 14, 2004, 12:09 GMT
There was a time during my studies of English when I wished that there had been a spelling reform somewhere in the history of English Sometimes I still do in my weaker moments, but on the whole this is no longer the case. There are some languages, including my own, which have a phonetic script, so it is more normal for me, but the need for phonetic script has always arisen together with the need to standardise the language itself, or to make it more suitable to express sophisticated ideas (this was the case with Hungarian, Serbo-Croatian, Czech and a number of East European languages). It seems there has simply never been such a need within the English-speaking community. The only minor spelling reform I know of was that of Webster in the early 19th century, to which we owe, among others, the current American spelling of "splendor" instead of "splendour", or "jail" instead of "gaol", for example. Standardisation of English has happened more or less spontaneously (though with a little help from people like Dr. Samuel Johnson in the 18th century), so most native English speakers will not buy this idea anymore, I'm afraid.