atw: Re: Spelling Society centenary

The notion that there should be a correct way to spell English words was 
imposed, in historical terms, in only recent times and for all the wrong 
reasons.  
The earliest reference I've found to when spelling became important is the 
following:

"This classical age, when Dr. Johnson's Dictionary (1755) did much to fix the 
words recognized as good English, saw also the settlement of spelling by rules 
now insisted on among all educated people. In the age of Marlborough, even 
queens and great generals spelt very much as they liked. But in 1750 Lord 
Chesterfield wrote to his son: 'I must tell you that orthography, in the true 
sense of the word is so absolutely necessary for a man of letters, or a 
gentleman, that one false spelling may fix a ridicule upon him for the rest of 
his life. And I know a man of quality who never recovered the ridicule of 
having spelled wholesome without the w.'. " 
(from George Trevelyan, Illustrated English Social History)

Before the mid C18th nobody much cared how words were spelled (or should that 
be spelt!), nor should they have.  English was seen to be what it was - a 
mongrel language made up of bits and pieces of many other languages.  Anyway, 
it was the communication of ideas that mattered then, not displays of snobbery 
by Englishmen aspiring to cultural equality with the French.  We should be 
thankful that Shakespeare wasn't hung up about spelling.

English grammar too is largely a artificial imposition - mostly Latin rules 
grafted crudely onto English and often crushing its expressive quality.  

Steve



__________________________________________



Y'all might be interested in this - came through in Michael Quinion's=20
WorldWideWords newsletter (link: http://www.worldwidewords.org/nl/qrsw.ht=
m
)

Just in case anyone feels like picking up the spelling debate again...=20
(note that they don't seem to care about the psychological pain of poor=20
spelling on good-spelling reviewers/editors.)



3. Recently noted
Spelling reform
Generations of experts have put forward ways to improve the notoriously=20
chaotic and inconsistent spelling of English. This isn't the place to=20
rehash the arguments on both sides but to note that the Spelling Society =
-=20
founded as the Simplified Spelling Society in 1908, the British sister=20
society of a US organisation generously funded by Andrew Carnegie - is=20
celebrating its centenary in June by hosting a conference at Coventry=20
University called The Cost of English Spelling. A first-year student ther=
e=20
has worked out that some =A318m a year is wasted teaching traditional=20
spelling; the Society's secretary, John Gledhill, says that this is=20
compounded by what he calls the "psychological pain" caused to poor=20
spellers. The Society is not the force it once was, with membership havin=
g=20
fallen from a high of 35,000 in the early days to 500 now, because the=20
subject does not attract the interest it once did. The Society no longer =

advocates a specific system of respelling, though its members o
ften use simplifications such as Cut Spelling, which removes redundant=20
letters from words and makes other substitutions to improve correspondenc=
e=20
with the spoken word, leading to forms like frend, alfabet and scool. The=
=20
result is text like "Th perenial complaint of oldr jenrations that ther=20
desendnts fal short of ther eldrs has ofn been aplyd to languaj, and,=20
within languaj, to yung peples spelng in particulr."




Regards

Elizabeth Fullerton
Business Solutions Architect
Infosys Australia
Ph: +61 3 9911 3507
Fax: +61 3 9911 3398
www.infosys.com<http://www.infosys.com>
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