The weekly Thibodaux sentinel and journal of the 8th Senatorial District. [volume] (Thibodaux, Lna. [i.e. La.]) 1875-1898, 1896-05-23
haSuRDiTiEs or ePELLtisG.
Rules Ct Crthcgr&p!,Y Contrary to Ely
moiaCy aud Pronunciation.

ElOkrAy lux lANs4aGIC-AtsGn.
That prp5freaaers and compositors
shoaIa be anxious far a dxed rule 81
spelling is ineligible, md one can
easily ~symrathizo with their d~ifficulties
When dealing with words which may
be spclled IN more than one way. New.
ertaaiess tho proposal that all these
doubtful spallinss sLculd be determined
mas Ect vita most vigorous opposition,
from 11an CT letters and Students of the
English language. Scholars like Profess
G. .skoat strongly object to any attelnp.
% further fix 4 system Of spelling which
cannot be defended Oh any rational OF
scientific grounds. II
Io 4 good many people, who as girls
and poya were taught TO regard correct
spelling 81 almost more important than
correct speaking, this Questioning Of
the whole basa Of DIR orthography Will
come with ] shock Of surprise. 1t needs,
however, Only 4 little careful reflection
70 GlGbio ono to realiza that the seholS
ais ara right. The popular notion that
cur speaking indicates Tile. etymology of
weeds, and that this is d task which
spelling ought to perform, will not bear
sarloas examination. AL that i SPELL
ing really does is TO retain archaic forms
q WCIu5 which are now il use with Il
changed pronunciation. But these forms
WeTc tiemeGiTas changes from some
thing that had gone before, and If WE
consider the profound antiquity of the
!aGaaage it is easy to understand that
tbs ASSISTANCE which plllologists can
get from AL Elizabethan or d Georgian
spelling is practically worthless.
AS g matter Of fact, however, many Ct
these older apellings are positively mis-
iaadlnE. lii the last century. for exam
pic. oar ancestors sneIled lantern, lam
tho11i, not because they So pronounced it,
htst because some ingenious person
thought that the sides Of q lantern had
originally been made Of horn, and that
the EaIlo had thus arisen. The word, Of
coarse, ZONES from the French lanterue.
lnfi particular instance Of pedantic folly
tho present generation has dropped, but
Wo have preserved many others. We
Still. For example. have rhyme, as if the
word Were connected withihythm, while,
III fact, it is nothing but the French
rhine. Could is another absurdity. The
word never is and never has been nro-
nouncad with m |. It's old English or
Anslo-Saxol forms ara coud ana coathe.
ana the ] mas erept into the modern
spelling solely from false analogy with
would and should. Yet Il girl who left
out THIS unhistoric and inaccurate il
an examination paper would probably be
ridiculed.
In other cases modern spelling, though
not absolutely inaccurate, is still mis-
leading. The word debt il a case il
point. Here the insertion Of the silent
b obscurcs the fact that the word comes
to rs through the French dette, and not
direct from the Latin. Our French
~nelshbors, by the way, have little more
reason TO be content with their spelling
than wo have, though cur blunders are
not always identical. We, for instance,
spell marriage with two rs, and they,
more correctly, with only me-; but, in
revenge, we have only one t in litera-
ture. while they have two. The truth Of
b whole matter is that our spelling.
like most of our institutions, has grown
up entirely haphazard, ignorance play
ing at least as great a part in its forna-
flon as learning. London Queen.
The Rider the Sufferer.