Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-10-27
REFORM OF SPELLING
Dr.. = BradIey's Advice to the
American Committee.
FAvoRs SLOW ADVANCE
A Few Words at Time Should Be
Chosen.
RADICAL ACTION IS OPPOSED
Care Should Be Taken to Avoid Shock
ing the Public or Exciting OPP
position or Ridicule.
BY WILLIAM e. CURTIS.
Special Correspondence of The Star and the Chicago
Record Herald

BY WILLIAM E. CURTIS.
Special Correspondence Of The Star and the Chicago
Record Herald.
OXFORD, England October 10, 1906
DR.. Henry Bradley, the eminent philolo-
gist, who is associated with Dr. Murray In
the editorship of the New Oxford Diction-
airy, spoke more gently than Prof Joseph
Wright about the slight which he and his
associates have suffered from the American
board on simplifed spelling for Dr. Brad
ley Is a milder-mannered man. He said:
DIR. Scott invited me to become mem
Der of the simplff1ed spelling board and
accepted the invitation. He afterward no
tilted me that had been elected. 1 wrote
an acknowledgment of the honor that had
been conferred upon me, and added that 1
was glad to see that the American scholars
had taken up the matter because spelling
reform was necessary and must come
sooner or later. l suggested that perhaps
we in England, having once made an at
tempt in that direction, had a stronger
sense of the difficulties involved and 1
hoped that the American committee would
be more successful in overcoming them. I
took the liberty to suggest that they must
not disregard the main difficulty, which is
based upon the fact that spoken language
is the real language only in the elementary
stages Of civilization, when men speak more
than they read. But when civilization pro-
than they speak. and read more than they
hear, it is very different. In the one case
1t is natural for people to spell words
phonetically; that is. by their sound. In
reading and In printing people are not
guided so much by the sound as by the de-
rivation of the word its original form Is
preserved in that way.
Friendly Interest Felt
I'VE look with friendly interest upon the
experiment of your simplifed spelling
board" continued DR.. Bradley, hoping that
it may ultimately solve the problem for
which the philologists of this kingdom have
thus far found no solution. Our hope is
based chiefly upon the expectation that your
committee will introduce phonetic spelling
into your public schools, your newspapers
and printing offices. That. however. is a
part only of the experiment I told Prof.
Scott all this and asked him If he would
accept one who is weak in the faith as
member of the board. He replied that the
movement was purely experimental and
therefore they would accept me on my own
terms. There the matter stands. I have
not heard from him since l have not seen
list of the new words. l was not consult
ed about them, and therefore l cannot say
whether I approve of the changes not
can only hope that the American committee
will be more successful than we have been
over here. 1 understand that Dr.. Murray
goes no further in the matter than myself.
We are in no way responsible for the list
government printers to use. We encourage.
but We do not indorse the movement. We
look upon it with interest, but are not pre-
pared to join it. We hope that 1t may be
successful, but, for important reasons, must
remain passive
will you recommend the British govern
ment to accept the recommendations of
President Roosevelt?'
"Audacious and Radical"
II would not like to recommend the Brit
ish government to accept any such auda-
cious and radical departure from the con-
ventlonal spelling the newspapers report
President Roosevelt to have made. We
have to go very cautiously over here be-
cause of the conservatism of people.
The written word IS the real thing, the
spoken word is the symbol. Pronunciation
differs in different countries even in differ
emit parts of the same country. English
literature is filled with words of classical
derivation which cannot be lightly dispensed
with carelessly altered"
Are you making any changes In spelling
in the new dictionary?
No We take words as they stand in
current literature. That is the form of
spelling accepted by the people, although it
may not be it ought to be. The English
language is very bad language in many
respects. 1t is full of incongruities and alb
surdities. You doubtless familiar with
the humorous doggeres that appear occa-
sionaly in the newspapers and magazines