The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1906-10-28

English is the worst OF al the mod
ern languages, because its photography
is not reducible TO rule. It's spelling is
SO freakish. so violent, and so absurd
that It rejects all analOgies-
The ideal spelling of any language
would be that in which there was one
sound for one symbol There are forty
sounds in English and only twenty-three
possible symbols. But that is not the
worst II we had loaded almost every
one of ON Jwenty-three symbols wien
The duty Of representing only two separ-
ate sounds. that would be bad enough,
but it would not be 80 bad as the situa-
ZION which oonfronts us.
LET me illustrate what / mean. Here
is a list Of English words short Anglo
saxon words, IN which the spelling is
perfectly satisfactory. Sad, slap, self,
smash strong. strength. Here is "a sec
Ond group of longer words derived from
the Greek which are also satisfactory:
Evident ability peculiar. memorial. mo-
nopoly. biology.
But when We hook at certain other
groups We are brought almost to the
brink of despair. Take this group, for
example. perhaps the most famous Cx-
ampies of the absUrditv Of our spell
ing which exists Cough dough thorough,
rough. through hough. sough. plough.
And here asaiu are four words begin
ming with the sound of m nuow.
pneumonia. gnaw, mnemonics 1nere are
~even words in which the sound Of e
10 lei Is represented by seven different
symbols, OF combination OF symbols. Let.
heifer, SAYS, many. head. leopard. said
Tho sound "sh" I'm ship is repre-
-anted by eight distinct combinations:
ship suspicion ocean anxious. sure. con-
science, notion, issue
Phonetic Reform Hopeless,
rhou reform of any kind is hope
Jess. To spend time in setting forth its
possible advantage Is to waste time.
This D. one reason why the simplided
spelling boId has lot advocated any
-ehen. Of phonetic reform. And il does
NOT Intend 90 advocat. anything of the
sort , say this emphaticalIy. because 50
many % the opponents of our movement
Havt accused rs Of being phonetic REFORM
'~- Pr they do 50 hereafter in spite OF
.ur formal disclaimer, they viii be- dis
honest for there j. dishol ssty of care
ioSs1cs~, as well as q dishonesty OF inten-
ton.
Vow what i. tue simpiald spelling
board uTEins II il is not urging phonetic
reform. There Is at least one thing that
can be dore. Every one who knows any
thins ar al about the growth OF the Eng
fish languag knows hat the English
Language has been slowly changing It's
polling. that the spelling of to-day Is
simpler. more accurate. and ON The whole
better than tha spelling OF yesterday and
mat Tho spelling pi Yesterday Is Ou The
whole. simpler and more accurate than
The spelling oi the day before yesterday.
Here aTr q few words which have been
changed. l1 ShaEesBea~e'S time 'slu
was suellei sumo. bat" was spelled
bate fish was spelled "fysshs
music was spelled "musicke- ''tap-
fasy was spelled phantasie"; EZRA" was
spelled AGRA, ana economic was spell
-d "oeCoDomioke.' The changes in these
words ara only "a f,w examples of thou
sands Of others that have been made; and
all these changes aU. IN accord with the
principle OF sinpIdcati0u by omission,
whlel has been at work from the begin
Minis. % Is ut work now. It Is the prin-
eiple which has l.d the National EduCa-
zion Association tu recommend the omjs-
sion of 'w' from program 90 the
"ue" f-nm ''eetaie2 IL VIII be active in
tre fu,1re. hgt it has been Irregular.
casual, iuirru'tteut IT only it could be
aec'l I.rt.i. something might bee done To
m.E' Ea=iish =D-ihlg less cd d rcprouch
.o tHa people who use ID.
SimpIIfyin= Our Spelling.
TLg task of acreleratiug. that ancient
and honorable process OF simplifying Eng
iisa spelling toy casting out silent and
Useless letters is o., task which the
-inp.iGad spelling board has undertaken.
Dc was f5T thar special purpose that the
board was organized. and that purpose
.s shown iu its title. II is the ''simplificI
polling baard'-10 simplify. and 10 SIM
rliry bv omission But tho board was so
conservative that it began by making no
recommendation of it's own. II selected
1.o words where the simplest spelling. the
NOR. logical and more compact spelling
was Uorc OF less iu use. IL asked those
WHO wished 20 show their sympathy with
This movement To better English orthog-
r3phy to agree 10 use these 900 simpler
forms. or as many of them as they chose
This Is the list OF 80 words which Prcsi-
dent Roosevelt has approved. This is
thc list which has been approved by the
board OF superinJcudents OF the city OF
View York This is the list which has
been warmly welcomed and promptly aC-
repted by an immense number of business
houses throughout the whole United
States. Sooner OF later the board will
issue other lists, all based on the prin-
eiplc of simplihcation by omission OF
silent letters.
Now what are the objections TO sim
plined spelling? There are several. and
some Of them az first sight seem rather
plausible
objections to Change.
The mrs, objection is that by striking
out needless letters we shall have a LOT
OF words spelled alike and yet meaning
different things. There might be some
weight in that objection, if this was a
new thing, il no such pairs OF words eX-
isted now. But the English language al
the present time has hundreds OF words
different in meaning and alike in spelling,
and there is no confusion whatever in
actual practice Neither in speech nor in
writing is there any confusion in the fOm
meanings. when / write. a fast man
rarely fasts, or the fast horse is tied
fast There is "a -scuttlc" of coal 2
scuttle' on the roof. the crabs "scuttIc
away. and the pirates cutie a ship
The second objection is that by striking
out needless letters we shall hide the his
Tory OF the word. This is known as the
etymGiOgy objection. The first answer tC
shat is that the present spelling in a Sreat
many cases suggests a false origin. Iu
rhyme the IN suggests that rhyme
Is derived from the Greek and has connec-
sion with rhythm" In island the -
suggests that island" is, IN some wav
derived either from the Latin or thf
French. In tongue the ''ue' and III
comptroller" the mp" suggest THAI the
word Is from the French. Other false
derivations can he seen i'm debt" de
light" "aghast." and "neighbor''