Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1906-03-29
SAY ENGLISH IS
HAVING BAD SPELL
The Phiioiogists and Lexico-
I graphers are Taking Up New
Reform Movement.
BEST START IT EVER HAD
Prospects Growing fer the Prediction
Ths, the Spelling Books of Today
W.l Have to Undergo Seri-
Gus Operation.


Mn Ierk. March 22.-W. Nss hten
DpeneI ON tie ~ortnographX ol the ilns-
SSH l-snguaees as me most badly
spelle1 in nlI Christendom. Veterans
-, M, l,.t.. ,yhi.h h,s ,o,,4e mann,
"h ''e'sN VI tie present iH''"o' are
TallylnS NNc.r the o!d banner. Hni ic-
cruijs reBrcScntin" the best scholarship
ia The Emitted states hayn ioinod thntn
a,I,, 60 ~, .,,ar.w ,,,emio ms nm
-, :, -
hlshed IN" stle"s OF warfare mas gwen
II force to the campaign greater than it
previously had.
ON me sloniihed smelling hoard
which already has begun operations.
are many Of the foremost scholars in
The country. L.cxicograpners ph.lol-
ocis,s mon or letters ANA educators
have already Joined ii.
prominent among The leaders of the
movement are Professor Francis \.
March. professor of ENGLISH literature
at Iafayette college of I.,ston. Pa.
and Professor Thomas Il. Lounshury,
of the chair of English literature in
Vale university and the foremost au-
,hor;tv ON lsages of the English lam
enare in he United states.
Eotb men have long been champions
ot ortbn.,n ,bi,,l reform, md stond
~ HI ~ ~ re,isioa OF M. n,asant
.,nnii;na rrhav MO in FAVOR of he con-
sie.t.7. Nv hn;,r ~ ,,ia1 an, J
s'",' ''H ~ -
tne S'"iihii'c" 'f'""7 '0"iu' go . ~
t4e iioiN-
The Slogan is Letter Go.
This organization, which Mr.. Car
reggie generosity has endowed for Il
term of years. aims ut present to lop
,f superiluous letters. to adopt one
spelling for words where there are now
two. ana. TO trim up the language SO as
10 make ii phoneticallv ~presentable.
After that 1T is probable that the recon
struction will continue. and. if the la
hors of the board bear fruit, English
speech viii become phonetic, or nearly
so. Al present. however. the advocates
OF the change are trying 10 accomplish
reform along the path o' least resist
tlnee. ,
DR.. March hhs roihpiied q history "i
spelling reform IN tnS country ~
which is quotet an address OF a pfesl-
dent % the American fn~lioioglcal as
Sociation made in 1874 which was the
beginning of one oil III" periods III Nhich
friends of revised orthographE were
particularly active. This Is the way Il
paragraph from that speech was print
ed. and it gives some idea OF What an
almost phonetic English inlgnt he:
III is OF no use for us to try to char
acterize With Ctting epithets and AIDE
o,,,te terms OF objurration the mon
strous spelling of the English language.
The time lost by it is Il large part of
the hole scool time of the mass OF
men. Count the hours mat each mar
wastes III learning to read at scooi ihe
hours which he wastes thru life IRON
the hindrance to easy reading. Inc
hours wasted at scool in lerning to spell
the hours spent thru life in keeplnf
up and perfecting this knowledge ol
spelling. in consulting dictionaries. Z
work that never ends. the hours he
spends in writing silent letters. alt
multiply this time by the number o
persons who speak English and We
shall have Il total of millions of year:
wasted by each generation.
Amateurs in Luv With 1t.
n.au, ,,,,.,rs f,,i i, l,,,
..,.h .hssa snnistinps and Iisninps
NJ w dafn,d t,ap, hv nle.dint
Ihey Wy 70 uete ~ ~ s,n ~ If or,
'he.. Dr. :, on, ngelass rthooraf +,
iho,oss. ~ ~ ,tari,i fo,. otyn,nlosicn
uessioSS W. ,nan,ls :, x,n,3ble tn ~.
s,uus, ~ ~. i, nronn,, ION as tbav ;,
liolosiss Jus. ~ az Of sneach nc snosn .,
a'Su'a.e 49,
prafessur Iounsbury. when seen a
Yale university, was as %outspoken n
Professor March in his denunciation o
the so-cailed nconsisteacie of EnSlisl
as she is spelled.
"Of all civilized languages said he
English is the worst spelled in Chris
tendom Originally phonetic. it is
combination of two different systems
1t has been so modified that now tn
English speaking peoples have los
the phonetic sense. one of the hes
proofs of this is the ridiculous attempt
which writers make When they atteinp
to spell phonetically- ! nave derive
much amusement from reading tn
phonetic satlrcs on Me proposed SIM
pliication of spelling, for they sho'
that the men who composed them ma
not the faintest idea OF now 70 expires
sounds by means OF the printed chara'
ters.
There are in Ensi'sh forty SOUND
ana cniy twenty chafacters Whlc
must pc USED III WrltIls 'hel'l. MAJ,
ni the lel'efs IRE therefore usea IN ON
,eieh' WAYS; me souhis IRE ,he re-
NE OF IN" Ia,'suaSe' 'o.siitfilis .hd
\ IS rsaiiy Ks. Una, y Is e". w
W is a ooupie u, ana .n,t * a.id
aHu = arg ll'e.H ii",'s.Ao ON '
'he cnHI.'.,eIH "n''i y, 'iee use
% Supply .tls Neis ,eeu ia.s ei.nei
nna IN. i'm men. ,ho,rh in ea"lia
texts they were EXPRESSED by dipranh
vov,.le Coma - +ho n,,.