Los Angeles herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1900-1911, 1909-01-07
DEFORMED SPELLING

HTE HAVE received literature on
wv the subject of spelling reform
from the Simplifed Spelling
board Of New York and the Simplified
Spelling society of London. This is
a matter to which a great deal Of
careful special study has been devoted
by only FEW men now alive. ANA
tours who are taking belated but well
coined interest in the question are
nearly all ''men with names and repu-
tations," but with the possible excep-
ton Of Walter William Skeat Of the
University Of Cambridge, men whose
actual contact with the impor-
tant question which, because of en-
tirely irrelevant regulations and abil-
tiles, they are asked to take up and
settle for 170,O00,000 people.
A committee of proof readers chosen
from the great newspapers and pub
fishing houses would know more in a
minute about the practical aspect Of
this matter than all the celebrated
spelling board members put together
There is not even a newspaper editor
on either of the boards. The men who
use spelling and type and the language
more than any other class of men are
entirely ignored by their high might
nesses, the self-appointed and mu-
tually selected spelling reformers, not
one of whom is a specialist on the sub
ject. The spelling boards of both the
countries most concerned give-with all
due respect to the eminent mem
bers-the most candid exhibition Of the
characteristic snobbery of our civili-
cation that modern times have
afforded, and we wish we could revive
William Thackeray to write it up. And
we say with great emphasis and from
a vast store Of expert knowledge and
experience that these worthy men,
Americans and Britons, are about to
waste time, waste money, hunt will-o'-
the-Wisps and chase n1irages, and they
cannot possibly accomplish any good
result unless by chance they find out
they are attempting the impossible and
make frank acknowledgment Of what
is really the matter with the English
or American language.
The New York executive committee
quantity makes announcement of in
tention to work for the "amelioration'
of our spelling. We don't see Mark
Twain's name on the list of Teformers
or we would credit him with the whim-
steal phrase. We are glad it is used.
Amelioration is excellent. But, in
the name of common sense, how are
the simplified spoilers to "ameliorate'
the condition of a polyglot language
which is the bond thrall of an alien
Latin alphabet, utterly unsuitable to
the genius of the tongue it shackles?
We need alphabetical reform, not SPELL
ing reform. When we have alpha
betical reform, oh, We inexpert wise
acres, spelling will reform itself. It is
high time we had an American alpha
bet. We have endured our miserable
Caesar long enough. 1t has outlived
it's usefulness and it is THIS fact the
spelling ''reformers,' in what seems to
a specialist to be a laughably blind and
fumbling and feeble manner, are begin
ming blunderingly to appreciate. But
any proposals they may make will
only result in confusion worse con-
founded. 1t is better to endure the ills
we have than fly to others that we
know not Of Spelling reform is not
even an iridescent dream. 1t is a
nightmare. Alphabetical reform, how
ever, is worth considering.