The citizen. (Honesdale, Pa.) 1908-1914, 1913-04-11


sauIt on old Fashioned Methods of
orthoeraphy-Many findings Rudely
Stripped-School Is Now "Scool."
Bluff ls Now "Bluf!"
The simplified spelling board issued
recently in New York it's fourth assault
on English as it has been written for
some time and makes suggestions and
rules that will give the old fashioned
spelling book a severe shock. The at
tempt is made to break the list gently
to the public, but in so doing the board
is forced to use this sentence:
"The reader is urged in considering
these new spellings not to be too much
'influenst by the 'od' appearance of
the words"
Therein is illustrated one of the most
unkindest cuts of the new list. for the
words ending in need and ''rsed" are
to. be written by the followers of the
new spelling in inst and "rst."
In giving out its list the simplifed
spelling board is considerate enough to
follow the ancient order of the alpha
bet The combination ch is the first
to suffer, and the h is annihilated.
Thus "chaos" is set down to be spell
ed "caos," character" is "caracter,"
"chorus" is "corus.'' Eco" is not
foreign word, but is the familiar "echo,"
and the place where we learned the
things we are now urged to forget is
not School" but "scool."
The X Has Bad Luck
The ch is retained before e, y and /.
Words like Chemist" architect" "or-
chestra" and scheme" are retained as
they have been.
Next the ending ok is attacked. The
rule is to drop the k after an mistress
ed vowel 1t is noted that the final k
has already been dropped by our an
cestors in many words that once had
it. This applies to all words like der
rick" "haddock," hammock" sham
rock" and even "knapsack" and "haver-
sack" The simplification of many
monosyllables ending in elk is postpon-
ed by the board until the derived
forms are agreed upon. Thus people
will continue to get "sick'' and not
"sic" and can lie comfortably on their
"backs" in the morning and not have
to do with a ''bac."
A change of wide effect is that of
dropping the final after a single con-
sonant preceded by a short vowel or
by any stressed vowel whose sound is
not conveniently associated with the
silent final e. This makes strangers of
such old friends as "have," which be-
comes "hav," and live" forgive"
"misgive" and even "are, ,"'"gone' and
'were."
"Heart" Is Broken.
When the two vowels ca come to-
gether and are pronounced as long a
before r the rule is to drop the e. This
rule literally breaks the heart and
leaves it "hart." Hearth" become
"harth."
Final ew, which appears in many
words like "blew," "grew," "chew''
and threw" is changed to u, so the
simplified spoilers will write, 1.-THE
wind blu" When it comes to conju-
eating verbs ending in ew, like "brew,"
they are undaunted and will say, 81
bru" and then 81 brued" and 81 have
brued." Simplified spoilers who have
been accustomed to "chew" tobacco
will now simply "chu" it and confess
that they "chued" it.
, Another is lost in words ending in
ey as an unstressed syllable which
sounds like Y. Attorney" becomes
"attorny," and donkey" is "donky."
This will affect turkey" trot by max
ing it the ''turky" trot and possibly
raising 1t in the eyes of the simplified
spoilers
Then there are to be no more IF end
ings. One f is considered enough.
American "bluff" will be American
"bluf," and the "gruff'' man who gets
in huff must simply be ''gruf" and
have "huf." The law suffers here de-
cidedly with the PLAINTIFF only "plain-
tiff" and the sheriff" falling to "sherif." /"
Oh Becomes r.
Where gh is pronounced as f the
board rules that it shall be written f,
and where gh is silent both letters are
dropped. Laugh" becomes '1af," and
the noun is "lafter." The "cough" is
"cof," and enough" is "enuf." Where
gh is silent, as in Caught and "aught," )"
the words become simple "caut" and
"aut"
When gn is pronounced like n, is
to be dropped, as in ''gnaw" and "gnos-
tic." Where gn is pronounced like
Elm, as in "reign" and "deign," the g
is to be dropped. Thus an unhappy
monarch might "fein" to ''rein."
Likewise, when KIN starts a word,
like "knife," the is dropped. Thus
people would "neel" in church, and the
: housewife would mead" the dough
The k is kept In know and knowledge
One of the final II is dropped, also
making great change In many COM
mon words and making many of them
puzzling. A prisoner in "cel" would
Il. = 80