JumpStart by Robb Armstrong for December 19, 2012

Actually if enough idiots use the same mistake here it gets taken as a sign that the word has changed – that or imo the people in charge of the dictionaries are incredibly lazy at their work in regards to promoting the language.

@Prof danglais – And you can’t believe what a minefield it can be for us foreigners.

I think we should go and change the spelling on all the words I mean you say rather and father the same. I sure would help get through schools . Can spend more time on math and reading but good joke

Wensday is only 3 days before Satday.

I don’t think I’m ready to risk making Wotan mad at us.

Sounds right; looks very wrong.

Wensday, the day of the week to break out with ‘wens’

wen (noun)A harmless cyst, especially on the scalp or face, containing the fatty secretion of a sebaceous gland.

ghostkeeper: It has to do with how we get words. French turn it over to the Academy who, a decade or so later, decide if it is a legal French word. German (from whence your examples come) describe it in as few words as possible, knock out the spaces, and have a single, incredibly long word. English looks around to see who already has such a word, and steals it. Since most languages use the Latin alphabet, they keep the same spelling (at least for awhile) and mispronounce it horribly. The transition period is anarchy.

Melville Dewey (or as he wrote it, Melvil Dui, of Decimal System fame) tried to start movement in the late 19th century. Teddy Roosevelt was an adherent.

English spelling is morphogenetic rather than phonetic. I.E., the “shape” (spelling) of the words reflects its origen rather than its pronunciation. It is interesting to note that, in phonetic spelling countries, ability to spell is frequently a test of minimal mental competency.

I love it!!

Oh sure, why not? Nothing means anything anymore. Wear your jammies to shop in, don’t know the basic three ‘Rs’, in debt up to our eyebrows, partying hearty and not worrying our pretty little heads about the rest of the world caving and/or gearing up their nukes… What the heck difference does a little cheaping out in spelling matter?

I think it was Thomas Jefferson who said, “Any man who cannot find more the two ways to spell a word is lazy.”

a point, if we were to spell english as it is pronounced, then we need to ask as pronounced by whom? You would end up with very different spellings in Perth, York, Alabama, Pretoria, etc.

I’m with you on this one, Jojo.

Fredd13: The first d is pronounced in Canada.

1. The ‘d’ in Wednesday is not supposed to be silent.

2. Teddy Roosevelt, not Noah Webster, is responsible for the “Americanization” of Draught/Draft, Colour/Color, Cheque/Check; and other such occurences.