As it took me about 15 minutes and two tylenol to read this, I will summerize it briefly.
People want the English language in America to be more phonetic and easy. Apparently, in other countries it only takes the span of a few weeks to master the spelling as opposed to the US, where it supposedly takes years.
This article details the people called for words to be spelled 'enuf' instead of enough, hoo instead of who, cuud in place of could, abd so on..
And for some reason, roet makes more sense to these people than the spelling rote.
I seriously hope that this shit fades away again... mean, it was fairly lauding the internet shorthand and the shortcuts people use on cell phone... l8r, u, y, bc, and so on.
One quote from the article sums up the motivation, I think:
quote:
Thae sae th bee selebraets th ability of a fue stoodents to master a dificult sistem that stumps meny utherz hoo cuud do just as wel if speling were simpler.
If that gives you too much of a headache, what I think it is saying is:
"They say the bee celebrates the ability of a few students to master a difficult system that stumps many others who could do just as well if spelling were simpler."
I think that is just more of the lowering of standards to make the less motivated feel the warm and fuzzies.
They can be tolerant of my intolerence then 
These people need to grow the fuck up and stop whining. Not everyone will be able to read and write without difficulty. Some of it is caused by a natural difficulty to pick up the language, and some of it is caused by an unwillingness to learn the fuckin language.
Also people are forgetting that these words will only be pronounced phonetically to English speakers. If "tsunami" is spelled "tsoonahmy" then how the hell are people from other languages supposed to learn that shit!? Half of English is adopted from other languages, which is why we can't just go ahead and spell things however we want to. Fazum'Zen Fastfist fucked around with this message on 07-07-2006 at 12:41 PM.
"Don't want to sound like a fanboy, but I am with you. I'll buy it for sure, it's just a matter of for how long I will be playing it..."
- Silvast, Battle.net forums
Whatever happened to the idea that hard work reaps its own rewards? Nowadays it is all about 'OMG IT IS TOO HARD I WANT EVERYTHING FOR FREE~!'
Yeah, I pissed off a lot of others in my section by being promoted faster than them. I fucking worked for it. That is why I am an E4 when they are still E2 and E3 
The system is not broken. YOU ARE!
Erm... I got a little off topic there. It is not like I am bitter or anything ;P
It is by caffeine alone I set my mind in motion. It is by the beans of Java the thoughts aquire speed, the teeth acquire stains, the stains become a warning. It is by caffeine alone I set my mind in motion.
Seriously, they're asking for the english language to be turned into the stuff that roleplaying Trolls and Ogres would spout in EQ.
quote:
BetaTested stopped staring at Deedlit long enough to write:
We should convince them to lobby for news speak instead.
What the hell is news speak?
Under capitalism, man exploits man. Under communism, it's just the opposite. - John Kenneth Galbraith
quote:
Led had this to say about Optimus Prime:
Nevermind the fact that spelling phonetically does jack shit when people from different parts of the country have completely different accents.Whatever happened to the idea that hard work reaps its own rewards? Nowadays it is all about 'OMG IT IS TOO HARD I WANT EVERYTHING FOR FREE~!'
Yeah, I pissed off a lot of others in my section by being promoted faster than them. I fucking worked for it. That is why I am an E4 when they are still E2 and E3
The system is not broken. YOU ARE!
Erm... I got a little off topic there. It is not like I am bitter or anything ;P
Well there are languages which are spelled phonetically (and people on the internet actually write incorrectly in those too, so much for that) out there so this is not all that revolutionary, however remaking the whole English language would be such an incredibly expensive and time-consuming task that doing anything like this would have to yeld unfathomable benefits to be worthwhile, this idea does not.
Also 'hard work' has no value in itself, it sucks pretty much by definition, only as means to an end is engaging in it anything but masochism. Making things more efficient is a good thing, I don't see you bitching that people are using cars because they are too lazy to run.
quote:
Karnaj's account was hax0red to write:
I think he means Newspeak.
Been a while since I read the book
quote:
This one time, at Mod camp:
Also 'hard work' has no value in itself, it sucks pretty much by definition, only as means to an end is engaging in it anything but masochism. Making things more efficient is a good thing, I don't see you bitching that people are using cars because they are too lazy to run.
It's not really similar to just driving over walking. It'd be more akin to going through a ridiculous amount of work to get a car (working an extra job for a substantial amount of time, jumping through hoops for financing, etc) for an absurdly miniscule and largely insignificant result amount of driving (across the street a few times a week).
quote:
Verily, the chocolate bunny rabbits doth run and play while Mod gently hums:
Well there are languages which are spelled phonetically (and people on the internet actually write incorrectly in those too, so much for that) out there so this is not all that revolutionary, however remaking the whole English language would be such an incredibly expensive and time-consuming task that doing anything like this would have to yeld unfathomable benefits to be worthwhile, this idea does not.Also 'hard work' has no value in itself, it sucks pretty much by definition, only as means to an end is engaging in it anything but masochism. Making things more efficient is a good thing, I don't see you bitching that people are using cars because they are too lazy to run.
There's also the fact that, unlike some other languages--French, for example--there is no "Modern Standard English" or a governing body that determines what is correct and what isn't in terms of daily usage. There are groups such as the MLA who set standards for academic usage, but that's not the same thing. So even if someone decided it was a good idea, there's no governing body to implement a change, and no standard from which to deviate.
If enough people start following these bizarre conventions, then they will over time become the norm. In America, at least; I'm not sure whether British English has a body analogous to the Académie française.
--Satan, quoted by John Milton
And the circle of life shall continue.
quote:Have you been practicing your doublethink?
BetaTested really knows where their towel is...
Been a while since I read the book
quote:
Led attempted to be funny by writing:
I miss the old days, when people with stupid ideas as such were told to shut the fuck up. Now replaced by the current system, where we all have to be 'tolerant' of mongoloids.They can be tolerant of my intolerence then
Well then, allow me to be the first to be tolerant of your "mongoloid" comprehension of how language works.
Language, contrary to popular opinion, is NOT a static thing. It never has been. People who speak the language didn't just decide one day that "Old English" sucked and they weren't going to use it anymore. It's a popular half-myth that American forefathers encouraged a different spelling of words from the British spelling (they apparently did encourage it, but if you look at letters from the period, people were essentially spelling things more or less however they liked). And even so, it failed to really change anything but spelling (colour to color, armour to armor, etc). The grammar of the language is heavily based on Germanic roots; a popular saying is that English is German Grammar, Latin vocabulary.
But language changed constantly. There are words that start as slang that end up as "official" words. (Look at the origins of the word "crap" for instance.) That's why we have to constantly release new dictionaries. Oxford and Webster more or less get together every year or every few years and decide what words will end up in the language.
Also keep in mind that moreso than most languages (with the exception of German; remember what I said about how German rules get mixed into our language) we create new words at the drop of a hat that are all-important...for about ten minutes. Mainly we do it by tacking prefixes and suffixes together into frankenstein-like terms such as "technophile" and abbreviated phrases like "e-mail" (which is now mutating into "email").
Grammar changes too. When I was a kid, it was forbidden to start a sentence with "And". Now it's considered a mild faux pas, but it's not a sin. Keep in mind that a lot of people improperly use their/they're/there, to/too/two, and still think "a lot" is one word.
The big issue, ultimately, is that French, Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian are all based on one language: Latin. Ours is derivative of pretty much every language. Words like "tsunami" don't have origins in Britain, after all.
If you take anything from my examples, however, it should be that this is a GRADUAL process. When the MLA meets to discuss changes to grammar, it is a slow and arduous process. Their job is to retain languages. No one is going to wake up one day and change all the rules. You can relax.
sigpic courtesy of This Guy, original modified by me
The purpose of language is to communicate ideas. Changes to language which further this purpose are fine; changes to language which do not are very, very bad. Phonetic spelling doesn't make the language any better at it's intended purpose, it just makes it easier to be lazy and uneducated.
quote:
Delphi Aegis had this to say about Captain Planet:
In 2070, when "pr0n" is the correct spelling worldwide for pornography, some internet geek shall think himself clever by mis-spelling it "p0rn".And the circle of life shall continue.
pRn
quote:
There was much rejoicing when DrPaintThinner said this:
pRn
P
