Gruadain editoryal tooday...
The absurdities of English spelling are familiar enough. Or shud that be enuff? Most of us admit we are embarrassed when we spell it embarassed and know that we are pompous about acommodating other people's erors. A poll for the
English spelling society, which would like the rules relaxed at least to admit alternatives, found most people were irritated to read misspelled words, even in the informality of the internet. This is a mystery. It is our language and we can spell it how we want. Texters happily use abbreviations and phonetics. In the 19th century the admirable American lexicographer
Noah Webster just rewrote the rules. He said he wanted to rescue the native tongue from the clamour of pedantry (he blamed the English aristocracy) which is why plough is plow, centre is center and colour became color. Irregular spelling,
it is claimed, contributes to the high level of illiteracy in the UK, while phonetic languages like Italian and, apparently, Finnish not only have no problem with dyslexia, they don't even have a word for it. In Cloud Atlas, David Mitchell develops an entirely plausible form of spelling some future version of English. The critics claim that it would mean different spellings in Newcastle and Bristol. But go to India or Africa and it is clear the Anglophone world is already divided not only by pronunciation but by usage. In an increasingly homogenous world, the moment has come to step back where we can from uniformity and let in variety and simplicity.
Back to thread: have the "Army" not done this before, when Aunty's Dens of Correction were full to bursting? ISTR places like Beckingham, Westdown Camp, Knook, and others such places being pressed into service as temporary nicks and being staffed by military type police, PTI's and other such applicable spare bods.