Oh look.

[conuly]

An article on why we should reform English orthography.

Now, do you think there's a sensible comment in the lot? Do you think anybody commenting there has any idea of how language works? Because if you do, you're in for a shock!

No, it's all "Oh, you want to dumb down the language" and "Oh, obviously my variety is better than yours because yours is wrong" and "Oh, you must hate English". Blah, blah, blah. If people will persist in being ignorant all the time, can't they at least be ignorant in different ways?

Comments

[janewilliams20]

I took a quick skim, thinking "how bad can it be?" and found the Chaucer quote. Sadly, I then found someone who couldn't understand the Chaucer quote (sigh).

Let me save you the pain.

Ye knowe eek, that in forme of speche is chaunge
Withinne a thousand yeer, and wordes tho
That hadden prys, now wonder nyce and straunge
Us thinketh hem; and yet they spake hem so,
And spedde as wel in love as men now do;
Eek for to winne love in sondry ages,
In sondry londes, sondry ben usages

Book 2 of Troilus and Criseyde, apparently.

[conuly]

I posted that quote. I expected that those ninnies wouldn't get it.

[janewilliams20]

Oh, that was you? Sorry, didn't recognise the shortened nickanme.

[conuly]

Actually, Conuly is a long version of Uly, which is short for Ulyyf. (Don't ask how to say it.)

[janewilliams20]

I won't, but I'd be interested to know the derivation.

[conuly]

Basically it boils down to "I was 16, and I liked how it looked".

[conuly]

(And very few people understand it today, unless it's translated! That's as it should be, of course.)

[janewilliams20]

Really? It seemed pretty clear to me, and I'm no expert linguist - stopped studying English at 16, and the Chaucer we did in school didn't cover that bit.