Spelling (1)
English is one of the worst languages to spell; and there are good reasons behind this which we'll write about later
But for now, here are a couple of examples:
Fish'n'chips
How to spell fish
George Bernard Shaw wrote a London Times article when he was campaigning for spelling reform. He gave the following example:
- If gh is pronounced f as in enough
- If o is pronounced i as in women
- If th is pronounced sh as in motion
- Then the correct way to spell fish should be ghoti
How to spell potato
Many people remember way back in 1992, when the then Vice-President Dan Quayle's image was unfairly destroyed by a simple spelling mistake. At the Luis Munoz Rivera School he 'helped' a 12-year old student spell the word potato. Although the student had already spelt1 the word correctly, Quayle added an "e" to the end of the word. Not that it matters one jot of course, there are much more important things for a vice-president to worry about; like himself and the president being voted out of office a few months later.
So, if you have difficulty spelling sometimes, take heart - your not a loan!
Here's yet another alternative spelling of potato:
- If gh is pronounced p as in hiccough
- If ough is pronounced o as in dough
- If phth is pronounced t as in phthisis
- If eigh is pronounced a as in neighbour
- If tte is pronounced t as in gazette
- If eau is pronounced o as in beau
- Then the correct way to spell potato should be ghoughphtheightteeau
1 : 'Spelt' - British English, 'Spelled' - American English. Take your pick!
