I accept that language is an evolving, complex thing.  Heck, I took some linguistic classes in college.  I'm aware that modern American English is very different from modern British English, which is different from Middle English, which is different from Ye Auld English, which is different from German, which is different from High German, which is different from Low German, and now I'm getting silly.

But I think that's the point.

I'm not a linguist by any stretch of the imagination, but I am a lover of words.  Words like "ever" and "enough" and "ought".  And, while, like any dumbass using the interwebz, I will occassionally use words like, well, interwebz, I also recognize the difference between "ever" and "evah" - as a cultural inflection.

Which is why, to the four dumbasses in DC, I say, "No."

Four peaceful protesters, some dressed in full-length black and yellow bee costumes, represented the American Literacy Council and the London-based Spelling Society and stood outside the Grand Hyatt on Thursday, where the Scripps National Spelling Bee is being held. Their message was short: Simplify the way we spell words.

Roberta Mahoney, 81, a former Fairfax County, Va. elementary school principal, said the current language obstructs 40 percent of the population from learning how to read, write and spell.

"Our alphabet has 425-plus ways of putting words together in illogical ways," Mahoney said.

The protesting cohort distributed pins to willing passers-by with their logo, "Enuf is enuf. Enough is too much."

According to literature distributed by the group, it makes more sense for "fruit" to be spelled as "froot," "slow" should be "slo," and "heifer" — a word spelled correctly during the first oral round of the bee Thursday by Texas competitor Ramesh Ghanta — should be "hefer."

I guess all I have to say to that is - fr srsly?

H/T to my husband's Facechimp page.  I hate it when he beats me to a good story.

Posted by: Ember at 05:28 PM | Comments (25) | Add Comment
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