Why Do Protesters Gather at the Spelling Bee?

[Pattonias]

There are protesters for everything now-a-days.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/04/AR2010060403296.html"

A tiny group of activists for phonetic spelling gathered again Friday outside the Scripps National Spelling Bee at the downtown Grand Hyatt.

 

[Evo]

I saw that, rihdickyoulus!

Sure, let's not try to make people learn, let's just dumb everything down. While we're at it, I say no numbers higher than ten or lower than 0 'cause I've only got ten fingers and I wear shoes.

 

[Mu naught]

I think this is ridikyoolus.

 

[waht]

yeah lol

If they got their way, "you" would become "yoo," "believe" would become "beleeve" and "said" would become "sed."

The cost of clinging to traditional spellings, they say, is millions of illiterate English speakers who struggle to read signs or get good jobs, and billions of dollars in lost productivity.

 

[Pattonias]

How much would spelling change from one accent to another?

 

[Proton Soup]

to make things as simple as possible, i propose that each word have it's own character.

 

[Evo]

If they are too dumb to spell, I don't think dumbing down the language will make them a candidate for a good job.

 

[leroyjenkens]

They're saying it's too difficult to learn to spell English words? Then why would they protest outside of a building that's full of elementary school kids who have mastered it?
They must all be parents of kids who couldn't cut it in the spelling bee.

 

[CompuChip]

Ai em from abroth.
Hau dus det impect my spelling?

 

[Evo]

to make things as simple as possible, i propose that each word have it's own character.

Kind of like Chinese? now, that's an easy language.

 

[Noxide]

What's wrong with making communication as simple as possible? Think organic chemistry.

 

[BobG]

I saw that, rihdickyoulus!

Sure, let's not try to make people learn, let's just dumb everything down. While we're at it, I say no numbers higher than ten or lower than 0 'cause I've only got ten fingers and I wear shoes.

Heh! It's summer! Take your shoes off!

 

[Proton Soup]

Kind of like Chinese? now, that's an easy language.

exactly like chinese, yes.

as for problem speelers, sometimes it's a reflection of the laziness of the student. other times, i think it may show a lack of some brain hardware. I've got a neighbor who can't read at all, and another guy who was salutatorian at my high school was a terrible speller, but now teaches college math, so...

 

[DanP]

There are protesters for everything now-a-days.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/04/AR2010060403296.html"

We call them attention whores.

 

[Tedjn]

Wouldn't that be attention hores? Or however else it should be spelled

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

I don't think that spelling is an important skill. As for phonetic spelling, I have posted this several times already. It is not for sure that Twain actually wrote it, but it is usually ascribed to him.

A Plan for the Improvement of English Spelling
by Mark Twain

For example, in Year 1 that useless letter "c" would be dropped to be replased either by "k" or "s", and likewise "x" would no longer be part of the alphabet. The only kase in which "c" would be retained would be the "ch" formation, which will be dealt with later. Year 2 might reform "w" spelling, so that "which" and "one" would take the same konsonant, wile Year 3 might well abolish "y" replasing it with "i" and Iear 4 might fiks the "g/j" anomali wonse and for all.

Jenerally, then, the improvement would kontinue iear bai iear with Iear 5 doing awai with useless double konsonants, and Iears 6-12 or so modifaiing vowlz and the rimeining voist and unvoist konsonants. Bai Iear 15 or sou, it wud fainali bi posibl tu meik ius ov thi ridandant letez "c", "y" and "x" -- bai now jast a memori in the maindz ov ould doderez -- tu riplais "ch", "sh", and "th" rispektivli.

Fainali, xen, aafte sam 20 iers ov orxogrefkl riform, wi wud hev a lojikl, kohirnt speling in ius xrewawt xe Ingliy-spiking werld.

 

[xxChrisxx]

If they are going for phonetics, why not just have text speak? I mean why spell won/one whatever when you can put 1.

then u cn talk lk this & no1 cud say itz rong

 

[Pattonias]

If they are going for phonetics, why not just have text speak? I mean why spell won/one whatever when you can put 1.

then u cn talk lk this & no1 cud say itz rong

I would move to China or India. If we made that change to our vocabulary, no one could argue that the United States was no longer the world's most powerful country. We would be living in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idiocracy" .

 

[xxChrisxx]

My only 2 main irrational peeves with US words are.

Airplane. It's aeroplane. And aluminium. I know both spellings are accepted equally now)

I'm fine with you lot using z where s should be used, or omitting the u from colour and armour etc. But the above 2 really wind me up for some reason.

Oh and whilst I'm at it it's a pain in the bloody arse that you all still use ******* imperial units for engineering work, makes my job so much harder.[/rant] I know it's off topic, but meh.

EDIT: I'm very sorry about this, I seem to be venting a lot today.

 

[Office_Shredder]

My only 2 main irrational peeves with US words are.

Airplane. It's aeroplane. And aluminium. I know both spellings are accepted equally now)

I'm fine with you lot using z where s should be used, or omitting the u from colour and armour etc. But the above 2 really wind me up for some reason.

Oh and whilst I'm at it it's a pain in the bloody arse that you all still use ******* imperial units for engineering work, makes my job so much harder.


[/rant] I know it's off topic, but meh.

I find it slightly amusing that you rail at the US for changing the spelling of words, and for not changing the units of measurements.


Also

"I think right now the young people are sending us a text message," said protester Roberta Mahoney, a former Fairfax County school principal who was dressed in a yellow-and-black-striped bumble bee costume. "They're saying enough of this foolishness."

Really dude? You have an opportunity to say anything through the national media and that's what you choose? Way to discredit your cause

 

[xxChrisxx]

I find it slightly amusing that you rail at the US for changing the spelling of words, and for not changing the units of measurements.

I don't mind you changing words I acutally have no problem with any of it. Airplane and aluminum just grate on my nerves for some reason. It's totally irrational I know and I don't know why they do.

 

[DanP]

I would move to China or India. If we made that change to our vocabulary, no one could argue that the United States was no longer the world's most powerful country. We would be living in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idiocracy" .

You'll regret the "1s" soon enough after living in Communist regime. Appreciate what you have, idiocracy or not :P

 

[lisab]

My only 2 main irrational peeves with US words are.

Airplane. It's aeroplane. And aluminium. I know both spellings are accepted equally now)

I'm fine with you lot using z where s should be used, or omitting the u from colour and armour etc. But the above 2 really wind me up for some reason.

Oh and whilst I'm at it it's a pain in the bloody arse that you all still use ******* imperial units for engineering work, makes my job so much harder.


[/rant] I know it's off topic, but meh.

EDIT: I'm very sorry about this, I seem to be venting a lot today.

Well I do agree with you on the units .

 

[Char. Limit]

My only 2 main irrational peeves with US words are.

Airplane. It's aeroplane. And aluminium. I know both spellings are accepted equally now)

I'm fine with you lot using z where s should be used, or omitting the u from colour and armour etc. But the above 2 really wind me up for some reason.

Oh and whilst I'm at it it's a pain in the bloody arse that you all still use ******* imperial units for engineering work, makes my job so much harder.


[/rant] I know it's off topic, but meh.

EDIT: I'm very sorry about this, I seem to be venting a lot today.

I disagree with your idea that we should use aluminium over aluminum. First, aluminum is easier to say than the awkward-sounding aluminium. Second, it's easier to write. Third, it's older, and fourth, we're the world's superpower, so what we say goes (commonly known as the "Bullying Argument").

Four reasons, and the first three are even logical!

 

[xxChrisxx]

I disagree with your idea that we should use aluminium over aluminum. First, aluminum is easier to say than the awkward-sounding aluminium. Second, it's easier to write. Third, it's older, and fourth, we're the world's superpower, so what we say goes (commonly known as the "Bullying Argument").

Four reasons, and the first three are even logical!

IUPAC has adopted aluminium as the official name for the element.
The suffix for many other metals are almost universally -ium. It's not lithum, beryllum. Sodum is it? Why is this different? I think the only others are molybdenum and platinum.

It's easier to say? An extra syllable can't be that perplexing :P

 

[Pattonias]

IUPAC has adopted aluminium as the official name for the element.
The suffix for many other metals are almost universally -ium. It's not lithum, beryllum. Sodum is it? Why is this different?

It's easier to say? An extra syllable can't be that perplexing :P

Because aluminum is cool and wanted to be different. He gets to keep beer cold too.

 

[xxChrisxx]

Because aluminum is cool and wanted to be different. He gets to keep beer cold too.

Agrument... ACCEPTED! A trendy element that breaks from convention.

I'm goign to have to be mega sad now and google the periodic table to see what ether elements break the convention.

 

[Ben Niehoff]

-ize is the original spelling for verbs borrowed from Greek (-ise appears in a few words that are NOT from Greek). British spelling was later changed to -ise, possibly because the Brits couldn't keep their etymology straight and wanted to appear more French.

 

[xxChrisxx]

Brits couldn't keep their etymology straight and wanted to appear more French.

Probably becuse we were invaded by them. It's why English is such a horrid mess of languages, we were constantly invaded.

 

[D H]

It's not lithum, beryllum.

How about platinum, molybdenum, lanthanum, and tantalum? You want to rename those also? How about renaming bismuth, cobalt, copper, iron, manganese, nickel, silver, tin, tungsten?

Aluminum is the older of aluminium and aluminum (but lumium predates both).