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The crazy thing about English is that some of the various crazy spellings were decided on a long time ago as a way to distinguish the linguistic origin of words
by toasterlovin 8y ago
The crazy thing about English is that some of the various crazy spellings were decided on a long time ago as a way to distinguish the linguistic origin of words (Greek vs. Latin vs. French, basically) for a reading audience that was highly educated, and in the 800 years since then nobody ever engaged in a systematic campaign of spelling reform.
In some ways, I think this reveals a lot about Anglosphere culture.
- dorchadas 8y agoTo be fair, several people actually have tried to reform English spelling [1]. Perhaps the most famous of these, at least in America, was Noah Webster (of Webster's Dictionary fame) in the 1800s. He's actually the reason Americans use 'color' over 'colour' and 'center' over 'centre'. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English-language_spelling_reform#19th_century https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English-language_spelling_refo...
- nerfhammer 8y agoYou're forgetting Webster, responsible for American spellings like colour vs color, centre vs center, gaol vs jail.