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How come the English never tried for a spelling reform? Such reforms were implemented both in Sweden and Germany to simplify spelling. Like the article says, be
by bjourne 7y ago
How come the English never tried for a spelling reform? Such reforms were implemented both in Sweden and Germany to simplify spelling. Like the article says, bear really should be spelled bair.
- jcranmer 7y agoWe have tried spelling reform, at least a dozen times. They tend not to stick, however, perhaps in large part because radical changes that impact the spelling of nearly every single word tend to engender a lot of resistance. Smaller changes (such as changing hiccough to hiccup in American English, or through to thru) are more successful.
- gruez 7y agoGood luck getting the Americans, Canadians, British, Indians, and Australians to all agree on something.
- jsolson 7y agoI mean, we already disagree on spelling for some words, the name for the letter 'Z', and what to call dwellings in multi-family properties, so we're not off to a great start...
- bjourne 7y agoWhen the German spelling reform was enacted in the German Empire in 1902, German was spoken in many countries outside of it. In fact, it rivaled English as the Lingua franca for the scientific world.
- the_svd_doctor 7y agoMaybe because English doesn’t have a “central authority” as opposed to for instance French with the Academie Francaise? That makes reforms difficult/impossible.
- StavrosK 7y agoI disagree, "bear" should be spelled "bear" and "air" should be spelled "ear". "Ear" should be spelled "iar". Basically, a phonetic alphabet.