> What's really absurd about English is the contempt for diacritical marks. Not just English, but also Chinese. Pinyin was originally specified as having marks

> What's really absurd about English is the contempt for diacritical marks. Not just English, but also Chinese. Pinyin was originally specified as having marks over the vowels: āáǎà ēéěè īíǐì ōóǒò ūúǔù üǖǘǚǜ But although you see pinyin used a lot in mainland China alongside Chinese characters, you virtually never see those diacritics, just: a e i o u v where v is used instead of ü.