this post was submitted on 11 Apr 2024
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Building Solidarity - One Word at a Time

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When was the last time English spelling was updated? (hexbear.net)
submitted 7 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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I almost feel like English should start from scratch with spelling, There are basically no consistent rules at all. I think we should assign spelling to kindergartners who actually follow the rules of English and spell things like they should be spelled.

Quinoa -> Keen-wa

Ballet -> Baal-Eh

Design -> De-zine

etc.

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 7 months ago

I'd love to witness the chaos if English switched to IPA for spelling because of all the differences in accent and regional pronunciation.

I feel like it would fragment written English into something that is borderline mutually-unintelligible between different regions.

If you've ever read any old English writing that hasn't been edited to reflect modernised spelling but instead it's a wild mess lacking standardisation that you sorta have to read aloud as you sound out the words to make sense of them, like a kid learning to read, I think that's what it would devolve into.

It would be super neat to have someone whose native written script is the IPA too - it would be fascinating to see how that shapes the way they see the world.