RE: (OT) The Chaos

Subject: RE: (OT) The Chaos
From: "McLauchlan, Kevin" <Kevin -dot- McLauchlan -at- safenet-inc -dot- com>
To: David Neeley <dbneeley -at- gmail -dot- com>, TECHWR-L <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>
Date: Mon, 1 Feb 2010 17:18:06 -0500


David Neeley uttered, subversively:

>
> Somehow, I had never before stumbled upon the poem titled "The Chaos"
> which includes some 800 notoriously difficult and irregular spellings
> in English. It is practically guaranteed to boggle the mind of anyone
> studying English as a foreign language--and is ample testament to the
> need for substantial spelling reform.
>
> I hope you find it as fascinating as I have:
>
> <http://www.spellingsociety.org/journals/j17/caos.php>
>

Relentless, wasn't he...

Many, you just have to shake your head.

Some you can see how they came from (mostly) the French and then got variously mangled.

Some are just dirty-rotten-nasty. Like "groats" ("grits" aw, c'mon). But then the work was written by a Brit, and those'd be the same folk who can read Cholmondeley and have the gall to say it Chumly. And don't get me started on Wooster...

I sometimes imagine a group of Brits, having sunk a keg too many, deciding something like:

"Well lads. It seems those Frogs have wrapped up the practice of not bothering to pronounce multi-letter endings of words. What say we get our lot in the habit of leaving out middles, then? Buy 'em a couple of pints, and they're well on their way!"

I'm reasonably literate, so I know a lot of the actual pronunciations (many from smaller collections and explanations of the sort (not usually in rhyme), but I'd still embarass myself badly in England. "Sinj'nsmith" for "Saint-John Smythe", indeed!

But then, we know of groups that go the other way.
I once knew a fellow from the deep(ish) south of the USofA.
His name was Dale.
His mother pronounced it with (I'm pretty sure...) five syllables.


- Kevin (Canajun, eh?)_
The information contained in this electronic mail transmission
may be privileged and confidential, and therefore, protected
from disclosure. If you have received this communication in
error, please notify us immediately by replying to this
message and deleting it from your computer without copying
or disclosing it.


^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Are you looking for one documentation tool that does it all? Author,
build, test, and publish your Help files with just one easy-to-use tool.
Try the latest Doc-To-Help 2009 v3 risk-free for 30-days at:
http://www.doctohelp.com/

Explore CAREER options and paths related to Technical Writing,
learn to create SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS documents, and
get tips on FUNCTIONAL SPECIFICATION best practices. Free at:
http://www.ModernAnalyst.com

---
You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as archive -at- web -dot- techwr-l -dot- com -dot-

To unsubscribe send a blank email to
techwr-l-unsubscribe -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
or visit http://lists.techwr-l.com/mailman/options/techwr-l/archive%40web.techwr-l.com


To subscribe, send a blank email to techwr-l-join -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com

Send administrative questions to admin -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot- Visit
http://www.techwr-l.com/ for more resources and info.

Please move off-topic discussions to the Chat list, at:
http://lists.techwr-l.com/mailman/listinfo/techwr-l-chat


Follow-Ups:

Previous by Author: Re: Unset? Can that be a verb?
Next by Author: Need a word for...
Previous by Thread: RE: Word 2003 vs Word 2007 question
Next by Thread: RE: (OT) The Chaos


What this post helpful? Share it with friends and colleagues:


Sponsored Ads