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Academics versus Spelling
Aug. 11th, 2008 02:39 pmAt least one serious academic believes that it's time to start accepting some common misspellings as "varients".
Now, many of you who read my writing know that I'm already taking point on the spelling of such words as "thru", "tho", "altho", "exercize", etc. This is partly because I'm an American, and if Noah Webster could take on some spelling anachronisms and call his editing "American English", so can I.
The article includes several British spellings which Americans have already forsworn: "misspelt" instead of "misspelled", "learnt" instead of "learned".
But the height of chutzpah was illustrated by the chief lexicographer:
Yes, the pedant just said that about English.
Now, many of you who read my writing know that I'm already taking point on the spelling of such words as "thru", "tho", "altho", "exercize", etc. This is partly because I'm an American, and if Noah Webster could take on some spelling anachronisms and call his editing "American English", so can I.
The article includes several British spellings which Americans have already forsworn: "misspelt" instead of "misspelled", "learnt" instead of "learned".
But the height of chutzpah was illustrated by the chief lexicographer:
John Simpson, the chief editor of the Oxford English Dictionary, says rules are rules and they are there for good reason.
"There are enormous advantages in having a coherent system of spelling," he told the Times newspaper.
Yes, the pedant just said that about English.
