Academics say the darndest things!
From The Times Online (UK),
John Wells, Emeritus Professor of Phonetics at University College London and president of the Spelling Society, will use the society’s centenary dinner this week to call for a “freeing up” of English spelling.
“The teaching of literacy in schools is a major worry. It seems highly likely that one of the reasons Britain and other English-speaking countries have problems with literacy is because of our spelling and the burden it places on children.
It doesn’t seem to bother him that his proposal would spell (sorry) the end of the 100 year-old Spelling Society.
Anyway, check out this nice bit of humor courtesy of the article’s author, Alexandra Frean,
“Let’s allow people greater freedom to spell logically,” he said. “It’s time to remove the fetish that says that correct spelling is a principal (principle?) mark of being educated.” Professor Wells pointed towards the emerging technologies that are leading to a reevaluation of spelling, saying: “Text messaging, e-mail and internet chat rooms are showing us the way forward for English.”
Befor u no it, this wil b coming1 tu a skool neer u.
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1 The phonetic spelling of this word presents a hermeneutical problem.
