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Simpler Spelling
Word of the Day
Archive of Discussions
January-March 2013

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Sunday, March 31, 2013:  "parengkima" for "parenchyma"

The spelling of this scientific word is misleading in a number of ways. First, the Y suggests a long-I sound, whereas the sound is actually short-I. Second, the NK looks as tho the two letters should be pronounced entirely separately, with no NG-sound intruded between them, whereas there actually is an NG-sound. Third, the CH represents not the CH-sound (as in "church"), but a simple K-sound, so should be written as a K. Putting this all together, we get: "parengkima".

Saturday, March 30, 2013:  "millyonair" for "millionaire"

LION is a word to itself, pronounced with a long-I. That is not the sound of the I here, which is a consonantal-Y. Since the sound is Y, we should write a Y.

The second problem in today's word is that the E at the end of the word adds nothing but possible confusion. Is it said as a syllable to itself, as an apparently similar E is in words like "machete", "karate", and "recipe"? No, it is not. It's just silent. Since it's silent, it shouldn't be there.

Altho some people might argue that the final-E indicates stress on the last syllable, many people stress the word on its first syllable. Nor could it be regarded as marking the prior vowel long, since AI is invariable. It doesn't have a long sound and a short sound, just one pronunciation. So let's just drop the final-E, OK?: "millyonair".
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My thanks to "Music..." for suggesting reform of today's word, tho I chose a slitely different solution.

Friday, March 29, 2013:  "gruyair" for "Gruyère"

This Food Friday, let's fix the name of a type of cheese. There are three things wrong with the present spelling.

First, it has a grave accent, but English doesn't use accents, and especially not a grave (backwards) accent. Very few people in English-speaking countries know how to type such accents over letters, so the accent has got to go.

Second, the G is capitalized for no reason. We don't capitalize "cheddar" or "cottage" cheese, so we don't need a capital for this cheese's name either.

Third, ERE looks as tho it should be pronounced with a long-E, as in "here", "austere", and "atmosphere"; but it's actually pronounced like "where", "there", and "derriere", which is less likely to be guessed by a reader. That sound is much better shown by AIR. So let's use that: "gruyair".

Thursday, March 28, 2013:  "onmass" for "en masse"

The current spelling of this phrase looks distinctly French, and inclines the reader to give it a French pronunciation, with the A taking a French, "broad"-A sound rather than the sound actually used, a regular short-A as in "at".

The present two-word phrase is never separated, so should be treated as a single word, with the space taken out.

Curiously, the E in the first word/syllable does take the French value, such that it sounds like "on", rather than "en". It is this kind of craziness that makes it almost impossible for people to learn English.

We need to minimize the possible points of confusion in all spellings. Here, that means to write "on" for the first syllable but "mass" for the second. The final-E in the present spelling ("masse") is silent, so shouldn't be there, lest some people think it is pronounced, like the E in "anemone", "catastrophe", and "finale".

People who prefer a fully French pronunciation can refuse to adopt a reformed spelling, and keep the original French. The rest of us will be glad to have some guidance rather than none: "onmass".

Wensday, March 27, 2013:  "dicottileedon" for "dicotyledon"

As spring finally starts to feel like spring in much of the United States, today's word, for the two-leaf sprouting form of most widely cultivated flowering plants, comes into its own. There are three problems with the spelling.

First, the single-T does not show the preceding-O to be short, as it is. So let's double the T.

Second, there is an unexpected Y midword that does not take the long-I sound we would ordinarily expect of such a Y ("tycoon", "myoplasty", "pyromaniac"). Rather, the sound is short-I, which is better shown by an I followed by a double consonant, here, the L.

Third, readers could easily be "led" to think the E before the D is short, whereas it is actually long. To show that, we should double the E.

Putting this all together, we get: "dicottileedon".

Tuesday, March 26, 2013:  "clandesstin" for "clandestine"

There are two problems with today's word. The first in prominence, tho not in location, is at the end of the word, where an E suggests that the preceding-I is long, whereas it is actually short. So let's get rid of that misleading-E.

The second problem is this word's very peculiar syllabic-stress pattern. It appears that it should be stressed everywhere but where it is actually to be stressed. It looks as tho the first and third syllables should be stressed (kláan.da.stìen), whereas it is precisely the unsuspected second syllable that is stressed. To show that, we can simply double the S, and readers will then be cued to the correct pronunciation: "clandesstin".

Munday, March 25, 2013:  "bronz" for "bronze"

Why is there an E at the end of this word? A silent-E in such a position ordinarily signals that the preceding vowel sound is long, even after two consonants ("paste", "strange", "lathe"). But the O is short. If people read the O as short, then the only explanation some new readers will come up with is that the E is pronounced as a syllable to itself, as a long-E ("abalone", "calliope", "epitome"). But it is not a syllable to itself. It's just silent. If it's just silent, it shouldn't be there, so let's just drop it, OK?: "bronz".

Sunday, March 24, 2013:  "acrillic" for "acrylic"

Why would we use a Y to represent a short-I? Midword, Y often represents a long-I sound ("hybrid", "dynamo", "psyche"), so writing Y for a short-I is a very bad choice, for being misleading. Especially is this the case with a word that contains the letter sequence CRY, which is a word to itself pronounced with a long-I. So let's replace the Y with an I. Still, an I before a single-L could be read as long, so to show that it is short, we need to double the following-L: "acrillic".

Saturday, March 23, 2013:  "therteen" for "thirteen"

IR is ambiguous, and is pronounced with a long-E sound in a few very frequently heard and/or well-known words, like "irritate" and "Iroquois". That is not the sound here, which is the ubiquitous sound most commonly spelled ER. Let's use that: "therteen".
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My thanks to "Fisherman..." for suggesting reform of today's word, tho I chose a slitely different solution.

Friday, March 22, 2013:  "suflay" for "soufflé" and "souffle"

This Food Friday, let's fix a word from French that has two misleading spellings in it. First, there is an OU, but no OU-sound. The sound is actually a long-U, which, here, would be much more clearly shown by U.

The second problem is the accented-E. English does not use accents, and most people in English-speaking countries don't know how to type an accent over a letter, so end up spelling it "souffle", which happens to be an altogether different word, pronounced súe.fool. To show the proper pronunciation, and thus the food word intended, we need to replace the É with AY: "suflay".

Thursday, March 21, 2013:  "rondelett" for "rondelet"

Today's word for a type of poem looks French, which it once was, and thus looks as tho it should be pronounced with a long-A sound at the end, like "ballet", "crochet", and the current American preferred pronunciation of "valet". In actuality, the T is pronounced as in "varlet", "forget", and "beset". To show that plainly, we need merely double the T: "rondelett".

Wensday, March 20, 2013:  "filladendron" for "philodendron"

There are three problem areas in today's word. First is the indefensibly absurd, cumbersome, and ambiguous ("uphill", "uphold", "upholstery") two-letter rendering PH for a simple F-sound. Let's write F.

The second problem is the single-L, which renders unclear the sound of the preceding-I. Is it long or short? It's short, so we should double the L to show that.

The third problem is the O after the L. There is a tendency to try to pronounce a long-O sound for a written-O even where the sound should be a schwa. Schwa is much better rendered as an A.

Putting this all together, we get: "filladendron".

Tuesday, March 19, 2013:  "opeum" for "opium"

We have today another of those many words in which, incomprehensibly, an I is used to represent a long-E sound. If the sound is E, why would we not write an E?: "opeum".

Munday, March 18, 2013:  "moddle" for "model"

The first four letters of this word, MODE, form a word to itself, pronounced with a long-O. That is not the sound here, which is short-O. To show that, we should double the following-D. Do we then continue with the present spelling, -EL? I don't think so, because we have words like "meddle", "middle", and "muddle", that readers are accustomed to seeing. Let's follow that 'model': "moddle".
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My thanks to "Caste..." for this suggestion; I also thank "yaora..." for offering a slitely different reform.

Sunday, March 17, 2013:  "leayz" and "leayzon" for "liaise" and "liaison"

We have the same three problems with both of these related words. (a) The first-I represents a long-E sound. As with yesterday's word, why would we spell an E sound with an I? We have an E. Let's use it. (b) Altho AI is a common way of writing a long-A sound midword, here it's confusing, esp. after an I. Even if we change the first-I to E, EAI looks odd and remains confusing. AY would be a much clearer rendering of the long-A sound. And (c) the S represents a Z-sound (voiced), not an S-sound (unvoiced). Why does English so often do this, confusing the reader? We have a Z, which represents the voiced sound of the S/Z pair. If the sound is Z, we should just write Z. Finally, in "liase", the last sound is the consonant Z. We don't need an E after that sound: "leayz" and "leayzon".

Saturday, March 16, 2013:  "kwasheorkor" for "kwashiorkor"

There is one little problem in today's four-syllable word, a long-E sound represented by an I. Why would we use an I for an E-sound?: "kwasheorkor".

Friday, March 15, 2013:  "gwaranah" for "guarana"

This Food Friday, let's fix the name of an ingredient in some caffeinated beverages.

Why is a U employed for a W-sound? If the sound is that of the consonant W, and we have a letter W for that sound, we should write a W, just as we do in words like "swipe", "twin", and "kwashiorkor".

The second issue in today's word is the stress on the last syllable that is recommended by American dictionaries. An A alone does not suffice to indicate that unusual stress. We need to add an H: "gwaranah".

Thursday, March 14, 2013:  "effuze", "effuse", and "effusiv" for "effuse" and "effusive"

There are two words in today's base word. The verb has a Z-sound; the adjective, an S-sound. They should not be spelled the same. In the related adjective "effusive", the silent-E adds nothing, so should be dropped: "effuze", "effuse", and "effusiv".

Wensday, March 13, 2013:  "delv" for "delve"

We don't need a silent-E at the end of this word. Indeed, we don't really need any silent letters. So let's just drop it, OK?: "delv".

Tuesday, March 12, 2013:  "cammisole" for "camisole"

The usual guide to whether a vowel is long or short is what consonant or consonants follow. A single-M in today's word leads new readers to think the preceding-A is long, but it's actually short. To show that clearly, we should double the M: "cammisole".

Munday, March 11, 2013:  "backanailea" for "Bacchanalia"

There are four little problems with today's word. First is the needless capital letter for the ordinary word. There is a specialized sense going back centuries, for a festival in honor of the Roman god of wine, Bacchus, in which a capital-B might be appropriate. But that sense almost never comes up, and we don't need a capital letter to dignify the word's usual sense, a drunken orgy.

Second, CCH is a clumsy and inefficient way to represent a simple K-sound, one that would not be guessed by a person who hears the word said and wants to look it up in a dictionary. So let's simplify it to CK, in that it follows a short-A.

Third, the AL is ambiguous, and could be pronounced as short-A ("alabaster"), long-A (one pronunciation of "gala"), "broad"-A (another pronunciation of "gala"), or flat-A ("airmail"). It's a flat-A, so is best written AI.

Fourth, IA is a foolish way to write a combination of a long-E and schwa. Why would we write a long-E with an I?  EA makes more sense ("apnea", "area", "cornea").

Put this all together, and we get: "backanailea".

Sunday, March 10, 2013:  "aitonal" for "atonal"

An initial A represents, in many words, a schwa ("about", "around", and, most relevant here, "atone"). That is not the sound in today's word, which is a long-A. At the beginning or in the middle of a word, long-A is commonly written AI ("aid", "ailanthus"; "paid", "lain"). Let's write that here: "aitonal".

Saturday, March 9, 2013:  "tonnic" for "tonic"

The O in today's word could be long, in that there is only one N after it. Compare "tonal", which does have a long-O. Here, the O is short. To show that clearly, we need only double the N: "tonnic".

Friday, March 8, 2013:  "sorgum" for "sorghum"

This Food Friday, let's trim away a needless letter that adds nothing but confusion. What possible reason could there be for an H in this word? G before U would always be pronounced as a regular ("hard") G, without more, and that is the sound it does have in this word. GH, by contrast, might take a different sound, such as F ("laugh"), or K or KH ("lough"). Some new readers, esp. outside the old-line English-speaking countries, might even think this GH is silent, as are so many others ("sight", "though", "weigh"). This is the kind of indefensible idiocy that makes learning to read and write English so preposterously, unnecessarily difficult: "sorgum".
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My thanks to "yaora..." for this suggestion.

Thursday, March 7, 2013:  "rulodd" for "roulade"

There are two major problems with the traditional spelling of this word. First, there is an OU that represents not the OU-sound but a long-U without an initial Y-glide. After R, that sound can be shown by a simple U followed by a single consonant (since long-U after R is never pronounced with a Y-glide).

The second problem is that the ADE should, by the rules of English, contain a long-A sound, as in the suffix "-ade" (as in "lemonade"), and the words "blade", and "arcade". Instead, the vowel is short-O, as in "odd", "clod", and "plod". To show that, we could write OD or ODD. In that the word takes stress on the last syllable, ODD would be better: "rulodd".

Wensday, March 6, 2013:  "fotosinthesis" for "photosynthesis"

There are two bad areas in today's word. First, the preposterous, cumbersome, and ambiguous  ("uphill", "upholster") spelling PH for a simple F-sound has got to go. We have an F. Let's use it.

The second problem is a Y midword that represents not a long-I sound ("dynamic", "hybrid", "streptomycin"), but a short-I, which is much better shown by an I: "fotosinthesis".

Tuesday, March 5, 2013:  "moddern" for "modern"

A single-D leaves unclear the sound of the preceding-O. Is it long, as in "mode", "codex", and "rodeo"? No, it's short. To show that clearly, we need merely double the D: "moddern."

Munday, March 4, 2013:  "gerth" for "girth"

IR is ambiguous, and is sometimes seen as having a long-E sound ("irritable"). It sometimes also is seen as having a regular short-I (as in "it") in words like "iridescent" and "irradiate". Here, however, the sound is that which is most commonly written ER "ermine", "perfect", "better") or UR ("urgent", "purgatory", "blur"). To make this as clear as it can be, we should use the most common spelling for that sound, ER: "gerth".
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My thanks to "Jacke..." for suggesting reform of today's word, tho I chose a slitely different solution.

Weekend Edition

Sunday, March 3, 2013:  "esscort" for (the noun) "escort"

Today's word is one of those in which the sounds are the same but the syllabic stress differs depending on part of speech. The verb takes stress on the second syllable; the noun, on the first. Altho it is not standard practice in English to go out of our way to show syllabic stress, this is an important consideration in how people interpret a sentence on first reading. Why should people have to read a phrase twice — once wrong, then right — to know for sure what it means, in knowing whether a given word is a verb or noun, if we can just write, unambiguously, the word that could otherwise confuse the issue?: "esscort".
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My thanks to "fishstick..." for this suggestion.

Saturday, March 2, 2013:  "distinggwish" for "distinguish"

NG has multiple sounds, as in "sing", "single", "ingest", and "ingredient" (pronounced, respectively, sing, síng.gool, in.jést, and in.grée.dee.yant). We need to 'distinguish' among these possible pronunciations in each and every word. Here, we need to add a second-G, to indicate that there is a regular ("hard") G-sound in addition to the NG-sound.

The other area that needs attention in today's word is the U, which does not take either of U's ordinary sounds, long as in "pollution" and short as in "putt", but the sound of the consonant W. Why would we express a consonantal sound with a vowel? We have a W. Let's use it: "distinggwish".
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My thanks to "Bookk..." for this suggestion.

Friday, March 1, 2013:  "chapotty" for "chapati" and "chapatti"

This Food Friday, let's fix a word from Hindi that, bizarrely, takes "Continental" European values for the vowels, even tho India was part of the British Empire when this word entered the English language. It should have been expressed in English conventions from the outset, given that Hindi is not written in the roman alphabet, so any spelling would inescapably be fundamentally different from the Hindi. The sounds in English conventions would be clearest as: "chapotty".

Thursday, February 28, 2013:  "breez/y" for "breeze" and "breezy"

Surely we don't need three E's to show a long-E sound. Two will do quite nicely: "breez" and "breezy".
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My thanks to "rhod..." for this suggestion.

Wensday, February 27, 2013:  "alotrope" for "allotrope"

ALL is commonly pronounced with an AU-sound, as in the word "all" itself, and "ball", "call", "hall", etc. That is not the sound here, which is a regular short-A (as in "at"). That sound with a following L-sound is better shown by A + one L ("alabaster", "albacore", "alimony"), so let's use that: "alotrope".

Tuesday, February 26, 2013:  "toppic/al" for "topic/al"

The present spelling isn't clear as to whether the O is long (as a single consonant following it would suggest) or short. It's short, which is better shown by a double-P after it: "toppic" and "toppical".

Munday, February 25, 2013:  "scoald" for "scold"

The two-letter consonant cluster LD should mark the prior vowel as short, but the O is actually long. To show that, we need to use a spelling for long-O that does not depend on what follows it. We could use OA ("goal"), OE ("goes"), or OH ("kohlrabi"). Midword, OA generally does not break into two syllables, as it might be seen to do at the end of a word ("boa"). OE could break into two syllables midword ("poem"). OH would be seen as a single sound, but OH midword is unusual, tho certainly not "un-English". All in all, OA seems the best solution: "scoald".
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My thanks to "JEA..." for this suggestion.

Weekend Edition

Sunday, February 24, 2013:  "romonn" for "roman"

Today's word is a literary term, for a narrative poem or prose piece in medieval French literature or a novel in the modern era. It is pronounced roe.món or roe.mónn (where NN represents nasalization of the prior vowel). But most people in English-speaking countries will see it as "Roman" (pertaining to the Roman Empire), and pronounce it wrong. They won't do that, however, if we reform the spelling to switch the A for O and show that the last syllable is stressed by doubling the N: "romonn".

Saturday, February 23, 2013:  "parrasol" for "parasol"

AR is most commonly pronounced with a "broad"-A or short-O (the same sound) as in "park", "part", and "parsonage"). Here, the sound is a regular short-A, as in "at", which is more clearly shown by a double-R following (as in "parry", "parrot", and "barrier") . Let's use that: "parrasol".

Friday, February 22, 2013:  "nachuroppathy" for "naturopathy"

T does not spell the CH-sound; CH spells that sound ("church"). And in a five-syllable word, it would be helpful to give the reader a cue as to where the stress falls, which we can do by doubling the P, to show that the stress falls just before that: "nachuroppathy".

Thursday, February 21, 2013:  "medeum", "medean", and "medeal" for "medium", "median", and "medial"

Why is an I used to represent the long-E sound? IA is also unclear, given words like "dial" and "diagram", which have a long-I sound. It is not always possible to make everything clear in traditional English spelling conventions. Sometimes we have to settle for a less-bad spelling rather than an ideal spelling ("ideal" can be said in two syllables, or one): "medeum", "medean", and "medeal".

Wensday, February 20, 2013:  "grual/ing" for "gruel/ing" and "gruel/ling"

The present spelling is unclear as to whether the base word is one syllable or two. Dictionaries mandate two syllables, but many people say it in one. Changing the E to A will show plainly that there are two syllables. As for the adjective, British usage employs two L's; American sees no need for two. Two would suggest that the middle syllable takes the word's stress (grue.wél.ing), whereas the first syllable does (grúe.wal.ing). So let's use only one L: "grual/ing".

Tuesday, February 19, 2013:  "frenettic/al" for "frenetic/al" and "phrenetic/al"

Altho it is the PH-variant spelling of today's word that is more objectionable, the spelling with an initial-F but single-T is less than ideal, so let's fix both alternate spellings, to show that the second syllable takes the word's stress: "frenettic/al".

Munday, February 18, 2013:  "ethalene" for "ethylene"

Y, midword, should be reserved to the long-I sound ("thyroid", "thymus", "typhoid"). Here, the sound isn't even short-I, but a schwa, which is best shown by A: "ethalene".
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My thanks to "fishstick..." for this suggestion.

Sunday, February 17, 2013:  "dashbord" for "dashboard"

OA is ambiguous ("goal", "boa", "benzoate", and "coagulate" are pronounced, respectively, goel, bóe.wa, bén.zoe.wàet, and koe.wáag.yoo.làet). Here, the OA represents the AU-sound ("oar", "broad", "boardwalk"), which is more simply and efficiently rendered by a simple-O before the R: "dashbord". 

Saturday, February 16, 2013:  "calamyn" for "calamine"

There are two problems with today's word. INE is ambiguous, and has given rise to the spelling-pronunciation káal.a.min. The correct pronunciation is káal.a.mìen. To show that more clearly, we should use Y, which, midword, commonly represents a long-I sound ("hybrid", "dynamite", "pyrotechnic"): "calamyn".

Friday, February 15, 2013:  "broag" for "brogue"

GUE is of course a ridiculous and inefficient way to spell a simple G-sound. G alone will do quite nicely. The apparent reason for the GUE is that the intent was to show that the O before the G is long, which might be done by writing O, then the consonant G, then a silent-E. But "broge" would be seen by many readers as having  a J-sound. To correct that misimpression, some genius inserted a U between the G and following-E, which produced the ridiculous and cumbersome present spelling.

None of that is necessary if we merely spell the long-O sound in itself, without reference to what follows. OA is a common way of showing a long-O midword ("toast", "loan", "foam"). If we use that convention, we don't need to rely upon a silent-E after the consonant that follows to show the sound of the vowel midword. We can then end the word with a simple G, showing only the consonantal sound: "broag".

Thursday, February 14, 2013:  "atract/iv" for "attract/ive"

ATT should assuredly be pronounced with a full short-A, but the actual sound is schwa, which is best shown by an A with a single-T following.

In the adjective, IVE should be pronounced with a long-I ("hive", "jive", "alive"). Here, the sound is short-I. To show that clearly, we need merely drop the pointless silent-E, which also saves us a letter: "atract" and "atractiv".
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My thanks to "Music..." for this suggestion.

Wensday, February 13, 2013:  "tyfoid", "tyfus", "parratyfoid" for "typhoid", "typhus", and "paratyphoid"

PH is an indefensibly absurd, cumbersome, and ambiguous ("uphill", "upholster", "upheaval") way to write a simple F-sound. So let's change to F the PH's in these three words.

In "paratyphoid" there is a second problem, that AR is most commonly pronounced with a "broad"-A, or short-O (the same sound) as in "bar", "starling", and "parsonage". That is not the sound here, which is a regular short-A. To show short-A before an R-sound, we often double the R ("marrow", "barrier", "carriage"). Let's do that here: "tyfoid", "tyfus", "parratyfoid".

Tuesday, February 12, 2013:  "syma" for "sima"

The sound of the I here is ambiguous. Many readers will see it as being a long-E, whereas it is actually long-I. Other people will see it as long-I but not be sure, because so many E-sounds are represented, bizarrely, by I's. Yet other readers might think that, despite there being only a single-M after the I, that the I is short. Y would be a better way to show a long-I: "syma".

Munday, February 11, 2013:  "roag" for "rogue"

The present spelling is cumbersome and ambiguous. Why would we spell a simple G-sound with three letters, GUE? New readers would be justified in thinking the word has two syllables, the second being pronounced like "goo" or "gyoo". In actuality, the word has only one syllable.

The bizarre present spelling would appear to derive from the practice of spelling a long vowel by placing a silent-E after the consonant that follows it ("role", "rote", "rope"). The problem is that so many words have a GE that is pronounced as J that "roge" would be seen as having a J-sound rather than the proper G-sound. So, as with "guess", "guest", and "guerrilla", a U was inserted between the G and E to prevent readers from seeing GE and thinking it should be pronounced as J.

A far better solution would be to write this word without an E after the G — with or without a U or H ("ghetto") — and simply make the long-O sound clear within the spelling of the vowel itself, before the G-sound. We could write "roag", "roeg", or "rohg". I think that, midword, OA is a clearer representation than OE (contrast "poet" ), and OH will seem odd to many readers. So let's use OA: "roag".

Sunday, February 10, 2013:  "flebitis" for "phlebitis"

PH is an indefensibly absurd, inefficient, and ambiguous ("uphill", "uphold") way to write a simple F-sound. We have an F. Let's use it: "flebitis".

Saturday, February 9, 2013:  "munky" for "monkey"

Today's word rhymes with "chunky", "clunky", and "funky". It should be written in similar form.

For one thing, the EY is ambiguous, and could be seen as having a long-A sound, as in "hey", "they", and "survey", whereas it actually represents a long-E as in "turkey", "jockey", and "whiskey". It is the E before the Y that confuses the issue, so let's just drop it, OK?

ON should have a short-O sound ("on", "upon", "beyond", but the sound here is short-U. Why would we write a U-sound with O?: "munky".

Friday, February 8, 2013:  "grynd" for "grind"

IND should be read as in "induce", "indicate", and "individual", with a short-I, since the I is followed by a two-letter consonant cluster. Here, the I is long. A common way to show a long-I midword is Y ("hybrid", "dynamite", "psychiatric"). Let's use that: "grynd".

Thursday, February 7, 2013:  "expoze" and "expoazher" for "expose" and "exposure"

Why would we use an S to express a Z-sound? We have a letter Z for that sound. Let's use it. As regards the noun, SURE does not spell the sounds in "exposure", but (if badly) those of "sure" (shuer). The sounds in "exposure" are not SH and long-U + R, but ZH and the sound most commonly written ER. So let's write that part of the word as ZHER. The O before that is long, tho a two-letter consonant cluster like ZH would ordinarily signal a short-O before it. To show long-O, we could write OA (as in "float", "roam", and "toast"). Let's: "expoze" and "expoazher".
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My thanks to "Red..." for "expoze".

Wensday, February 6, 2013:  "discharj" for "discharge"

Why would we write the odd and inefficient two-letter combination GE to represent a simple J-sound that could be written with one letter, the letter intended for that sound, J?: "discharj".
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My thanks to "Moon..." for this suggestion.

Tuesday, February 5, 2013:  "serk" for "cirque"

QUE is a preposterous and inefficent way to write a simple K-sound, and would not be guessed by someone who hears the word spoken but doesn't know what it means, and might have trouble looking it up because of its bizarre spelling. The first problem is knowing that the initial S-sound is not written with an S, which it should be. The second problem in sequence is that there is an I where one would expect an E. And then there's that dopy QUE! Let's write this word as it sounds and could be looked up easily: "serk".
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My thanks to "fishstick..." for this suggestion.

Munday, February 4, 2013:  "boogy" for "boogie"

IE and Y at the end of a word are both somewhat ambiguous ("magpie", "cookie"; "qualify", "quality"), but Y is more common a spelling for a long-E (or, in "clipped" British dialects, short-I) at the end of a word, and it is a tad shorter, so let's go with that: "boogy".
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My thanks to "tvp..." for this suggestion. (On December 29, 2011, I offered "boogywoogy" for "boogie-woogie", so this fits with that.)

Sunday, February 3, 2013:  "apollojize" and "apollojy" for "apologize" and "apology"

It is hard, in traditional spelling, to make plain a short-O before an L-sound, since a single-L ("cold") or double-L ("poll") could both be read as permitting a long-O sound. Still, we have models like "follow", "pollen", and "collar" that conform to the general rule that a double consonant marks the preceding vowel short, so let's use a double-L here.

G should be reserved to its own unique sound, represented by no other letter ("give", "giddy", "gibbon") . In both of today's words, it bizarrely represents a J-sound. We have the letter J for that: "apollojize" and "apollojy".
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My thanks to "Wurdplay..." for suggesting reform of "apology", tho I chose a slitely different solution.

Saturday, February 2, 2013:  "twilite" and "twilit" for "twilight" and "twilit"

The silent G and H in this word are indefensible, so let's drop them. That would leave "twilit", which is the proper spelling of the adjective derived from "twilight", but that is pronounced with a short-I before the T. To show a long-I there, we need merely add an E at the end: "twilite" and "twilit".
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My thanks to "Doghouse..." for "twilite".

Friday, February 1, 2013:  "sheemaijy" for "shimeji"

This Food Friday, let's fix the name of a class of mushrooms used in Japanese cookery. In the spelling that recently entered English (so recently that online dictionaries do not yet include it), the two I's both represent an English long-E, and the E represents an English long-A. Midword, a long-E is most clearly shown by EE; at the end of a word, by Y. Long-A midword is commonly shown by AI. Making those substitutions, we get: "sheemaijy".

Thursday, January 31, 2013:  "rouz" for "rouse"

This word should rhyme with "spouse", "mouse", and "louse", with a distinct S-sound. Instead, it has a Z-sound. If the sound is Z, we should write Z. And we don't need an E after the Z, because it would do nothing there. It wouldn't mark the prior vowel as long, since OU is invariable. That is, it doesn't have one long sound and one short sound that need to be distinguished. Why is there a final-E in this word? There shouldn't be: "rouz".

Wensday, January 30, 2013:  "parranoid" for "paranoid"

AR is most commonly pronounced with a "broad"-A (or short-O, the same sound), as in "part", "spar", and "carnage". That is not the sound here, which is a regular short-A. Before an R-sound, short-A is commonly written with a double-R ("barren", "marrow", "carry"). Let's write that here: "parranoid".

Tuesday, January 29, 2013:  "mixcher" for "mixture"

T does not spell the CH-sound (as in "church"). CH spells the CH-sound. And URE does not spell the sound most commonly written ER, but a long-U followed by an R-sound, with an initial Y-glide ("pure", "cure", "coiffure") or without one ("sure", "allure", "couture").  ER spells the actual sound in today's word clearly. So let's substitute two sensible spellings for two dopy ones: "mixcher".
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My thanks to "Multi..." for this suggestion.

Munday, January 28, 2013:  "herresy" for "heresy"

Today's word and "hereby" differ by one letter, but are said nothing alike. The first-E combines with the following-R to form the sound most commonly spelled ER ("better") but other ways as well ("bettor", "bird", "burden", "library", and so on). To show that the E after the R does not combine with the E before the R, we need merely double the R. Once that is done, few readers will see the Y as having a long-I sound, but will see it as representing a long-E (or, in "clipped" British accents, short-I), as in "poesy", "fantasy", and "controversy": "herresy".

Sunday, January 27, 2013:  "gyger" (counter) for "Geiger"

EI is ambiguous, being commonly said as both long-E and long-I (as in the two pronunciations of "either"), as well as long-A ("obeisance") and in two syllables ("being", "spontaneity"), etc. Y is not wholly unambiguous, but in this word, in this position, it would be seen by almost all readers as representing a long-I sound, which it does. As for the capital-G, it's not necessary ("watt", "ohm", and "hertz" are also named for individual people, but do not have to be capitalized): "gyger" (counter).

Saturday, January 26, 2013:  "franell" for "fresnel"

There are three problems with this word. Most noxious is the silent-S, which cannot be defended in English. The second is that the first-E represents a schwa, not an E-sound. (In the original French, the sound is more like an English long-A, but this is not French.) Altho any vowel letter can be said as a schwa, in this position in this word, an A would be clearest. The third problem is that the word's stress falls on the last syllable, but that is not self-evident from a single-L. A double-L would, however, suggest it. Putting this all together, we get: "franell".

Friday, January 25, 2013:  "eteolate" for "etiolate"

The TIO in today's word might lead readers to think it is said ée.sha.làet, given that TIO(N) is very commonly pronounced with an SH-sound. That is not the way this word is pronounced, which is ée.tee.a.làet: "eteolate".

Thursday, January 24, 2013:  "dinggy" for "dinghy", "dingy", and "dingey"

As with yesterday's word, ambiguous spellings have produced an erroneous spelling-pronunciation. The proper pronunciation of today's word is díng.gee, with a "hard"-G after the NG-sound. The simple way to show that is by doubling the written G: "dinggy".

Wensday, January 23, 2013:  "cleek" for "clique"

QUE is a dopy and inefficient way to spell a simple K-sound. And I is an indefensible way to spell a long-E sound. Because the word has an I, the spelling-pronunciation klik has arisen. As is the case with so many spelling-pronunciations, klik is wrong. The correct pronunciation is kleek. A more traditional-looking way to write that would be: "cleek".

Tuesday, January 22, 2013:  "briches" for "breeches" and "britches"

Despite the EE in its spelling, "breeches" is pronounced just like the alternate spelling "britches" (brích.az), and both rhyme with "riches", which doesn't have, because it doesn't need, a T: "briches".

Munday, January 21, 2013:  "acconite" and "acconitum" for "aconite" and "aconitum"

Today's words, for a family of plants, some of which have medicinal qualities, both have a misleading start. Compare "acorn", "acacia", and "academy", in which the single-C starts the following syllable. Here, the C is part of the first syllable, and is meant to mark the preceding-A to be short. To show that clearly, however, we need to double the C: "acconite" and "acconitum".

Sunday, January 20, 2013:  "tirannosorus" and "tirannosor" for "tyrannosaurus" and "tyrannosaur"

Midword, Y should be reserved for the long-I sound ("hydrant", "tyrant", "myopia"). Here, the sound is short-I, which is much better shown by a plain I. The middle part of these two words is fine. Then we get to an AU-sound before an R-sound, which is more commonly, and more efficiently, shown by OR, not AUR. Let's write that: "tirannosorus" and "tirannosor".
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My thanks to "Clap..." for suggesting reform of today's words, tho I chose a slitely different solution.

Saturday, January 19, 2013:  "sluj" for "sludge"

DGE is a dopy, cumbersome, and inefficient way to write a simple J-sound: "sluj".
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My thanks to "fishstick..." for this suggestion.

Friday, January 18, 2013:  "rejjonno" for "reggiano"

This Food Friday, let's fix the second element in the formal name of parmesan cheese, Parmigiano-Reggiano.* In English, GG should be pronounced as "hard"-G ("flagged", "nagging", "aggravate"), tho in extremely rare words, it can be pronounced as a "hard"-G followed by a "soft"-G (the J-sound) ("suggest"), or even as just a "soft"-G ("exaggerate"). So rare are such words that they should all be reformed to use GJ or J instead of GG. This is one such word. So let's change the GG to J.

RE, which starts today's word, is usually seen as a prefix, with a long-E sound. That is not the sound here, which is short-E. To show that, we should double the J.

The A is pronounced not as a regular A-sound (short as in "at" or long as in "nation", but as a "broad"-A, the same sound as short-O. Let's use O. To show that the O is short, we should double the following-N.

Putting this all together, we get: "rejjonno".
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* On April 3, 2009, I offered "parmajonno" for the first element in the longer name.

Thursday, January 17, 2013:  "quaranteen" for "quarantine"

INE is ambiguous ("sine", "magazine", "heroine", said, respectively, sien, máag.a.zèen, hér.oe.wìn), and many new readers, esp. in non-English-speaking countries, will see it here as having a long-I, which is its most common pronunciation ("fine", "divine", "valentine"). That is not the sound in today's word, which is long-E. The simplest and clearest way to show that sound is EE, so let's write that: "quaranteen".

Wensday, January 16, 2013:  "parranormal" for "paranormal"

AR is most commonly pronounced with a "broad"-A or short-O (the same sound), as in "bar", "mar", and "stark". The sound here, however is a regular short-A, as in "at". When a short-A occurs before an R-sound we often double the R to show that ("barrister", "carry", "marriage"). Let's do that here: "parranormal".

Tuesday, January 15, 2013:  "narcisizm" and "narcizm" for "narcissism" and "narcism"

We don't need a double-S in the first of today's words, and in fact it misleads the reader to think that the word's stress falls on the second syllable, as it does in the related word "narcissus". Actually, in "narcissism" the stress falls on the first syllable.

In both words, the S before the M is pronounced Z, so let's write Z. Ideally, we should have some vowel between that and the M, but which one? I (narcisizim, narcizim)? I suspect a lot of people would object to lengthening these words just to show that there is a vowel sound there. That would be helpful to people outside the English-speaking world, to cue them not even to try to pronounce the S (or Z) and M in the same syllable, an absolute impossibility, but native speakers of English might reject a vowel there as unnecessary: "narcisizm" and "narcizm".

Munday, January 14, 2013:  "mobeel" for (the art form) "mobile" 

The ordinary word "mobile" is pronounced, in the United States, as móe.bool, and in Britain as móe.bie.al. But there is a specialized sense, an artwork that moves in the wind, that is pronounced móe.beel, and that one requires a different spelling to cue the reader to its distinctive meaning and pronunciation: "mobeel".

Sunday, January 13, 2013:  "jemminate" and "jemminit" for "geminate"

There are, in today's word, two words, distinguished by part of speech. As a verb, "geminate" has a long-A in the third syllable. As an adjective, however, the vowel of the third syllable is a schwa so close to short-I as to warrant spelling it with I (and no final-E after the T, which would signal a long-I). Both words start with a J-sound, which is, indefensibly, spelled with a G. If the sound is J, let's write J. The E right after that, in both words, is short. To show that clearly, we should double the M: "jemminate" and "jemminit".
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My thanks to "fishstick..." for "gemminate".

Saturday, January 12, 2013:  "extrappolate" for "extrapolate" 

EXTRA- is a common prefix, often pronounced just like the word "extra" ("extradite", "extramarital", "extravehicular"). Here, there is no stress on the first syllable, and the vowel in the second syllable is a full short-A, not schwa. To show both of these differences from what the reader would expect, we need merely double the P: "extrappolate".

Friday, January 11, 2013:  "dijjereedoo" for "didgeridoo"

DG is an absurd and inefficent way to spell a simple J-sound. We have a letter, J, for that sound. Let's use it. After a short vowel, as in today's word, we need two J's.

The I takes a long-E sound, which is best spelled EE.

The rest of the word is fine as it was:  "dijjereedoo".

Thursday, January 10, 2013:  "chur" for "chirr", "chirre", and "churr"

IR and IRR are both ambiguous, often representing a long-E sound followed by an R-sound ("irritate", "cirrus", "mirror"). That is not the sound here, which is instead the sound most commonly written ER ("ermine", "herb", "better") but also UR ("urn", "purge", "adventurous"), AR ("library"), EAR ("learn"), IR ("bird"), OUR ("adjourn"), etc. ER would, ordinarily, be the way to write that sound clearly, but "Cher" is seen as being pronounced shair, so we need a different spelling. UR would be good. And we don't need two R's to show that sound. One will do quite nicely, as in "churn": "chur".

Wensday, January 9, 2013:  "bredth" for "breadth"

EA is ambiguous. It is most commonly pronounced as long-E ("bean", "dream", "steamy"), but can be pronounced as short-E ("bread"), the AU-sound ("Sean"), and as two vowels in two adjoining syllables ("rhea").  Here, the sound is short-E. We can show that clearly just by dropping the A, which has the additional virtue of saving us a letter: "bredth".

Tuesday, January 8, 2013:  "amennity" for "amenity"

A single-N leaves unclear the sound of the E before it. Is it long, as in the preferred pronunciation of "amenable"? Or short, as in the other pronunciation of "amenable"? The same ambiguity has led to two pronunciations for this word too, the preferred having a short-E and the other a long-E. The secondary pronunciation doubtless arose from the ambiguity of the spelling. We should strive to eliminate spelling-(mis)pronunciations, and to guide people to the proper pronunciation — here, by doubling the N to show that the E is short: "amennity".

Munday, January 7, 2013:  "tue" for "two"

There are, in this three-letter word, two problems. First is the preposterous silent-W. The other is that the O represents not an O-sound at all (long as in "go", short as in "got"), but a long-U without an initial Y-glide (as in "glutamate" as against "pure").

The fixes are easy. First, drop the W. Second, replace the O with U. Since on May 3, 2008 I proposed "tu" to replace the dopy traditional spelling "to", we should distinguish "two" somehow. Happily, we can do so simply by adding E: "tue".

Sunday, January 6, 2013:  "sassafrass" for "sassafras"

Why are two S-sounds in the early part of this word spelled clearly, but the third is spelled such that most new readers would see it as a plural, and pronounce that single-S as Z. The sound is not Z but S, and the only way to show that clearly at the end of a word is SS: "sassafrass".

Saturday, January 5, 2013:  "rezillyent" for "resilient"

Here again we have an S that is (mis)pronounced as Z. If the sound is Z, let's write Z.

The I in the second syllable is short. To show that plainly, we should double the following-L.

The second-I, in the third syllable, represents a Y-sound, so should be written Y.

Putting this all together, we get: "rezillyent".

Friday, January 4, 2013:  "paleativ" for "palliative"

In today's word, we have two familiar problems. First, the E at the end of the word not only serves no purpose but actually confuses new readers, because it could signal that the I before the V is long ("hive", "jive", "arrive"), whereas the I is actually short. To show that, we need merely drop the E, and save ourselves a letter.

The second familiar problem is an I used to represent a long-E, in (and as the only letter of) the second syllable. There is no perfect solution, but an E there would be slightly better. EA is ambiguous, but so is IA ("deviation" is pronounced with a long-E, but "diagram", with a long-I).

The third problem with today's word is not so common: there is no way to show clearly a short-A before L.  The LL used here is misleading, because ALL is ordinarily pronounced with an AU-sound ("all", "ball", "recall"). Here, the double-L is presumably intended to cut the following-E off from the preceding-A, to prevent misreading it as long-A. Two consonants might not be enuf to do that, however ("change", "lathe", "paste"), and doubling the L simply replaces one possible misreading with another.

Short-A before an L-sound is commonly written with a single-L ("alto", "palimony", "altruism"). But "also" and "altogether" have an AU-sound. So there is no perfect fix for the ambiguity here. Still, I think a single-L is a bit clearer, and it saves us another letter!: "paleativ".

Thursday, January 3, 2013:  "mycrommeter" and "mycrometer" for "micrometer" and "micrometre" 

There are actually two different words with the same two spellings (~er in the U.S., ~re in the U.K.) but different pronunciations. The first word, which takes the first definition at Dictionary.com, is pronounced mie.króm.a.tèr. It means a device for measuring tiny distances and such.

The second word, pronounced míe.croe.mèe.ter, is "the millionth part of a meter". It is also, and more typically, called a "micron" (or "mikron"). If we change the spellings to show the pronunciations clearly, we will clarify which we mean in any given location.

The two-letter consonant cluster CR in both words may lead people to think that the I before it is short, which it would be if it were in the same syllable with the CR. There's no way to show that the CR is actually in the following syllable, so we should show the long-I sound in itself, as Y, which is a better way to show a long-I midword ("hypothermia", "pyromaniac", "dynamic" ).

The first definition needs a double-M to show that the O is short and that the word's stress falls on the second syllable. The second definition, by contrast, should not have a double-M, because the O is long and the word's stress falls on the first syllable.

Thus do we arrive at: "mycrommeter" and "mycrometer".
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My thanks to "rhode..." for "mycrommeter".

Wensday, January 2, 2013:  "haitred" for "hatred"

HAT has a short-A, as should the letter sequence HATR, which has a two-letter consonant cluster after the A. But the A here is actually long. We need to show that. Midword, AI is the way we generally show a long-A sound ("paid", "traipse", "stainless") . Let's write that: "haitred".

Tuesday, January 1, 2013:  "jire", "subjire", and "superjire" for "gyre", "subgyre", and "supergyre"

Why would we use a G to represent a J-sound, and a Y to represent a long-I sound when the letters nearby make that clear? In today's words, the G should be J and the Y should be I: "jire", "subjire", and "superjire".
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My thanks to "Dogger..." for "jire".

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