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Simpler Spelling
Word of the Day
Archive of Discussions
April-June 2013

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Sunday, June 30, 2013:  "binoccular/s" for "binocular/s"

A single-C leaves unclear the sound of the preceding-O, which could be long but is actually short. If we double the C, we make that plain, and also cue the reader to stress the second syllable, which is correct but might not be guessed by new readers, given that the word has four syllables, any of which might be stressed: "binoccular/s".

Saturday, June 29, 2013:  "ajurn" for "adjourn"

DJ is a needlessly long spelling of the ordinary J-sound. Moreover, it suggests that the first syllable takes the word's stress, whereas it is actually the second syllable that is stressed. So let's drop the D and save ourselves both a letter and some possible confusion.

In the second syllable, the OU does not represent the OU-sound, but an ordinary short-U. We should thus drop a second letter, the O, and make this word much shorter and clearer: "ajurn".

Friday, June 28, 2013:  "teamwerk" for "teamwork"

OR is a bad spelling for the sound most commonly written ER, and leads some people to pronounce the OR as in "or", "for", and "portable". ER is clearer: "teamwerk".
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My thanks to "GreenD..." for this suggestion.

Thursday, June 27, 2013:  "smerk" for "smirk" and "smerk"

We have here, as all too often happens, an alternate spelling that is better than the standard spelling. Let's eliminate the less-sensible spelling and use the better spelling instead: "smerk".

Wensday, June 26, 2013:  "ruethless" for "ruthless"

A vowel followed by a two-letter consonant cluster should be short, but the U here is long. To show that, we need to add something to the U to show it long. E works perfectly ("due", "clue", "true"): "ruethless".

Tuesday, June 25, 2013:  "fraze" and "frazeolojy" for "phrase" and "phraseology"

In the first of today's related words, there are two things wrong. First, PH is a preposterous way to spell a simple F-sound. We have an F. Let's use it.

Second, an S is used to express a Z-sound. Why? We have a Z. Let's use that too.

In the second word, the same two problems occur, so should take the same two solutions. In addition, a single-L leaves unclear the sound of the preceding-O. Is it long? Is it short? It's short. So a double-L would be clearer, tho still not completely clear, since words like "poll", "boll", and "scroll" have a long-O, even as words like "doll" and "loll" have a short-O. Still, double-L accords better with the general rule that a double consonant marks the vowel before it short. Further, in "phraseology", the end of the word employs a G for a J-sound. Again, we have a J, so why would we use a G?

Putting this all together, we get: "fraze" and "frazeolojy".
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My thanks to "Clap..." for "fraze".

Munday, June 24, 2013:  "misoggamy" for "misogamy"

In most words this long (four syllables), various readers will wonder which syllable takes the primary stress. Moreover, all the consonants in today's word are single, which leaves not just syllabic stress but also the sound of the preceding vowels unclear. If we double the G, we will at once indicate both that the O before it is short and that the syllable before the G-sound takes the primary stress, whereupon all other sounds fall into place:  "misoggamy".

Sunday, June 23, 2013:  "galary" for "gallery"

ALL is commonly pronounced with an AU-sound (as in "all" itself, "call", and, most on point, "gall"). That is not the sound here, which is a short-A (as in "at"). When short-A falls before an L-sound, it is more clearly written with a single-L, as in "alibi", "alimony", and "palisade"). So let's drop the second-L.

Were we to leave the rest of the word unchanged ("galery"), the L would be followed by an E, which would lead to uncertainty as to whether the A is short, long, or the AI-sound, and as to whether the E is part of the second syllable or only a silent indicator that the previous A is long. Here, it would represent the vowel of the second syllable, only, but takes a schwa sound rather than short-E (as in "end").

The most common way to write schwa is with an A ("about", "astound", "America"), so let's write that. Once we do, the reader is no longer unclear as to whether there is a vowel sound between the L- and R-sounds, but knows there is. The word will be similar in form to "galaxy", with a short-A sound in the first syllable and a schwa sound in the second: "galary".

Saturday, June 22, 2013:  "exasserbate" for "exacerbate"

ACE in the middle of today's word should rhyme with the ATE at the end (with a long-A as in, well, "ate" or the word to itself, "ace"), but does not. The sound after the X is short-A.  Ordinarily, we could double the consonant after that A, but here, the consonant is C, and a double-C followed by an E would be pronounced KS, as in "accent", so that wouldn't work. To show a short-A there, then, we need a double-S: "exasserbate".

Friday, June 21, 2013:  "discalculea" for "dyscalculia"

This word relates to the inability to do math, but is a good example of a spelling "system" that makes it extremely difficult to learn to read (and thus contributes to dyslexia). The Y represents not its common sound midword, a long-I ("dynamic"); and not its common sound at the end of a word, long-E ("dandy"); but short-I. Let's substitute I, which will be read correctly before the two-letter consonant cluster SC.

The ending is pronounced with the vowel sequence long-E + schwa, but here is represented by IA, which should be said with a long-A sound ("diagram", "bias", "triangulate"). Let's replace the I with E.

Putting these two things together, we get: "discalculea".

Thursday, June 20, 2013:  "cattamaran" for "catamaran"

A single-T leaves unclear the sound of the A before it. It might be long ("blatant") or a schwa ("catastrophe"), but is actually short. To show it as short, we need merely double the T: "cattamaran".

Wensday, June 19, 2013:  "banggle" for "bangle"

NG is highly ambiguous. In a location like today's, a reader might expect it to be pronounced as in the shorter word that starts this longer one, "bang", and in derivatives such as "banging". But here, there is an additional, "hard"-G sound, which the present spelling does not make clear. We need to double the G to show that: "banggle" .

Tuesday, June 18, 2013:  "amfibbeus" for "amphibious"

There are four things wrong with today's word.

First, the spelling PH for the simple F-sound is absurd, so let's change it to F.

Second, OUS is a bad spelling for an ending that has no OU-sound. Let's just drop the U and leave the US.

Third, the I before the ending has a long-E sound, not an I-sound. So let's replace it with E.

And fourth, if the middle of the word is spelled -IBE-, readers will see the I there as long, as in "fiber". It is actually short, as in "fibber", so we need to double the B.

Putting this all together, we get: "amfibbeus".
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Note, the related term "amphibian" was offered here as "amfibbean" on October 7, 2007.

Munday, June 17, 2013:  "whif" for "whiff"

We don't write "iff", so why would we write "whiff"? The noun and the base form of the verb don't need two F's. In extended forms of the verb such as the past or progressive (-ED or -ING), it will be necessary to double the F, but that is a standard spelling convention for words that end in a short vowel plus a single consonant ("fitted", "fitting"), so should present no problems for people familiar with the rules of English: "whif".

Sunday, June 16, 2013:  "tanggo" for "tango"

NG is ambiguous, sometimes having an additional "hard"-G sound (as here and in words like "finger"); sometimes just the NG-sound ("singer"). Other times, the N and G do not combine but take their own, separate sounds, sometimes as N + "hard"-G ("ingredient"), sometimes as N + "soft"-G ("ingenuity"). To show that the N and G do combine to form the sound in "rung" but also that there is a hard-G sound in this word, we need merely add a second-G: "tanggo".

Saturday, June 15, 2013:  "sachel" for "satchel"

We don't need a TCH to show the CH-sound (as in "church", "rich", and "Apache"). So let's drop the T and save ourselves not just a letter but also the need to remember when to use a TCH and when just CH. All CH-sounds should be spelled with just CH: "sachel".

Friday, June 14, 2013:  "roakfort" for "Roquefort"

We don't need a capital-R on this name of a cheese made from sheep's milk. Yes, it is named for a place (in France), but so is "cheddar" named for a place (in England), yet we don't need a capital-C for "cheddar". So let's lowercase this too.

The second problem is the QUE, which could be pronounced as a syllable rather than as the simple K-sound it actually represents. Let's just substitute a K.

That leads to a different problem, in that "rokfort" would definitely be seen as having a short-O in the first syllable, whereas it is actually long. To show that, we could write OE or OA ("roekfort" or "roakfort"). Either might do, but there may be less clarity with OE, because it sometimes represents two syllables midword ("poetry", "phloem", "coed"). OA can also represent two syllables, but the reader would expect that more at the end of a word rather than the middle ("boa", "jerboa", "protozoa"). By contrast, we have many words in which OA represents a single vowel sound, long-O ("boat", "oak", "toasty"). So let's use OA.

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

Thursday, June 13, 2013:  "pivvot" for "pivot"

The single-V in today's word leaves unclear the sound of the I before it. Is it long? Is it short? It's short, and the way to show that clearly is to double the V: "pivvot".

Wensday, June 12, 2013:  "monggrel" for "mongrel"

NG is highly ambiguous ("thing", "ingredient", "ingenious", and "bingo" are pronounced "tthing", "in.gree.dee.yant", "in.jeen.yas", and "bing.go"). We need to clarify all NG-sounds other than the default, as in "thing". In today's word, the sound is the regular NG-sound plus a following "hard"-G. To show that, we need to supply a second-G: "monggrel".

Tuesday, June 11, 2013:  "leedo" for "lido"

IDO should be pronounced with a long-I, but is actually, here, pronounced with a long-E. Why would we pronounce an I with an E-sound?: "leedo".

Munday, June 10, 2013:  "kanaidel" and (plural) "kanaidlokh" for "knaidel" and "knaidlach"

This term from Jewish cookery was the winning word in this year's Scripps National Spelling Bee (in the United States). The K before the N is not, as readers of English would expect, silent, but is pronounced. Much tho some people might want to pretend that the K-sound does not constitute a syllable to itself, it does, and has a short schwa sound before the N. To show that, we should write an A between the K and N.

The plural is the irregular "knaidlach", which uses CH to represent not the regular English CH-sound (as in "church"), but the harsh guttural sound better written KH. Most speakers of English will tend to pronounce that as an ordinary K-sound, but we should show the actual sound for people inclined to use a more traditional pronunciation, which is more clearly written as KH.

The A in the plural takes neither of A's ordinary sounds, long as in "ate" and short as in "at", but "broad"-A, the same sound as short-O. O would be much clearer.

Putting this all together, we get: "kanaidel" and "kanaidlokh".

Sunday, June 9, 2013:  "otaycole" for "haute école"

Today's two-word phrase is originally French, and means, literally, "high school" but refers to intricate steps taught to horses in dressage. There's no reason for this phrase to be kept a phrase, since in English its elements are never separated. Let's treat it as one word.

The long-O of the first element in this compound would be shown by a single-T after it, before the addition of the vowel of the second syllable.

É is un-English, in part because English does not employ accents and in part because the French sound intended is not an E-sound but English long-A, which should be shown another way. We could write AI, midword, or AY. AY seems clearer: "otaycole".

Saturday, June 8, 2013:  "grouwel" for "growl"

The first four letters of this word form the distinctly different word "grow", which has a long-O sound. Today's word, by contrast, has an OU-sound, which needs to be distinguished in spelling. We can do that by adding a U after the O, as forms OU and thus shows the OU-sound plainly. But we also need to show that this word is actually two syllables, since you cannot pronounce an OU-sound before an L-sound in the same syllable. There has to be a little schwa sound between the OU and the L, which we can show by E: "grouwel".
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My thanks to "Table..." for suggesting reform of today's word, tho I chose a slitely different solution.

Friday, June 7, 2013:  "electroenceffalograff/ic/al/ly", and "electroenceffaloggrafy", for "electroencephalograph/ic/al/ly" and "electroencephalography"

We have in each these very long medical terms two occurrences of the moronic spelling PH for a simple F-sound. They've got to go.

The F-sounds midword come right after a short-A sound, so need to be doubled to show that. The F-sound at the end of the base word could be shown by a single-F ("electroenceffalograf"), but since we have adjectives and an adverb that are derived from that, and they all need a double-F, let's just put a double-F on that noun too, so we can merely add the -IC, -ICAL, and -ICALLY to the base without having to think about whether to add a second-F.

The other noun here is the term for the process, which takes a different syllabic stress pattern, with the primary stress falling on the seventh syllable, -LOG-. To show that, we should double the G, which will show at once that the O before it is a full short-O, not a schwa, and that the word's main stress falls there. In a word as long as that, it's very helpful to have a cue as to where the stress goes. And since the second F-sound does not follow a full short-A but only a schwa, it does not have to be doubled: "electroenceffalograff", "electroenceffalograffic", "electroenceffalograffical", "electroenceffalograffically", and "electroenceffaloggrafy".

Thursday, June 6, 2013:  "dressozh" for "dressage"

The current spelling for this word from French looks like it should be pronounced with a J-sound at the end, as tho it were spelled "dressij". That is not the sound here. Rather, the end has the OZH-sound in words like "garage", "montage", and "collage". To show that clearly, we should rewrite it: "dressozh".

Wensday, June 5, 2013:  "chalenj" for "challenge"

New readers of English learn early that the letter sequence ALL is ordinarily pronounced with an AU-sound, as in the word "all" itself, "ball", and "mall". Unfortunately, other sounds are also assigned to that sequence, which can be very confusing.

In today's word, the sound is short-A (as in "at"), which is better written with a single-L ("gal", "value", and "palisades"). Let's drop the second-L from today's word, and save ourselves a letter.

The second problem area is at the end of the word, where the two-letter sequence GE is used not to represent G's own, unique sound, which is expressed by no other letter, but a J-sound, which J, a single letter, shows much better. So let's use J, and save ourselves another letter.

Putting these two little changes together, we get: "chalenj".

Tuesday, June 4, 2013:  "bouwer/y" for "bower/y"

OW is ambiguous. It can be pronounced as a simple long-O ("flow", "grow", "mower") or as the OU-sound ("how", "brow", "flower"), and there is no way the reader can know which to say. We even have at least one word, "lowbrow", in which both sounds appear. If we insert a U between the O and W here, we now show which sound to use: "bouwer" and "bouwery".

Munday, June 3, 2013:  "annamorfic" and "annamorfizm" for "anamorphic" and "anamorphizm"

The first-A in both of today's words (which relate to a type of presentation or zoom of a TV picture) is short, which is not clear from the single-N after it. If we double the N, that will become clear.

The second issue with today's words is the indefensibly absurd spelling PH for an ordinary F-sound. Replacing it with F is the quick fix.

The third issue relates only to the noun, an S pronounced as Z. We have a Z. Why don't we use it?

Putting this all together, we get: "annamorfic" and "annamorfizm".

Sunday, June 2, 2013:  "woddle" for "waddle"

As with yesterday's word, the vowel sound in the first syllable is not short-A, as in "at", but short-O, as in "odd", so should be spelled that way:  "woddle".

Saturday, June 1, 2013:  "twoddle" for "twaddle"

The sound in the first syllable is not short-A, as in "at", but short-O, as in "odd", so should be spelled that way:  "twoddle".

Friday, May 31, 2013:  "sodeum" for "sodium"

It's Food Friday once again. Let's fix the spelling of a dietary substance necessary for life but which in excess can endanger life. There is an IU here, but the I does not represent either of I's sounds, long as in "triumph" and short as in, well, "in".  Rather, the sound is long-E. We have an E. Why wouldn't we use it, as we do in words like "museum", "colosseum", and "petroleum"?: "sodeum".
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My thanks to "Clap..." for this suggestion.

Thursday, May 30, 2013:  "rute" and "ruter" for "route" and "router"

There are two words of radically different meaning spelled "router". One, pronounced róu.ter, is a machine for gouging or widening a hole. The verb from which this agent noun derives is "rout", with no E.

The other word, which we are dealing with today, refers to a person or thing that directs people or things to a particular pathway. The present most common use is for a computer device that sends packets of data by an efficient route (ruet), with a final-E.

Unfortunately, there is an OU in both words, and some people carelessly pronounce it the same in both words, with the standard OU-sound. That is right for the gouging tool but wrong for the device that sends data. Fortunately, there is a quick fix for this, and for the similar mispronounciation of "route" meaning "highway". Just drop the O and leave the U. Then everyone will know to say these related words with a long-U (or long-OO, the same sound): "rute" and "ruter".

Wensday, May 29, 2013:  "passij" and "pasozh" for "passage"

The present writing represents two words in one — both of which are spelled wrong. AGE should be pronounced with a long-A, as in the word "age" itself, "rage", and "stage". That is not the sound in either sense of today's word/s.

The word everyone knows is pronounced with a schwa in the second syllable that is so close to a short-I that it would much better be written with an I. So let's do that. Moreover, the GE represents not G's own unique sound, represented by no other letter ("get", "gearbox", "gecko"), but the sound for which English J was created. Since we do have a J, why would we ever use G for that sound?

In the word almost no one knows (manège — horse training — "a slow, cadenced trot executed with great elevation of the feet and characterized by a moment of suspension before the feet strike the ground"), the AGE is pronounced with a "broad"-A, or short-O (the same sound) plus a ZH-sound, with the stress on the second syllable (as in "garage", "collage", and "montage"). That means that the vowel in the first syllable is not a short-A but schwa. So we don't need a double-S after it, in that the S-sound goes with the second syllable, so one S will do very nicely.

We thus have two spellings to offer today, to distinguish these two very different words that are now confused in a single bad spelling: "passij" and "pasozh".
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My thanks to "rhod..." for suggesting reform of today's word, tho I chose a slitely different solution.

Tuesday, May 28, 2013:  "areggano" for "oregano"

A new reader of English would have a very hard time figuring out how to pronounce the traditional spelling of today's word, but would probably come up with something like àur.a.gáe.noe, àur.a.gán.oe, or àur.a.gón.oe, all of which are wrong. The word is actually pronounced a.rég.a.nòe, which has an unusual stress pattern.

The first-O is misleading, given that it is followed by R, which will cause many people to think that the sound is the AU vowel in words like "or", "fore", and "meritorious". But the actual sound is schwa, which would be much clearer if spelled A.

The E is a full short-E, not the schwa that many readers might guess. To show that, we need to double the G. Once we do that, the stress pattern becomes clearer. That in turn makes the sound of the other vowels more easily guessable: "areggano".
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Note: I would ordinarily do a word related to cooking on a "Food Friday", but since this was the only word under the letter O in the list of words to be used, and I like to go thru the alphabet in order, I used it today.

Munday, May 27, 2013:  "malurd" for "mallard"

As with yesterday's word, we have today an ALL that represents not the AU-sound ("mall", "fallen", "appalling", ) but a regular short-A, which, before an L-sound, is less confusingly written with a single-L ("maladjusted", "malnourished", "malapropism"). Let's write this word with a single-L too.

Further, the AR in the second syllable is a tad misleading, because AR is most commonly used to represent "broad"-A or short-O (the same sound: "bar", "carnage", "starvation"). Here, the vowel is schwa, which is far more frequently written either ER ("person", "better", "ermine") or UR ("urge", "curse", "urbane"). Altho ER is much more common, after a single consonant, as here, the E might be taken as marking the prior vowel long, which it would not do here. So UR is the better spelling: "malurd".

Sunday, May 26, 2013:  "galant" for "gallant"

ALL is commonly pronounced with an AU-sound, as in "ball", "call", and, most relevantly, "gall". That is not the sound here, which instead is the sound in "gal", "galvanize", and "galaxy" — all of which are spelled with a single-L. So let's drop the second-L: "galant". 

Saturday, May 25, 2013:  "yue" for "ewe"

The present spelling is hard for any new reader, be it a child in English-speaking countries or an adult in non-English-speaking countries, to understand. It is pronounced yue. Let's spell it that way: "yue".
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My thanks to "Music..." for this suggestion.

Friday, May 24, 2013:  "drivvel" for "drivel"

The I in the first syllable is short. That is not clear from the single-V following, but will be clear if we double that V: "drivvel".
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My thanks to "Smoke..." for this suggestion.

Thursday, May 23, 2013:  "ceffalopod" for "cephalopod"

I see only one problem with today's three-syllable scientific word, the ridiculous and indefensible spelling PH for a simple F-sound. We have the letter F. Let's use it. Since the E before that sound is short, we should employ a double-F to indicate that: "ceffalopod".

Wensday, May 22, 2013:  "burka" for "burka", "burqa", "bourkha", "burkha", and "burga"

Today's word shows perfectly the spelling chaos that people trying to learn and use English have to deal with every day. The reason there are so many alternate spellings is that people are unclear as to whether the word is fully English, partly foreign, or wholly foreign.

If English, then the simplest English spelling, "burka", should be used. The version with a Q is supposed to distinguish the Arabic glottal stop from an ordinary English K-sound. Similarly, the forms with KH are supposed to suggest a harsh, non-English sound that is more guttural than the English-K.

The OU in one spelling is supposed to suggest a sound other than short-U, but it would ordinarily be seen as a long-U or long-OO (as in "bamboo") sound in such a location, whereas the actual sound would at worst be a short-OO (as in "book"). Most speakers of English do not say that, but a short-U or ER-sound ("better").

The G in the last spelling suggests a dialect of Arabic that does not use the Q- or KH-sound there.

But it doesn't matter how Arabic treats this word. It's English now, so will be pronounced, and should be written, as speakers of English say it: "burka".

Tuesday, May 21, 2013:  "anjina" for "angina"

There are two ambiguities in the three-letter sequence NGI. First, NG most commonly represents the sounds in words like "singer" and "finger", but not here. Here, the N represents only an N-sound. It does not combine with the G to form either of the NG-sound/s.

The second ambiguity is how the G before I is to be pronounced. Is it as in "give" and "gimlet" (G's own, distinct sound, represented by no other letter), or as in "gin" and "gist" (the sound better written with a J)? It takes the J-sound. We have a letter J. Let's use it, which would eliminate all possibility of confusion over the sound of the N, because NJ does not form a single sound. Rather, each letter takes its own sound. So let's use that: "anjina".

Munday, May 20, 2013:  "thorassic" for "thoracic"

The current spelling of today's word is unclear as to syllabic stress and the sound of the A, which some readers might see as long, whereas it is actually short. If we replace the first-C with SS, we solve both problems at once. It's hard to argue against such a change, given that the noun from which this adjective derives is "thorax", and there is no reason a C should be regarded as more reasonable a replacement for an X than SS would be:  "thorassic".

Sunday, May 19, 2013:  "snich" for "snitch"

This Sunday, let us deal with an odious word in which a criminal "code of 'honor'" is glorified by pouring opprobrium onto the moral obligation to inform appropriate authorities — be it parents, school administrators, local police, or Homeland Security — when you become aware of wrongdoing. Within a family or among schoolchildren, the offenses may be trivial, but the principle is grand: you must NEVER co-conspire in wrong, but must always root it out.

In today's word, we can root out a superfluous letter, the T. We don't need a T in "rich" or "which". We don't need it in this word either: "snich".

Saturday, May 18, 2013:  "raizohndetra" for "raison d'être"and "raison d'etre"

There are at least five things wrong with the traditional spelling of this originally-French phrase, which is, for all practical purposes as it is used in English, a single word, so should be written as a single word, with no space between the first and second elements. Let it be a compound word rather than phrase.

The phrase has been part of the English language since at latest 1870, so it is long past time for us to write it in English fashion.

(a) In the first element of the phrase, an S stands in for a Z. We have a Z. Why would we not use it here?

(b) Also in the first element of the phrase, the ON takes a long-O, which the reader would not guess, but would likely see as having a short-O or schwa. To show the long-O, we have few options, because OE and OA ("raizoen" and "raizoan") could both be seen as representing two syllables, dividing after the O. To show a single syllable, about the only spelling that would work is OH, as in "oh", the word to itself, "ohm", "kohl", and "kohlrabi". Let's use that.

(c) Some readers will be unclear about how the "d'" is to be pronounced. Is it dee or duq (where Q is silent, serving only to close the vowel to show that it is short)? And why is there an apostrophe there? Surely there should not be. It's not a contraction of any two English words, like "isn't" or "shouldn't". So let's drop the apostrophe.

(d) And how is the E at the end of the phrase to be pronounced, or not? Is it a long-E? Is it silent? Is the second element overall to be pronounced dee.yét.ree? Perhaps dee.yét.er (with the final-E silent)? No, the final-E is neither said as a long-E (as in "abalone", "anemone", or "apostrophe"), nor silent, but is actually spoken, as a schwa! How would a reader of English, especially in a non-English-speaking country, who has no understanding of how interconnected French and English have historically been — and doesn't care — and who knows NO French, possibly guess that? Plainly, that E should be recast, as an A, the most common rendering of schwa. (It is more than a little preposterous to demand that people in China, India, the Arab world, or central Africa who want to learn English must also learn French!)

(e) There is no reason for what is for all intents and purposes a single word — its elements are never used separately — to be treated as a phrase. Rather, it is used as a word, so we should close up the space between the first and second elements.

Putting this all together, we get: "raizohndetra".
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Note: The present plural of "raison d'être" / "raison d'etre" is "raisons d'être" or "raisons d'etre", which treats the first element in the phrase as the noun that needs to be pluralized in itself. If we reform the phrase into a compound word, the plural will take the -S at the end of the entire word, "raizohndetras", not the first element in the compound word. Many people will find this much simpler and more congenial, eliminating an awkward plural like "mothers-in-law" and "passersby", where an ordinary English noun is pluralized before additional elements. "Raison" is not an ordinary English word, so it is very hard to argue for "raizohnsdetra".

Friday, May 17, 2013:  "peeko" for "pekoe"

This Food Friday, let's revise the spelling of a beverage. "Pekoe" isn't a really-bad spelling, but some readers might read the first-E as short, and the final-E is unnecessary, because without it, the O will still be read as long. So let's move the second-E to right after the first, which will make plain that the vowel sound in the first syllable is long-E, while in no way confusing the pronunciation of the vowel in the second syllable: "peeko".

Thursday, May 16, 2013:  "misselaneus" for "miscellaneous"

We don't need a silent-C in this word. Indeed, we don't need silent letters at all. So let's drop the C, and replace it with a second-S, which will mark the I as short, which it is.

The second-L is also silent, and not just needless but actually misleading, because it suggests that the word's stress falls on the second syllable, whereas it actually falls on the third syllable. So let's drop the second-L too.

The OU is wrong. It should represent the OU-sound, but does not. Rather, the sound here is schwa, which will be understood if we just drop the O and leave the U.

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

Wensday, May 15, 2013:  "graffeme" for "grapheme"

This unusual word from the specialized field of linguistics has the common but idiotic two-letter consonant sequence PH for the simple F-sound. We have an F. Let's use it. Since the F-sound follows a short vowel, we should indeed use two F's: "graffeme".
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My thanks to "fishstick..." for this suggestion.

Tuesday, May 14, 2013:  "erritheema solarry" for "erythema solare"

This unusual, two-word term for "sunburn" has problems in both words.

In the first word, an initial-E followed by a single consonant could be read as long ("erase", "evade", "eternal"); so let's double the R. A Y midword might well be read as a long-I sound ("dynamic", "hyperbole", "pyrite"), so let's replace it with an I. The E before the M is long, but some readers might see it as short. Besides, if we double the E, we cue the reader to put the word's stress on that syllable, which is where it belongs.

In the second word , the final-E is also as in "hyperbole". It is not silent. The A before the R is a regular short-A (as in "at"), not the "broad"-A more common before a single-R ("car", "star", "carnage"). That is better written with a double-R ("carry", "marry", "parry").

Putting this all together, we get: "erritheema solarry".

Munday, May 13, 2013:  "disswade" for "dissuade"

Why is a W (double-U)-sound spelled with (single-)U? We have the letter W. Let's use it: "disswade".
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My thanks to "yaora..." for this suggestion.

Sunday, May 12, 2013:  "capeesh" for "capisce", "capicé", "capiche", "capeesh", "capisch", "capishe", and "coppish"

If ever you doubted the need for spelling reform, the seven recognized alternative spellings for today's word should convince you. Plainly, one word does not need 7 different spellings. Six of the seven should be discarded. The seventh will do very nicely: "capeesh".

Saturday, May 11, 2013:  "bruze" for "bruise"

There are two problems with the present spelling of today's word. First, the letter sequence UI is ambiguous. It could be read as in "suite", "quite", or "ruin" (sweet, kwiet, ruewin), at the least. It actually merely stands in for a simple long-U sound without an initial Y-glide (because in English there is never a Y-glide between an R and a long-U). So we can replace the UI with U.

The second problem is that there is an S that does not represent an S-sound. Rather, the sound is Z. Why would we write a Z-sound with S?: "bruze".

Friday, May 10, 2013:  "enny" for "any"

The A here does not represent any A-sound, not long (as in "ate"), not short (as in "at"), not "broad" (as in "father"), not flat (as in "scary"). No, the sound is short-E. To show that unambiguously we need to change the A to E and double the N after it: "enny".
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My thanks to "Clap..." for this suggestion.

Thursday, May 9, 2013:  "trycloroewethilene" and "tryclorethilene" for "trichloroethylene" and "trichlorethylene"

Scientific words must not be given a pass, permitted to be unreadable by readers of English, esp. new readers. Rather, they, and all words, must be written in a way that is consistent with other words, so can be sounded out by anyone who knows the conventions of English spelling. Today's words cannot, so should be fixed.

(1) The I in the first syllable of today's words is followed by three consonants in a row in the traditional spelling, and would be followed by two consonants even in a reformed spelling, so should be read as short-I, whereas it is actually a long-I. To show that sound, we should use a Y, which is more likely to be seen as representing a long-I sound midword ("pyromaniac", "tycoon", "myopia").

(2) The CH does not represent the CH-sound, as in "church", but a simple K-sound. To show that, we need merely use a C before the L. That is, we should drop the H, which saves us a letter.

(3) Alas, the OE in the current spelling of the first word is ambiguous, and could represent one syllable, long-O. That is not the sound here, which is two syllables, a long-O followed by a short-E. To show that clearly, we need to add two letters, an E after the O, to show that the O is long, and a W to mark the boundary between the long-O sound and the following short-E sound. It was nice to be able to shorten the word, but now we have to lengthen it. Simpler spelling is not necessarily shorter spelling, just clearer spelling.

(4) The last issue in this pair of long words is that in the penultimate (next-to-last) syllable there is a Y in the traditional spelling that stands in for a short-I, even tho, as pointed out above, a Y midword is more properly to be seen as representing a long-I, not short. So let's change that Y to I.

Putting this all together, we get: "trycloroewethilene" and "tryclorethilene".

Wensday, May 8, 2013:  "smuther" for "smother"

Why would we spell a short-U sound with an O? Write a U!: "muther".
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My thanks to "Doghouse..." for this suggestion.

Tuesday, May 7, 2013:  "rouw" for "row" (an argument)

ROW is a homograph but not homophone for the familiar word of many meanings, ROW ("a line of things" or "to propel a boat by oars"). That word is pronounced roe; this one, rou.

To show the pronunciation of this word unambiguously, we need merely insert a U between the O and W, which will present readers with a clear indication that they should say the OU-sound.

We can't just replace the W with U, because OU at the end of a word is regularly pronounced as a long-U without initial Y-glide, which is also conceived of as the long-OO ("caribou", "kinkajou", and the enormously frequent "you"): "rouw".
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My thanks to "Dogger..." for suggesting reform of this word, tho I chose a slitely different solution.

Munday, May 6, 2013:  "pariatal for "parietal"

The second and third syllables in today's word are pronounced the same as the IA in other well-known words ("vial", "pliable", "diadem"). That would be a much better spelling here: "pariatal".

Sunday, May 5, 2013:  "mattin/s" for "matin/s" and "mattin/s"

We have here one of the few words in which American and British usage depart, and the British spelling (with two T's) is better. With a single-T, the word could be read as having a long-A sound, as in the similarly-spelled word "mating". But the actual pronunciation has a short-A, which requires a double-T: "mattin" and "mattins" (plural in form but sometimes used with a singular verb): "mattin/s".

Saturday, May 4, 2013:  "grammer" and "gramattic/al" for "grammar" and "grammatic/al"

This trio of words all need improvement. AR, in the base noun, is misleading, in that AR is most commonly pronounced with a "broad"-A or short-O (the same sound), as in "star", "carmine", and "afar". That is not the sound here, which is, instead, the sound most commonly written ER ("better", "ermine", "terminate"). So let's replace the AR with ER.

In the adjectives, an MM is misleading, in that it suggests that the A before it is short, whereas it is actually a schwa. So let's drop one of the M's, and not just make things clearer but also save a letter.

The consonant in the adjectives that should be doubled is the T, to signal that the A before that T is a full short-A. So let's double the T. We lose the saving we got by dropping an M, but end up with clearer spellings, which is more than worth a single additional letter: "grammer", "gramattic", and "gramattical".

Friday, May 3, 2013:  "enzime" and "enzimatic" for "enzyme" and "enzymatic"

This Food Friday, let's fix a word having to do with digestion. The present spelling of the base word, the noun "enzyme", is OK, and we could leave it, even tho a Y in an ending with just one consonant followed by a silent-E (YME) isn't really necessary to show a long-I sound. Further, YME is unlikely to be guessed by someone who merely hears the word.

The real problem, however, arises with the derived adjective "enzymatic", in which most educated people say a short-I for the Y. Rather than spell the noun with a Y and the adjective with an I, let's just spell both with I: "enzime" and "enzimatic".
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My thanks to "Fisher..." for "enzime".

Thursday, May 2, 2013:  "drommederry" for "dromedary"

-DROME is a combining form for "racecourse" ("hippodrome", "velodrome", "aerodrome") and has a long-O. That is not the sound here, which is most commonly a short-O, tho some people say a short-U. If they can see a U-sound in the present spelling, they can continue to see a U-sound in an improved spelling that at least steers readers away from saying a long-O.

-ARY can be said with an AI-sound ("wary", "scary", "nary"). That is not the sound here, which rhymes with "berry", "cherry", and "ferry", so should be spelled like them: "drommederry".

Wensday, May 1, 2013:  "caffinated" for "caffeinated"

Altho "caffein/e" has a long-E sound in its second syllable,* the sound in the second syllable of "caffeinated" is a short-I, so we should take out the E that precedes that I and leave only the I, at once saving a letter and making the sound clearer: "caffinated".
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* "Caffein/e" was thus offered here as "caffeen" on March 23, 2007.

Tuesday, April 30, 2013:  "broohaha" for "brouhaha"

The OU in today's word represents not the OU-sound but a long-U without initial Y-glide. That sound is much better written OO: "broohaha".

Munday, April 29, 2013:  "amneocenteesis" for "amniocentesis"

This long medical word can be made plainer, esp. as regards syllabic stress.

IO is ambiguous ("ion", "Iowa", "dominion", "adagio", etc.). The sound here is a long-E followed by a long-O, as in "video", "Leo", and "rodeo". Let's use that.

The -ESIS ending is also unclear, since some readers will be inclined to see the E as short or a schwa, esp. if they do not know that the word's primary stress falls on that syllable. The fact that the fifth syllable takes the primary stress is not in the slitest indicated by the current spelling, but would be suggested if we doubled the E in that syllable: "amneocenteesis" and, plural, "amneocenteesees".

Sunday, April 28, 2013:  "tersheeyerry" for "tertiary"

Today's word is so ambiguous that clarifying it will require expanding it substantially. The present spelling could be read as ter.tíe.ya.rìe, tér.tee.yèr.ee, tér.sha.rèe, tér.sha.rìe, and possibly other ways as well. Its actual pronunciation is tér.shee.yèr.ee. The way to write that clearly is: "tersheeyerry".

Saturday, April 27, 2013:  "smoothe" for "smooth"

"-THE'' is a normal pattern for showing that the TH-sound at the end of a word is voiced rather than unvoiced, i.e., ''wreath'' vs. ''wreathe'' and ''teeth'' vs. ''teethe''; "tooth", "booth"; "breathe", "seethe". Some people may think we don't need to draw this distinction, but maybe we do. Let's try it with at least some words and see if it makes the sounds easier for people, esp. children in the old-line English-speaking countries and students of all ages in non-English-speaking countries, to learn this most useful of all languages in the history of the world: "smoothe".
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My thanks to "Unicycle..." for this suggestion.

Friday, April 26, 2013:  "rynd" for "rind"

This Food Friday, let's fix a bad spelling for the skin on some fruits and cheeses. ND is a two-letter consonant cluster that should mark the vowel before it as short. But the I here is long. To show that, we either have to add an E after the I ("riend") or replace the I with Y, which often is pronounced , midword, as a long-I ("hybrid", "dynamo", "cycling"). The latter seems the better choice to me, esp. given the frequently encountered word "friend", in which that letter sequence is said not with a long-I, not with a short-I, but with a short-E!: "rynd".

Thursday, April 25, 2013:  "fotosfere" for "photosphere"

Today's word has two idiotic PH's for two ordinary F-sounds. We need to replace both PH's with F: "fotosfere".
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My thanks to "Moon..." for this suggestion.

Wensday, April 24, 2013:  "minyon" for "minion"

ION is a word to itself, pronounced with a long-I. That is not the sound here, which has a consonantal-Y where the traditional spelling has an I: "minyon".

Tuesday, April 23, 2013:  "gillt/y" for "guilt/y"

There is a word "gilt" that argues against our using that spelling. But we can double the L to distinguish this word from that one. The adjectival form with a final-Y can be formed the same way with this reformed spelling: "gillt" and "gillty".
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My thanks to "Wurdplay..." for this suggestion.

Munday, April 22, 2013:  "eeven" for "even"

The standard spelling here is not bad, except that there are two very frequently encountered words, "seven" and "eleven", that throw into question whether the first-E in "even" is long or short. In "even", it is long, and the simplest way to show that plainly is to respell it EE: "eeven".

Sunday, April 21, 2013:  "dominyon" for "dominion"

NION is a bad spelling for the sounds in today's word, which are the same as in "canyon" and"pinyon".  IO sometimes has a long-I sound ("ion", "iota"), but not here. Let's spell the sound here clearly: "dominyon".

Saturday, April 20, 2013:  "kyropter/a/n" for "chiropter", "chiroptera", and "chiropteran"

Today's words — for bats (the animals, not the baseball clubs) and their scientific order — all contain a CH but no CH-sound, as in "church". Instead, the sound is K. We have a K. Why would we not use it for a K-sound?

Second, IR is ambiguous, sometimes being said with a long-E sound, as in "irritating". That's not the sound here, which is a long-I. Midword, that sound is much better written with a Y, as in "dynamic".

The rest of all three words is straightforward and unobjectionable: "kyropter", "kyroptera", and "kyropteran".

Friday, April 19, 2013:  "bouw" for "bow"

In the word that means "to bend from the waist" or "the front of a ship", the vowel sound is not clear from OW, which could, as in the sense of this same spelling that means "a weapon for shooting arrows" or a knot used in tying shoes or decorating gift packages, be pronounced as a simple long-O.

Here, the vowel is the OU-sound. To show that, we need to insert a U between the O and the W. We can't just drop the W, because OU at the end of a word is ambiguous, often being pronounced as a long-U without initial Y-glide ("caribou", "marabou", "frou-frou"). Nor could we simply drop the W without adding a U, because that spelling, "bo", would be seen as having a long-O sound, despite words like "to" and "do" in which the sound is long-U with no Y-glide. But using both a U and a W should make the sound clear, and rid us of one of hundreds of needless homographs that contribute to making English so hard to learn: "bouw".
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My thanks to "Garage..." for this suggestion.

Thursday, April 18, 2013:  "addept" for the noun "adept"

There are two words in one in today's traditional spelling. The adjective is pronounced a.dépt, but the noun is pronounced áa.dept. To show the noun's pronunciation clearly, we need merely add a second-D: "addept".

Wensday, April 17, 2013:  "hoosoever", "hoomsoever", and "hoozsoever" for "whosoever", "whomsoever", and "whosesoever"

There is no W-sound in any of these words, so the W has to go. The first-O in the present spellings represents a long-U sound with no initial Y-glide. That sound is often written OO, which is appropriate here. The rare possessive form "whosesoever" is a harder call. We can't use an S for the "whose" part, because we should drop the E after it, in that it's silent so just shouldn't be there. If we leave an S at the end of the reformed spelling of "whose", it would adjoin the S for the "soever" part, and an SS should be said as an S-sound. Here we have a Z-sound followed by an S-sound, and we can put Z and S together without causing a misreading: "hoosoever", "hoomsoever", and "hoozsoever".

Tuesday, April 16, 2013:  "vermooth" for "vermouth"

The OU in this word does not take the OU-sound. Rather, it represents a long-U without initial Y-glide, which is also spelled OO. Since that is only one letter off from the current spelling, that's the way to go: "vermooth".

Munday, April 15, 2013:  "therrapy", "therrapist", and "therrapeutic" for "therapy", "therapist", and "therapeutic"

It's not always easy for new readers to know when a word is a compound of two or more other words, or not. Is "therapist" a combination of "the" and "rapist"? No, it is not, and it doesn't sound like that either.

A single consonant often goes with the following syllable, but here, the R-sound ends the first syllable in all three words. To show that, and to break the mental link to "the rapist" and derivative forms, we need merely double the R: "therrapy", "therrapist", and "therrapeutic".

Weekend Edition

Sunday, April 14, 2013:  "skelleton" and "skelletal" for "skeleton" and "skeletal"

ELE looks as tho it should be pronounced as a long-E followed by an L-sound, but it is instead pronounced as a short-E, followed by an L-sound, followed by another vowel sound, here, a schwa. To show that the first-E is short, we need to double the L. We can then leave the E after the double-L, to be seen as either a short-E or schwa: "skelleton" and "skelletal".

Saturday, April 13, 2013:  "rotwiler" for "Rottweiler"

We don't need a capital-R for this name of a breed of dog. We don't write "Poodle", "Spaniel", or "Terrier", do we?

Second, the EI produces serious questions as to pronunciation. Is it as in "height" (hiet), "weight" (waet), "atheism" (áe.tthee.ìz.am), "spontaneity" (which could be either spòn.ta.née.yi.têe or spòn.ta.náe.yi.têe", or "either"/"neither" (n)ée.ther or (n)íe.ther)? EI cannot be made clear. In today's word, the sound is long-I, which would be clear if we dropped the E and left only the I. So let's do that: "rotwiler".

Friday, April 12, 2013:  "pe" for "pea"

This Food Friday, let's shorten the spelling and clarify the sound of a common vegetable. EA at the end of a word can be pronounced as two syllables: "area", "apnea", "idea". That is not the sound here, which is one syllable, a simple long-E. So let's drop the A, save ourselves a letter, and make the sound clearer: "pe".

Thursday, April 11, 2013:  "nairduwell" for "ne'er-do-well"

Oddly, none of four online dictionaries I consulted provided an etymology for today's word. You are just supposed to know that "ne'er" is a poetic or antique contraction of "never", or look up "ne'er" separately. That reminds me of a witticism I learned in, perhaps, freshman year of high school (in 1958): "A dictionary is a place to look up a word, to look up a word, to look up a word ..." At least now, with online dictionaries, you can look them up easily and fast. Not at all easy nor fast was looking up all those words in a chain of words the way we had to do it 55 years ago, by flipping thru huge numbers of pages in printed dictionaries.

In any case, there are a few things wrong with today's word. First, it is a hyphenated phrase, rather than a simple compound word. Native speakers of English don't like hyphens, and often cannot remember if a phrase is hyphenated, or separate words, or all pushed together (which we do indeed do even with three-word phrases, such as "none[-]the[-]less", "never[-]the[-]less", "what[-]so[-]ever", and "who[-]so[-]ever" (plus its uncommon derived forms "whom[-]so[-]ever" and especially unusual possessive form "whose[-]so[-]ever"). So we need to get rid of the hyphens but not put in spaces. Rather, we should simply push the three words together.

The second problem is the apostrophe for an omitted V, which leaves unclear the sound of the letters around it. Is it née.yer? neer? What? We should just get rid of the apostrophe too, and spell the sound of that part of the word as it will be understood by the casual reader, with an AI: "nair".

The next problem is the dopy spelling DO for what sounds like DU. If it sounds like DU, it should be spelled DU.

Once we have made all those changes, the reader, in old-line English-speaking countries and in non-English-speaking countries alike, will be able to sound out this long word. If its meaning is not clear from its sound, they might have to look it up. But they'd have to look up the current form of the hyphenated, three-element word anyway if they don't know what "ne'er" is supposed to mean, which really is not self-evident: "nairduwell".

Wensday, April 10, 2013:  "modderit" for the noun and adjective, "modderate" for the verb

The O in all uses of this word is short, so should be marked short by a double-D after it. In the noun and adjective, the A represents a schwa so close to a short-I that it might as well be written with an I. In no event should there be a silent-E after the T for the noun and adjective, because the short-I sound would be mispronounced as long-I. In the verb, the A is pronounced, as you would expect from the letter sequence ATE, as long-A. So we should leave both the A and the silent-E after the T: "modderit" (noun and adjective), and "modderate" (verb)".

Tuesday, April 9, 2013:  "jeollojy", "jeollojist", and "jeolojjical" for "geology", "geologist", and "geological"

There are in all three of today's words J-sounds spelled with G. Why? G has its own, unique sound, as in "good", "golly", and "glockenspiel". J's sound is best conveyed by the letter J. After a short vowel, two J's would be clearer. Tho JJ is presently found in only one English word, "hajj", and its derivatives, J is not a unique letter but can be used in exactly the same way as other consonants, doubled after a short vowel.

The other issue of double or single consonants in these words arises as to the L's. Where the preceding-O is short, it should be so indicated by doubling the L. Where the O represents a schwa, however, the following-L should not be doubled: "jeollojy", "jeollojist", and "jeolojjical".
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My thanks to "Fishin..." for suggesting reform of today's words, tho I chose a slitely different solution.

Munday, April 8, 2013:  "extrordinair" for "extraordinaire"

There is no schwa sound before the OR in today's word, so we should drop the A. Moreover, the E at the very end of the word is silent, so should also be dropped. Tho some people might argue that the E suggests that the fourth syllable takes the word's stress, most people won't see it as having any such effect, and there is nothing to keep people from stressing the fourth syllable without such a marker, just as we can stress any syllable in other words. For instance, "permit", "incense", and "escort" can all be pronounced on either the first or second syllable. No silent-E marker is needed to show when the stress is on the last syllable: "extrordinair".

Sunday, April 7, 2013:  "dispoze" and "dispozal" for "dispose" and "disposal"

In each of today's words, there are two S's, one of which is pronounced like S but the other of which is pronounced like Z. Why? If the sound is Z, it should be written with a Z. Unlike yesterday's word, which has the same bizarre use of an S, we need only a single-Z for each of today's words, since the vowel before each Z-sound is long: "dispoze" and "dispozal".
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My thanks to "Red..." for this suggestion.

Saturday, April 6, 2013:  "clozzet" for "closet"

The sound of the S is Z, so why is it written S? Here, the Z-sound follows a short-O. To show that, we should double the Z: "clozzet".
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My thanks to "Fisherman..." for this suggestion.

Friday, April 5, 2013:  "betnuar" for "bête noir" and "bete noir"

There are four things wrong with this phrase. First, it's a phrase, even tho its two words are never used separately. So let's make it a compound word instead of a phrase, by taking the space out.

Second, it has an accent — indeed, the least common of the accents from French that we sometimes see, the circumflex — but English does not use accents, and most people in the old-line English-speaking countries do not know how to type any accent over a vowel. So the accent has to go.

Third, the E after the T is silent, so shouldn't be there.

Fourth, OI in English never sounds like the French-OI here, where the OIR is pronounced with a short-O, as sounds like the WAR in "warrant" as most people say it, or the UAR in "jaguar"". Since WAR is ambiguous, we should write UAR.

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

Thursday, April 4, 2013:  "addamant" for "adamant"

A single-D leaves unclear the sound of the preceding-A. Is it long ("Ada"), short ("Adam"), or a schwa ("adapt")? It's short, which we can show clearly by doubling the D: "addamant".

Wensday, April 3, 2013:  "teenaje", "teenajer"  and "teenajed" for "teenage", "teenager", and "teenaged"

-AGE is a common suffix pronounced with a schwa that is so close to a short-I that it might almost as well be written with an I, and a J-sound ("tonnage", "anchorage", "slippage"). That is not the sound here, which has a long-A and J-sound, since the AGE represents the ordinarily separate word "age". To show that and that the G is pronounced like J, not ZH ("collage", "sabotage", "fuselage"), we need merely substitute a J for the G: "teenaje", "teenajer", "teenajed".

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