Simpler Spelling
Word of the Day

(In general, only the base form of a word to be revised is given, but closely related forms, such as inflected variants of a verb or a noun created from the verb take the same change (e.g, the reform of "saturate" to "sachurate" carries over to "sachuration", "sachurated", and "sachurating"; "abizmal" carries over to "abizmally"; and so on.)

The G here represents not G's own, unique sound, often called "hard-G", but the sound of J. We have a J. Let's use IT for the J-sound. We can also make clear that the E is short, by doubling the following M: "Jemmini".

Friday, June 29, 2018:  "fovva [bean]" for "fava"

The first-A in this Food Friday's word represents neither of A's sounds, long or short, nor even a schwa, as does the second-A. Rather, it represents short-O. To show that, we need to change the vowel to O and double the following-V: "fovva".

Thursday, June 28, 2018:  "equivvalent" and "equivvalence" for "equivalent" and "equivalence"

A single-V permits a reader, esp. a new reader of English to see the I before it as long, whereas it is actually short, in both words: "equivvalent" and "equivvalence".

Wensday, June 27, 2018:  "disaible" and "disabillity" for "disable" and "disability"

The second of today's pair of words suggests the need to reform the first, because the A in the second represents schwa, but in the first represents long-A. We need to show that. If it were at the end of the word, we would write AY. But within a word, AI would be expected. In the second word of today's pair, the A is fine, but the sound of the I is unclear in that a single-L after it could permit a long-I. The sound is actually short-I, which we can readily indicate by doubling the L: "disaible" and "disabillity".

Tuesday, June 26, 2018:  "cavveot" for caveat"

The traditional spelling of today's word is very unclear, and has given rise to multiple pronunciatioins. The first four letters are very misleading, in being the same in writing as the word to itself "cave" but having a short-A, not long. To show that, we need only double the V. The E is then no longeer misleading but takes its long-sound, which the reader will understand because it is followed by another vowel. That vowel, however, should be not A but O, because the sound of the preferred pronunciation is short-O, as in "tot" and "jot": "cavveot".

Munday, June 25, 2018:  "bandalairo" for "_bandolero"

ERO should be seen as being pronounced with a long-E, as in "hero", "zero", and "Nero". That's not the sound here, which is the AI-sound as in "air", "fair", and "pair". So let's write AIR in the third syllable of today's word: "bandolairo".

Sunday, June 24, 2018:  "auspishus" for "auspicious"

CIOUS is a peculiar way to spell what sounds like SHUS. If the sound is SHUS, let's just write SHUS: "auspishus".

Saturday, June 23, 2018:  "zobbollyony" for "zabaglione"

This Food Friday, let;s fix a word with a most un-English spelling (for a type of Italian dessert custard with wine). The sounds eill nr vlrst only yo proplr eho knoe Italian spelling conventions, which relatiely few people in English-speaking countries do actually know. But if we replace the bizarre Italian spellings with English conventions, many more people will be able to pronounce it: "zobbollyony".

Friday, June 22, 2018:  "wairwoolf" for "werewolf"

Both syllables of today's word have issues. WERE is a word to itself, pronounced WER, but the sound it should have is WAIR. And WOLF should be said with a short-O, because a single-O is followed by two consonants, whereas the sound is actually short-OO as in "good" and "took". So let's double the O to make that plain: "wairwoolf".

Thursday, June 21, 2018:  "Veeshy" for "_Vichy"

Today's word is spelled with French conventions but should be spelled with English conventions: "Veeshy".

Wensday, June 20, 2018:  "ultracreppidarean" for "ultracrepidarian"

There are two little things to fix in this seven-syllable word.* First, a single-P leaves unclear whether the E before the P is long or short. It's short. To show that plainly, we need to double the P. The second problem is the IA at the end of the word, which should be pronounced as a long-I followed by schwa, as in "dial", "diagnosis", and "pyschiatry". It is actually said as long-E followed by schwa, as in "Caribbean", "Cesarean", and "pean", the simpler rendering of "paean"": "ultracreppidarean".
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* Dictionary.com: "noting or pertaining to a person who criticizes, judges, or gives advice outside the area of his or her expertise".

Tuesday, June 19, 2018:  "tooty-frooty" for "tutti-frutti"

UTT should be pronounced with a short-U, as in "butt", "mutt", and the golf term "putt". In actuality, the sound is long-U without an initial Y-glide, which would more clearly be written OOT, twice: "tooty-frooty".

Munday, June 18, 2018:  "scrounj" for "scrounge"

There's only one problem with today's word, a GE for a J-sound. If the sound is J, why would we write a G?: "scrounj".

Sunday, June 17, 2018:  "rambunkshus" for "rambunctious"

The major problem with today's word is the odd spelling TIOUS for what would much more sensibly be written SHUS. But we could also usefully replace the C with K, especially since if we do write SHUS, a C before it might be a little confusing because of the common letter sequence SCH, which could be pronounced as either an SH-sound or an SK-sound. If we write K instead, the reader will not be confused at all: "rambunkshus".

Saturday, June 16, 2018:  "quodripleejea" for "quadriplegia"

The first-A today takes neither of A's ordinary sounds, long as in "able" and short as in "at". Rather, the sound is short-O. So let's exchange the A it for O. The second issue occurs in the third syllable, a long-E, which would be clearer if we write EE, which has the added advantage of suggesting that the word's primary stress falls on that syllable, which it does. The next issue is a G for a J-sound. Why does English use G for a J-sound? It's absurd, so should be eliminated everywhere, and replaced with the proper J. The last problem falls at the end of the word, where there is an IA, which suggests a long-I, as in "giant" and "diagram", whereas the sound is actually a long-E. To show that, we need merely replace the IA with EA: "quodripleejea".

Friday, June 15, 2018:  "poparee" for "potpourri"

There are FOUR problems in this nine-letter word! First, there is a silent-T. If the T is silent, it should not be there. Second, there is an OU letter sequence, but it does not represent the English OU-sound. Rather, it is a schwa, which would be much clearer if written as A. Third, there is a double-R, which a listener could not know, so we should delete the second, extraneous R. And fourth, the word ends in I, which suggests a Latinized irregular plural, pronounced long-I, as in "cacti", "stimuli" and "hippopotami", but it is actually pronounced as long-E. At the end of a word, we could show that as Y or EE. Y would be more appropriate to an adjective, whereas this is a noun. So EE would be better. Putting these four little changes all together, we get: "poparee".

Thursday, June 14, 2018:  "onnajer" for "onager"

This term for a wild donkey of southwestern Asia, has tw0 problems for readers of English. First, the Ois short, which is not clear from its being followed by a single-N. And second, the G does not represent a G-sound but a J-sound. Happily, there are quick fixes for both these problems. First, double the N; second, change the G to J: "onnajer_".

Wensday, June 13, 2018:  "nurosurjery_" for "neurosurgery"

The bulk of speakers of English as a first language do not say a Y-glide at the start of the long-U sound in the first syllable of today's word, which EU would seem to require. If we drop that E, different readers can say whichever they want, because a simple-U does not forbid an initial Y-glide. So let's drop that E. The second issue in today's word is the G, hwich represents not G's own, unique soudn, as in "give", "get" and "giddy", but the J-sound. If the sound is J, let's just write J: "nurosurjery".

Tuesday, June 12, 2018:  "meezles" for "measles"

EA can be pronounced in a number of waysP long-e, without more, as in "sea"; long-E + schwa, as in "ethereal"; long-E olus long-A, as in "creation"; even the AUU-sound, as in the personal name "Sean". Here, the sound iz a simple long-E, which is much better shown by EE. The other problem with today's word is an S for a Z-sound. If the sound is Z, we should write Z: "meezles".

Monday, June 11, 2018:  "lattitudinarean" for "latitudinarian"

Today's word means marked by freedom of attitude, with which it rhymes. So it should follow the clearer pattern of "attitude", with a double-T. At the end of today's word we have the vowel sequence long-E + schwa, but it's written like the sequence long-I + schwa, as in "dial", "defiant", and "psychiatry". There is no way to make the correct sequence entirely clear, but EA is arguably better, as in "rhea", "Caribbean", and "cereal". Putting these two little changes together, we get: "lattirudineairean".

Sunday, June 10, 2018:  "Keeswaheelee" for "Kiswahili" and "ki-Swahili"

I is the wrong letter for all of the I's in today's word/s. The sound is long-E, so we should substitute EE for all the I's: "Swaheelee" and "kee-Swaheelee".

Saturday, June 9, 2018:  "judishus" for "judicious"

The first four letters of today's word are fine. The last two letters are fine. But the middle of the word is radically wrong. CI does not spell the SH-sound. SH does. And OU should be said as the OU-sound, but here it is pronounced as a schwa, which would be better written as just-U: "judishus".

Friday, June 8, 2018:  "impeereus" for "imperious"

The letter sequence IOU is entirely wrong for the sounds. The I should be pronounced as a long-I, but is actually pronounced as long-E. If the sound is long-E, we should write E. The OU does n0t represent the OU-sound, but a schwa, or short-U, which we can show clearly by writing, simply, U[S]: "impeereus".

Thursday, June 7, 2018:  "hypockarizm" for "hypocorism"

There are three problems in today's five-syllable word. First, the O before the C is short, which a single-C does not make plain. We could double the C or put a K after it. CC in such a location is uncommon, so CK seems the better choice.

The second problem is an OR after the K-sound. Many readers might be tempted to pronounce that letter sequence like the identical word to itself, "or", with an AU-sound. The proper sound, however, is schwa, which would better be shown by A.

There is a third problem, an S before the final-M. The sound is not S, as in "isthmus", but Z. So let's replace the S with Z. Ideally, we should show that the ZM letter sequence is pronounced as two syllables, as by placing an A or I between the Z and M, but, on the principle that the less change the better, let's just leave ZM: "hypockarizm".
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Dictionary.com defines "hypocorism" thus:

1. a pet name.
2. the practice of using a pet name.
3. the use of forms of speech imitative of baby talk, especially by an adult.

Wensday, June 6, 2018:  "gammin" for "gamin"

A sngle-M in this word suggests that the A before the M-sound is long, as in the nearly identical word "gaming" (as in playing casino games. To make plain that the A is short, we should double the M: "gammin".

Tuesday, June 5, 2018:  "frajjil" and frajillity" for "fragile" and "fragility"

The G's in today's words represent not the G-sound (which is also sometimes called the "hard"-G sound, as in "get", "give", and "go"), but the J-sound, as in "jab", "jig", and "just". So let's replace the G's with J's. In "fragile", the A before the J-sound takes its short sound, so we need a double-J to show the short-A. We also shouldn't write an E at the end of the word, because that would ordinarily indicate that the I before the L is long, as in "file" and "while", whereas it is actually short.

In "fragility", however, the A represents not a full short-A but a schwa, because the word's stress falls on the second syllable, before the L-sound. To show that, we need merely delete the second J from "fragile" and add a second L to "fragility": "frajjil" and "frajillity".

Munday, June 4, 2018:  "ellocution" for "elocution"

E at the beginning of a word is often pronounced as long-E, as in "elect", "emit", and "evolve". Here, it is short. To show that, we should double the L: "ellocution".

Sunday, June 3, 2018:  "derivvativ" for "derivative"

There are two problems in today's four-syllable word, an E at the end, which would ordinarily signal that the I before the V takes its long sound. To indicate the proper, short-I sound, we need merely drop the final-E. The other problem is the short-I before the V-sound. To show that, we need to double the V: "derivvativ".

Saturday, June 2, 2018:  "communicativ" for "communicative"

There is only one problem in today's five-syllable word, an E at the end, which would ordinarily signal that the I before the V takes its long sound. To indicate the proper, short-I sound, we need merely drop the final-E: "communicativ".

Friday, June 1, 2018:  "ajjulate" and "ajjulation"for "adulate" and "adulation"

The D's in today's words represent not the D-sound but the J-sound, so let's replace them both with J. Moreover, since the A-sound before the J is short, we need to double the J: "ajjulate" and "ajjulation".

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We are running low on, or have already run out of, words in need of reform that start in I, J, K, L, N, O, Q, U, V, W, X, Y, and Z. If readers see the need for reform of words that start in any of those letters, and which have not already been used (as recorded in this project's chronological archives) or rejected for this project files, please suggest reforms. But we need not change spellings unless the present spelling is inadequate or misleading, or there is more than one spelling and we need to settle on only one.

Please bookmark this page and stop by regularly. Tell your friends. Tell your teachers. Tell the world!

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This website proposes modest spelling changes to make English easier to read and write. Each day, we list (at least) one word that could usefully be respelled as would make English easier for kids and non-native speakers to learn, and for all of us to use, every day. If ordinary people, in their emails and personal communications, note-taking, etc., were to adopt these little changes each day, over time we would achieve significant simplification of English spelling, because publishers and educators would have to follow the people's lead. (Proposed reforms apply to all derivatives of the word reformed, not just to the base word.)

Tho it would be neater to change all words of a pattern at the same time (e.g., all -OUS endings to -US), that is implied in the change of individual words of that pattern. But traditional English spelling isn't consistent, which is why it is so hard to master. Some words that sound the same are spelled differently (there, their, they're); some words that are spelled the same are pronounced differently (refuse as verb and noun). To impose complete consistency on English without radical reform is impossible. Short of radical reform, then, we can either reform some words or surrender to spelling chaos and do nothing.

English spelling didn't become crazy all at once, but one word at a time. Old English was phonetic, and such variations in spelling as occurred reflected variations in pronunciation. New words have come into the language one by one, with their own individual spelling, sometimes quite unreasonable. In like fashion, we can change some unreasonable spellings to reasonable, one word at a time, inefficient tho that approach may be. See below for radical reform that does address all the issues at once.

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* SSWD is a project of L. Craig Schoonmaker, Newark, New Jersey, United States, creator of Fanetik: Reformed (Phonetic) Spelling - at Least for Teaching. [NOTE: On April 5, 2017, I corrected the link above, and the two below. They had pointed to a website I was paying for, but the Australian webhost proved unreliable. So I moved the key files to the free webhost Tripod, which is compensated for its webhosting by ads atop each hosted webpage. These links now point to my free Tripod website.] Phonetic pronunciations on this site are rendered in Augméntad Fanétik, which employs accents for syllabic stress. For information about other ways to change irrational spellings, search the Internet for spelling reform.

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Comments? Suggestions? If you have suggestions as to words to reform, please check first if they have already been used or have already been placed on the list of words to be addressed in the future or words that have been considered but rejected. Please also check the principles that control whether a word will or will not be offered. Once you have done that, or for any other purpose, please write to Fanetiks@aol.com. Because, for reasons I do not understand, some people have written under temporary email addresses that are abandoned before I can reply, I will not make personal replies to anyone who (a) does not request reactions and (b) does not provide a valid return email address (which will be checked, before I write any substantive reply, by a test email). And if you'd like credit on this page for any suggestion you make that is used, please provide a name and location (city, state/country) for that credit. Absent a personal name, credit will be given to an abbreviated form of the email address, without the at-sign or domain information (e.g., if the email address is "mjmartin@gmail.com", credit might be made to "mjmart...")