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Thursday, June 30, 2016: "pattent"* for "patent"
The A in today's word is short, but a single-T after it will cause some readers to see it as long. Happily, there's a quick fix. Double the T: "pattent".
____________________* This is the form of the noun, meaning a governmental reservation of rights to an invention. The adjective, meaning "obvious", is pronounced páe.tant, so would not require respelling.
Wensday, June 29, 2016: "pantecknicon" for "pantechnicon"*
There is only one little problem in this long word, a CH for a K-sound. We could just drop the H, which would leave "pantecnicon". But CK would be even clearer, and more traditional, so let's use that: "pantecknicon".
____________________* A fancy, and rare, word for a moving van.
Tuesday, June 28, 2016: "obveate" for "obviate"
IA should be said with a long-I, as in "vial", "triad", and "defiance". Instead, the sound of the I here is long-E. So we should write EA: "obveate".
Munday, June 27, 2016: "nuron" for "neuron"
We don't need an EU here, which is properly used to show a YU-sound, whereas here, by far most people do not say an initial Y-glide before the U-sound: We can drop it with no loss, and saving a letter with no loss in clarity is always a good thing: "nuron".
Sunday, June 26, 2016: "Morfeus" for "Morpheus"
We have again, today, one of those goofy words that use PH to spell a simple F-sound rather than the ordinary sounds of P and H in sequence (as in "uphill" and "upheaval"). If the sound is F, let's write F: "Morfeus".
____________________* Greco-Roman god of dreams and sleep.
Saturday, June 25, 2016: "moonlite" for "moonlight"
There's no reason for us to use the absurd spelling IGHT where ITE will do nicely: "moonlite".
____________________My thanks to "FireW..." for this suggestion.
Friday, June 24, 2016: "marrinade" and "marrinate" for "marinade" and "marinate"
This Food Friday, we have two closely related words with the same little spelling issue. AR is usually pronounced with a "broad"-A, or short-O, the same sound. Here, the sound is an ordinary short-A, which before an R sound is commonly spelled with two R's ("arrow", "barren", "barrel"). So let's add an R to each of these words: "marrinade" and "marrinate".
Thursday, June 23, 2016: "maitreark" for "matriarch"
There are two problems with today's word. First, the two-letter consonant cluster TR would ordinarily mark the vowel before it as short, whereas here it is long. To show that, we need to write the vowel sound in itself rather than by what follows if. There are two frequent ways to write a long-A in itself, AI and AY. AY is more common at the end of a word; AI more common midword. So let's use that.The second issue is that the CH at the end of the word represents not the regular CH-sound, as in "church", but an ordinary K-sound. At the end of a word, C alone or K alone or CK together, would do nicely. In today's word, tho, AR precedes that sound, and "ark" is a word to itself that everybody knows. So K-alone would seem the best choice.
A third issue falls between the two I've already mentioned, an IA for what should be written EA. Now the word's changes are complete: "maitreark". ]
Wensday, June 22, 2016: "marsupeal" for "marsupial"
Here again we have an IA that has no I-sound, as it should ("bias", "trial", "reliance"). Rather, that I represents long-E. So let's write that: "marsupeal".
Tuesday, June 21, 2016: "lampree" for "lamprey"
PREY is a word to itself, said with a long-A in the second syllable. That is not the sound here, which is long-E. To show that most clearly, we can write EE: "lampree".
Munday, June 20, 2016: "keester" for "keister" and "keester"
There are two spellings for the one sound of this playful word for the human butt. If there's only one pronunciation, we don't need two spellings. The vowel in the first syllable is long-E, which is best written unambiguously as EE, whereas EI (oddly, the preferred spelling at present) could be seen by many readers as long-I (compare "either" and "neither", not to mention* "being" and "spontaneity", with its two pronunciations, spòn.ta.née.i.têe and spòn.ta.náe.i.têe. Let's use the clearer spelling: "keester".
____________________* Yes, I recognize the irony of mentioning something while pretending not to mention it.
Sunday, June 19, 2016: "Jappaneze" for "Japanese"
A single-P leaves unclear whether the preceding-A is long or short. It's short, so we should double the P, even tho some readers might see that as not only showing a short-A but also suggesting that the word's stress falls on the first syllable, whereas it actually falls on the last.The second problem with this word is that the S should be pronounced like Z, but the fact that the traditional spelling employs S has led a small proportion of speakers of English to say it with an S-sound. That secondary pronunciation is recognized by some, but not all, online dictionaries, so let's just simplify things for everyong by outlawing it in reformed spelling: "Jappaneze".
Saturday, June 18, 2016: "ineebreate" (verb) and (noun) "ineebreit" for "inebriate" (both parts of speech)
We have here two related words with some of the same problems.In both, the first-E precedes a two-letter consonant cluster, BR, which would ordinarily indicate that the preceding-E takes its short sound, but the sound here is actually long-E. To show that, we need to double that E.
A second problem in both words occurs in the pronunciation of the IA, which should be said as long-I plus an A-sound (long: "striation"; short: "triangle") or schwa ("diagram"), Instead, the IA is pronounced with a long-E. If the sound is E, why don't we just write E?
The verb properly has a silent-E (or "magic-E") at the end that marks the vowel before an intervening consonant (here, T), as taking its long sound. But in the noun (an infrequent usage), the sound of the A is a schwa so close to short-I that we might as well write it as I (as in "ruin" and "intuition"): "ineebreate" (verb) and "ineebreit" (noun).
Friday, June 17, 2016: "hobbanairo" for "habanero" and (incorrect) "habañero"
This Food Friday, let's fix the name of a small, very pungent pepper* used in Spanish, or, more particularly Cuban, cookery. The word is from the Spanish term for someone or something from the city of Havana ("la Habana" in Spanish). Some English-speaking people ignorant of the Spanish language write this as "habañero", in what Wikipedia calls "a hyperforeignism", "hyper" because it goes beyond the actual differences between languages. In Spanish, there is no tilde, and no NY sound, just a plain-N.Nor is the H capitalized in Spanish. In English, we carry over the initial capital of a place name to an adjective derived therefrom: a person from New Jersey is a New Jerseyan. In Spanish, however, an adjective derived from a place name is not capitalized: Habana/habanero, España/una persona española.
Another oddity is that in Spanish, H is always silent, but in this borrowing into English, the H is pronounced in the ordinary English fashion.
The vowel sounds in "habanero" are those of Spanish and other "Continental" European languages, in which A has the "broad"-A or (same sound) short-O of English (shortened to schwa in unstressed position, as in the second syllable today) and E has a sound like that of English long-A. To show the short-O in the first syllable clearly, we need to double the B immediately following. To show the proper sound of the E in the third syllable, we should write AI (as in "hair"). A good rendering of the actual sounds of "habanero" in English spelling conventions would thus be: "hobbanairo".
____________________* This word is generally distinct from the similar word "habanera" (offered here as "hobbanaira" on September 9, 2016) whose primary meanings relate to a Cuban slow dance and the music for it, and only secondarily to a chili pepper.
Thursday, June 16, 2016: "gofer" for "gopher"
We have here another instance of the idiotic spelling PH for a simple F-sound, all of which should be abolished. We have a letter for that sound, F. Let's use it: "gofer".
Wensday, June 15, 2016: "gavozh" for "gavage"*
AGE should be pronounced with a long-A, as in the word "age" itself, "rage", and "onstage". Unfortunately, in a host of words, AGE is also pronounced with a schwa so close to short-I that we might better write an I, followed by a J-sound ("postage", "selvage", and "language"), so "gavage" might be seen by people who have never encountered the word, as being pronounced gáe.vij, as tho it has something to do with "gave", the past tense of "give". That's not the sound here either, which is, instead, that found in "garage", "collage", and "entourage", which is to be said as tho written OZH. If that is the pronounciation, it should as well be the spelling: "gavozh".
____________________* Dictionary.com: "forced feeding, as by a flexible tube and a force pump".
Tuesday, June 14, 2016: "Galic" for "Gallic"
ALL is commonly pronounced with the AU-sound, as in the word to itself "all", "tall", and "ballplayer". That is not the sound here, which is, rather, a regular short-A, which can be shown as AL, as in "gal", "pal", and the nickname "Al": "Galic".
Munday, June 13, 2016: "flech" and "flecher" for "fletch"* and "fletcher"
We don't need TCH to show the CH-sound ("rich", "which"): "flech" and "flecher".
____________________* Dictionary.com: "to provide (an arrow) with a feather".
Sunday, June 12, 2016: "figyur" for "figure"
The vowel sound in the second syllable of today's word is the one most commonly written ER ("gaffer"), but also UR ("fur") and AR ("altar"). URE, however, suggests a long-U, with or without an initial Y-glide ("pure"; "sure"). If we drop the E, we show the correct sound for the great preponderance of native speakers of English. Britons who use the dialectal pronunciation fíg.ur can stay with the present spelling if they like, or reform it to "figur", whereupon it will become just one of the differences between standard English — (North) American) — and British dialect, of which there are hundreds. What we must NOT do, however, is let the tail wag the dog, and permit dialectals to interfere with the convenience of speakers of standard English in the traditionally English-speaking countries and among the two billion or so people elsewhere who are trying to learn this most useful of all languages in the history of the world, but find themselves bogged down and confused by the insane spelling we now consent — but should no longer consent — to suffer: "figyur".
Saturday, June 11, 2016: "fellon/y" for "felon/y"
A single-L after the E leaves unclear whether the E is long ("feline") or short ("elephant"). It's short. To show that, we need merely double the L: "fellon" and "fellony".
Friday, June 10, 2016: "faheeta" for "fajita"
This Food Friday, let's fix the name of a Mexican dish (Dictionary.com: "a thin strip of marinated and grilled meat"), that uses the letter J in an unexpected way. We might expect to see a J used for the English J-sound ("just/ice"), or the French J-sound (like ZH: "au jus"), or even the German- or (transliterated) Hebrew-J (like English Y: "ja", "Yahweh"). This J isn't like any of those, but equates with the English H-sound. So let's use H .One other matter requires fixing: the sound of the I is not like either of I's sounds in English, long as in the pronoun "I" itself and short as in "it". Rather, it's a "Continental-I" (as used on the mainland of Europe), and equates with English long-E. That sound is most clearly shown in English by EE, so let's use that: "faheeta".
Thursday, June 9, 2016: "ech" for "etch"
We don't need TCH to represent a simple CH-sound (as in "church" and "chinch"). CH will do nicely ("rich", "which", "beech"): "ech".
Wensday, June 8, 2016: "elizhun" for "elision"
SION, which is a word to itself as a variant of "Zion", is an odd way to spell its sound here, which is zhun. If that's the way it sounds, that's the way we should write it: "elizhun".
Tuesday, June 7, 2016: "odavee" for "eau de vie"
This originally French term for "a strong alcoholic liquor, especially brandy",* comprises three words for what should be, in English, just one. Let's take out the spaces. That would leave us with "eaudevie", which is exceedingly unclear. The EAU is pronounced as a simple long-O sound, which we could, before a single consonant, write clearly as just-O. The DE is ambiguous, in that the E is supposed to be pronounced as a schwa. In such a location that schwa would best be written as A. And the IE at the end of the word could be seen as either a long-I ("pie", "die", "belie") or long-E ("cookie", "hippie", "boogie-woogie") Here, it is supposed to be pronounced as long-E, which is most clearly written EE: "odavee".
____________________*Microsoft Encarta World English Dictionary.
Munday, June 6, 2016: "eech" for "each"
EA is ambiguous, sometimes representing long-E ("sea"), sometimes short-E ("steady"), sometimes two syllables, such as long-E plus schwa ("area", "idea") or long-E plus long-A ("creation"). Here, the sound is a simple long-E, which is much better shown by EE: "eech".
Sunday, June 5, 2016: "douwajer" for "dowager"
There are two problems with today's word. First, OW is ambiguous, sometimes being pronounced as long-O ("glow", "know", "bestow") but other times as the OU-sound ("how", "now", "brown"). To show the right sound, we need to write OUW.The second problem is the G for a J-sound. If the sound is J, we should write J: "douwajer".
Saturday, June 4, 2016: "dedline" for "deadline"
EA is ambiguous. It could be said as long-E ("flea"), short-E ("bread"), or a combination of long-E and schwa ("area", "rhea"). So ambiguous is EA that we have two frequently occurring words that we cannot know how to pronounce without context, "read" and "lead", because each can be said with a long- or short-E. If the sound is short-E, we can indicate that readily by dropping the A: "dedline".
Friday, June 3, 2016: "duccat" for "ducat"
In this informal word for a ticket to a theatrical performance, a single-C could incline most people new to the word to see the preceding-U as long, whereas it is actually short. Indeed, the entire word is likely to be read wrong by a large percentage of people who see it for the first time, as to be said dúe.kàat, rather than the correct dúk.at or dúk.it, similar to "ticket" (tík.it). There's a quick fix for that misperception and resulting mispronunciation, to double the C: "duccat".
Thursday, June 2, 2016: "domminate" for "dominate"
A single-M leaves unclear whether the O before it is to be read as long or short. It's short. To show that plainly, all we need do is double the M: "domminate".
Wensday, June 1, 2016: "divulj" for "divulge"
We have here another of the many words in which G stands in for a J-sound. Why would we write that, when we have a letter J for that sound?: "divulj".
Tuesday, May 31, 2016: "cercus" for "circus"
IR almost never spells the sound most commonly written ER ("perfect" "error", "terrible"), but also commonly UR ("surge", "urgent"), occasionally OR ("bettor", "minor") or AR ("libary", "upward"), and only very rarely IR ("bird", "circuit") . A child in an English-speaking country who hears the word "circus" said, can be expected to visualize an ER. So let's write this sound in this word that way: "cercus".
____________________My thanks to "Red..." for suggesting reform of today's word, tho I chose a slitely different solution.
Munday, May 30, 2016: "ceelum" for "coelom", "celom", and "celome"
There are three spellings for this word from biology for a body cavity, all bad. The OM does not take the sound of short-O, but of short-U. So let's replace that O with U. The earliest spelling, "coelom", empoys an OE for a long-E sound. That is an indefensibly absurd way to write a long-E in English. OE should represent a long-O, as in "aloe", "pekoe", and "mistletoe". The other two accepted spellings more sensibly employ an E in that location. But that might not be clear to some readers, who could see a single-E as taking the short-E sound, esp. before L ("elegant", "celebrate", "accelerate"). To convey clearly that the sound is really long-E, we should write EE: "ceelum".
Sunday, May 29, 2016: "cumfry" for "comfrey"
Both of the vowel sounds in this word* are spelled badly. The O is outrite wrong, because the sound is short-U. The EY is ambiguous, and could be read as either long-E ("whiskey") or long-A ("survey"). It's a long-E, and if we delete the E to leave only -Y at the end, we will make that plain: "cumfry".
____________________* Microsoft Encarta Dictionary: "healing herb: a plant with hairy leaves and stems. Flowers: pink, white, or blue, in clusters."
Saturday, May 28, 2016: "colofon" for "colophon"*
COLO will be read by many people as having a long-O in the first syllable, if not also the second. In actuality, however, the first-O is short. To show that, we should double the following consonant, here, an L. Alas, an O before either one or two L's can be long ("banderol", "poll"). Nonetheless, a double-L is more likely to be seen as marking the preceding-O as short, as accords with the way a double consonant works with other vowels, so let's double the L.The second problem is the insane, stupid, and inefficient spelling PH for what is, after all, only an F-sound, which could and should be written much more wisely and efficiently with the one letter F: "collofon".
____________________* Dictionary.com: "a publisher's or printer's distinctive emblem, used as an identifying device on its books and other works."
Friday, May 27, 2016: "cuepola" for "company"
The three-letter sequence CUP starts off this word, and the reader can be forgiven for seeing it as being pronounced the same as the stand-alone word "cup", with a short-U. Unfortunately, that is not the right sound, which is, instead, long-U with an initial Y-glide. To show that, we can instead start the word off with CUE, a word to itself that contains the right sound: "cuepola".
Thursday, May 26, 2016: "culdasack" for "cul-de-sac"
Why are there two hyphens in this three-syllable term for a dead-end street? Neither CUL- nor the second element, "DE", is ever used by itself in English. And most writers of English hate needless hyphens. So let's just get rid of both hyphens and close up these three apparent words into one, which is the way we process them.While we're at it, let's replace the ambiguous "de" with "da", which is more likely to be read right, as a schwa. And let's add a K at the end so it looks more like a word that originated in English rather than French. CK is not necessary to show that the A in the last syllable is short. Either C or K alone would do. But we are more comfortable seeing a CK in such a location, and people trying to remember how to spell it are more likely to write CK than either C or K alone: "culdasack".
Wensday, May 25, 2016: "kelonean" for "chelonian"*
CH is ordinarily pronounced as in "church", but here, the sound is that of K. If the sound is K, why would we not use the letter intended for that sound? A second issue is that the IA is pronounced not with a long-I sound, as in "reliance", but with a long-E sound. If the sound is long-E, we should write E: "kelonean".
____________________* MS Encarta Dictionary: "a reptile, e.g. a turtle or tortoise, that has most of its body enclosed in a hard bony shell".
Tuesday, May 24, 2016: "cumpany" for "company"
O is the wrong vowel for the sound in this word, which is short-U. If the sound is U, we should write U: "cumpany".
____________________My thanks to "Monsters..." for this suggestion.
Munday, May 23, 2016: "citreen" for "citrine"
INE has three common pronunciations, one with a long-E ("gasoline"), one with a long-I ("define"), and one with a short-I ("adrenaline"). In today's word, the sound is long-E, which is most clearly written EE: "citreen".
Sunday, May 22, 2016: "cinnematoggrafy" for "cinematography"
Readers should be able to know how the INE in today's word is to be said. It is not read as one syllable, by any sound, but as two syllables, separated by an N-sound. To show that, we need to double the N.The sound of the O before G is also unclear, not so much as to the quality of the vowel as to the fact that the fourth syllable takes this long word's primary stress. We can show both that the O does not represent a schwa and that that syllable takes the main stress, by doubling the G.
Finally, the PH represents not the sound of those two consonants said separately, as in "uphill" and "upheaval", but as a simple F-sound. PH is a ridiculous and ambiguous way to write an F-sound. We have a letter F. Let's use it: "cinnematoggrafy".
Saturday, May 21, 2016: "bohtreoidal" for "botryoidal"
There are two problems with this unusual word for something in the shape of a cluster of grapes. First, a vowel followed by two consonants, like the O in the first syllable, is ordinarily given its short sound, but the sound here is long-O. To show that, we could write OE, OA, or OH. OE might be seen as representing two vowel sounds side-by-side, as in "poetry" and "coexist". OA might be clear, but some people could see it too as representing two vowels, as in "boa" and "oasis". OH thus seems best. It's unusual, but does occur in words like "kohlrabi" and "ohm".The second problem is the sound of the Y. Midword, a Y is often pronounced as long-I, but here, it is long-E. To show that, we can substitute E. That may look a little odd, but it's clear: "bohtreoidal"..
____________________* There is a related word, "botryose", but it has two pronunciations, one with a long-O in the first syllable, the other with short-O, so cannot be changed.
Friday, May 20, 2016: "boheemean" for "bohemian"
Why is the sound sequence long-E + schwa written with IA, which should be pronounced with a long-I, as in "triad" and "defiant"? Let's change the IA to EA. That could involve a little confusion with the word "mean", pronounced in one syllable. But if we put an extra-E in the second syllable, at once to show plainly that there is a long-E sound in that syllable and to indicate that the word's main stress falls on that syllable, things become clear, because rarely or never are two syllables in a row stressed, and long vowels rarely fall in unstressed syllables. Adding a second-E to the second syllable should make plain to most readers how the -MEAN at the end is to be said: "boheemean".
Thursday, May 19, 2016: "bazingga" for "bazinga" and "buzzinga"
Altho not found in major dictionaries, this playful word from the sitcom The Big Bang Theory (equivalent to "gotcha" meaning "I tricked you") has two bad spellings, in that NGA could be said as the NG-sound of "blazing" with or without a "hard"-G sound, and even as separate sounds for the N and G, as in "ungainly". To show the correct sound, the NG-sound plus a hard-G, we need to double the G: "bazingga".
____________________* There are other meanings for "bazinga", one the name of a tiny jellyfish found off the east coast of Australia and another, a seven-string harp; it is also part of the name of an endangered Brazilian bee.
Wensday, May 18, 2016: "bagass" for "bagasse"
This rarely-seen word* looks French, so readers would be inclined to pronounce it in the French fashion (ba.gós). Unfortunately, it is actually pronounced ba.gáas. If we drop the final-E, readers will be much more likely to say it right: "bagass".
____________________* Dictionary.com: "crushed sugar cane or beet refuse from sugar making" and "paper made from fibers of bagasse".
Tuesday, May 17, 2016: "bindy" and "bindee" for "bindi" and "bindhi"
We have here two different words from the Indian Subcontinent pronounced the same and both spelled badly. The first, "bindi", is a forehead decoration among Hindu women, in the form of a small, usually red dot. The other, "bindhi", is a name in South Asian English for "okra". They are both pronounced bín.dee, but -I at the end of a word in English often takes the sound of long-I ("alkali", "stimuli", "hippopotami"). We can make these words both phonetic and still distinguish between them, so let's do so: "bindy" for the forehead decoration, "bindee" for the food.
Munday, May 16, 2016: "aquavitee" for "aqua vitae"
This old-fashioned term for a strong alcoholic beverage, esp. brandy, is unphonetic, because AE is ambiguous. Here, it is pronounced as long-E, but in "sundae", it is pronounced as long-A. To show the long-E sound, we should write the clearest rendering of that sound, EE. We also don't need to divide the term between words, but can write it as one word: "aquavitee".
Sunday, May 15, 2016: "apreeshativ" for "appreciative"
There are five little problems with the conventional spelling of today's word. First, the APP should be seen as representing a full short-A followed by a P-sound. In actuality, the vowel at the very beginning of the word is a schwa. To show that, we need merely delete one of the P's, which has the further advantage of saving us a letter, which is all to the good.Second, the E after the R is long, but you could not know that from the spelling, because a single-E followed by any consonant could easily be seen as short. We need to show long-E in the spelling of the vowel itself, not by what follows it, and the clearest way to show long-E is EE.
Third, CI could be seen as being pronounced with two adjoining vowels, either long-I (as in "sciatica") or long-E (as in "enunciate") followed by either long-A or schwa; or with only one vowel, schwa. The sound here is schwa, so should be written in the most frequent way we write schwa, with the letter A alone.
Fourth, the C in the CIA cluster does not represent either of C's customary sounds, S or K, but the sound ordinarily written SH. So that's the way we should spell it here.
And fifth, the IVE at the end of the word should be pronounced with a long-I, as in "five", "strive", and "alive". The E at the end is thus misleading, so we should drop it, which will save us another letter! Now we have a clear spelling: "apreeshativ".
Saturday, May 14, 2016: "aprize" for "apprise"
There are two problems in this short, two-syllable word. First, a vowel followed immediately by a double consonant should ordinarily be read as taking its short sound, but the A here does not in fact represent either of A's sounds, long as in "rating" or short as in "apple", but a schwa. To show that clearly, we need only drop one of the P's.The second problem is that the S stands in for the Z-sound. Why would we write a Z-sound with S? We have the letter Z for that sound. Let's use it: "aprize".
Friday, May 13, 2016: "ondoowee" for "andouille"
It's Food Friday again, and today we have the name of a spicy Cajun or French smoked sausage to fix. Tho the present, French, spelling has two L's, there is no L-sound in this word. So let's drop both L's, and spell the actual sound, which is a long-U, but without an initial Y-glide, plus a W-sound, plus a long-E at the end. But even before we would get to that cluster of sounds, we would encounter the French treatment of the two letters EN at the beginning of the word, as in the sophisticated pronunciations of "envelope", "enclave", and "entente", which are said with a short-O, not short-E: "ondoowee".
Thursday, May 12, 2016: "apojjatura" for "appoggiatura"
This term from music has a peculiar, Italian spelling that makes no sense in English. To begin with, APP should be read, in English, as having a short-A, but actually has a schwa in the first syllable. Second, GG in English should definitely be read as having a "hard"-G, which is to say the ordinary G-sound, expressed by no other letter, as in "give", "gig", and "gipper". That is, not, however, the sound here, which is the "soft"-G, a dopy way to say "the J-sound". We surely do not need two G's and an I to represent the English J-sound, tho to show a short vowel before that sound, we should double the J.If we make these changes, we end up with a good, clear spelling that accords with English conventions: "apojjatura"
Wensday, May 11, 2016: "ameable" and "ameabillity" for "amiable" and "amiability"
As in yesterday's word, AMI is ambiguous. Yesterday, the A was short, so we marked that by doubling the following-M. In today's two related words, however, the A is long, so we don't need to double the M. What we do need to do, however, is change the I to E, in a place where an E will cue the reader to pronounce the A as long, in both words.The second issue is the sound of the remaining-I, before the L. It's short, so should be shown clearly to be short by doubling the following-L. Now we have a twosome that is spelled clearly: "ameable" and "ameabillity".
Tuesday, May 10, 2016: "ammity" for "amity"
AMI is ambiguous, and could be read as having a long-A, as in "amiable", or a schwa, as in "amiss". The sound here is short-A. To show that, we need to double the M: "ammity".
Munday, May 9, 2016: "arromattic" for "aromatic"
Before R, A is ordinarily given its "broad" sound, the same sound as short-O ("bar", "parlance", "artificial"). That is not the sound here, which is short-A. To show that, we often double the following-R: "narrow", "barrel", "arrogant"). Let's do that here.Further, the second-A is also short, so we should mark that by doubling the following-T: "arromattic".
Sunday, May 8, 2016: "aply" for "apply"
We don't need, and indeed should not write, two P's. The A represents only a schwa, not a full short-A: "aply".
____________________My thanks to "Music..." for this suggestion.
Saturday, May 7, 2016: "anonnimus" and "annonimmity" for "anonymous" and "anonimity"
These two related words are pronounced very differently, so should be spelled very differently.In both words, there is a Y that stands in, needlessly, for a short-I. We don't need to use a Y to represent an I. That's what the letter I is for. Also in the adjective, the first-O is short. To show that, we need to double the following-N. And there is an OU toward the end that has no OU-sound, but only a schwa that, in its location, should be written simply as U.
In the noun, the A represents not a schwa, as is said at the beginning of the adjective, but a full short-A. To show that, we need to double the following-N. Also in the noun, there is a second short vowel, the first-I, which we need to show by doubling the following-M.
Now the pronunciations of both words are clear: "anonnimus" and "annonimmity".
Friday, May 6, 2016: "ie" for "ai"
Unlike the word spelled the same which we dealt with yesterday, today's word is a mild interjection (Dictionary.com: "an utterance of pity, pain, anguish, etc.", very like the first element of the Spanish interjection "ay, caramba"). The English interjection sounds like the English first-person pronoun "I" slowed down but otherwise indistinguishable from that pronoun. In asmuch as the pronoun is always written with a capital letter, we could write the interjection the same, but with a lowercase letter ("i"). However, many (lazy and imprecise) people write everything in lowercase, esp. in informal communications, such as text messages, in which it is a real chore to capitalize letters. So let's distinguish the interjection with a following-E: "ie".
Thursday, May 5, 2016: "ahyee" for "ai"
There is no ideal spelling for this name of a three-toed South American sloth, which is pronounced in two syllables without a Y-glide between them (óq.ee, where the Q is silent and merely 'cues' a short-O sound in the first syllable. In Portuguese and Tupi, from which the term derives, it seems reasonable to put a short break between the two vowels, but in English, when two vowels adjoin, there is almost always a Y- or W-glide between them. So we need to write the first vowel as "ah", then place a Y-glide after it, then add the second vowel, which is a long-E, best written EE: "ahyee".
____________________My thanks to "space..." for this suggestion.
Wensday, May 4, 2016: "addipoce" for "adipose"
There are two things wrong with the conventional spelling of today's word. First, a single-D leaves unclear whether the preceding-A is long or short. It's short. To show that clearly, we need to double the D.The second problem is that the sound of the S is ambiguous, given that an entire word with the same four-letter sequence, POSE, is pronounced with a Z-sound. The sound here is S. To show that in this location, we need to substitute a C: "addipoce".
Tuesday, May 3, 2016: "aclaim" for "acclaim"
A double-C should be seen as being pronounced with a short-A, as in a word related to today's, "acclamation". Here, however, the A represents a schwa, which is most commonly shown, especially at the start of a word, by the letter A, without more: "aclaim".
Munday, May 2, 2016: "zeeka" for "Zika"
Viruses are generally not capitalized, so we can lowercase this name of a disease-producing virus. Another problem is the un-English treatment of the I, which is to be said with neither of I's sounds, long as in the pronoun "I" and short as in "it". Rather, it is said with a long-E sound, which is most clearly written, in English, as EE: "zeeka".
Sunday, May 1, 2016: "yockitoree" for "yakitori"
(Ideally, I would use this word on a Food Friday, but it is the only word left under the letter Y in the future-words list.)This word for a Japanese dish* uses vowels in un-English ways, so readers of English would be justified in pronouncing it yàak.i.táu.rie, but it's actually pronounced yòk.i.táu.ree. A spelling using English conventions, thus, would be: "yockitoree".
____________________* Microsoft Encarta Dictionary: "small pieces of grilled chicken that are basted on skewers with a sauce of soy, stock, sugar, and mirin".
Saturday, April 30, 2016: "vakeeta" for "vaquita"
The vaquita is the smallest porpoise, in both size and numbers, being critically endangered. Its name is Spanish, in that it is found only in the northern portion of the Gulf of California (also known as the Sea of Cortez), and its name is spelled perfectly in Spanish. But English is not Spanish, and a reader of English outside the United States, which has become pretty good at pronouncing Spanish words, might well read it as va.kwít.a. To show the actual pronunciation clearly to everyone who reads English, even in places like China and Russia, we should reform its spelling (and in a hurry, because it might go extinct very soon, if the efforts of Mexican conservationists fail) to: "vakeeta".
Friday, April 29, 2016: "euterus", (regular plural) "euteruses", and (irregular plural) "euteri" for "uterus", "uteruses", and "uteri"
The sound of the U in the first syllable of these inflected forms of a term from anatomy is unclear. There should be an initial Y-glide that is not completely self-evident from the present spellings. Let's make it perfectly clear, by writing EU, as in "euphemism", "eugenics", and "euphony": "euterus", "uteruses", and "euteri".
Thursday, April 28, 2016: "toxoplazmosis" for "toxoplasmosis"
There are three S's in this long word for a parasitic infection. Two, those in the "-SIS" at the end, are pronounced as S, as they should be. The third, before the M, is pronounced as Z, which it should not be. If the sound is Z, let's write Z: "toxoplazmosis".
Wensday, April 27, 2016: "timmid" for "timid"
A single-M in this word leaves unclear whether the preceding vowel is long (as in "humid" and "timing") or short. It's short. To show that, we need merely double the M: "timmid".
Tuesday, April 26, 2016: "tilda" for "tilde"
Why is a schwa at the end of this word written -E, which suggests a long-E as in "calliope", "apostrophe", and "hyperbole"? Plainly, the schwa at the end of today's word should be written as A: "tilda".
Munday, April 25, 2016: "Teeshakh" for "Taoiseach"
This is not exactly an English word, but a dopy, pretentious term from the Republic of Ireland for "Prime Minister". Altho some people want to preserve Irish Gaelic, Wikipedia says that only 39% of the people in the country regard themselves as able to speak it. Why on Earth would anyone want to impose upon people to struggle to learn a language USELESS outside of the Republic? Ireland is really an English-speaking country, and many government services and governmental and non-governmental publications are available only in English.Mastering one language is hard (as you can hear from the many mistakes in grammar and speech everywhere around you in any English-speaking country). Mastering two languages is much harder. Why impose bilingualism, at significant expense in financial terms and in time lost from education in USEFUL studies? Forcing bilingualism complicates people's mastering the dominant language.
In any case, today's word is spelled in an absurd fashion, so needs to be reformed for speakers of English, to reflect the pronunciation in English spelling conventions, in which the ridiculous AOI is replaced by EE, the SE is replaced by SH, and the CH is replaced by KH, to represent a harshly guttural K-sound. Those substitutions would render the word comprehensible by readers of English worldwide, who presently could not even guess how it is to be said: "Teeshakh".
Sunday, April 24, 2016: "spaishus" for "spacious"
There are two problems with this word. First, there is a long-A in the first syllable, but the spelling does not make that plain. AI rather than just-A would be better.The second problem is the -CIOUS, which is a preposterous way to spell an SH-sound plus a short-U followed by an S-sound. CI does not spell the SH-sound. SH does. And OUS contains the letter sequence OU, but the word does not contain an OU-sound. Let's drop the O, which will leave the short-U sound clear: "spaishus".
____________________My thanks to "fishstick..." for this suggestion.
Saturday, April 23, 2016: "smuj" for "smudge"
DGE is a preposterous and inefficient spelling for a simple J-sound: "smuj".
Friday, April 22, 2016: "sorgo" for "sorgo" and "sorgho"*
This Food Friday, let's make a little change to eliminate a needless second spelling for this one word, the primary spelling of which is "sorgo". The H in the alternative spelling is silent. If it's silent, it should not be written: "sorgo".
____________________* Dictionary.com: "any of several varieties of sorghum grown chiefly for the sweet juice yielded by the stems, used in making sugar and syrup and also for fodder."
Thursday, April 21, 2016: "syce" for "syce", "sice", and "saice"
Few native speakers of English will know this word from India,* and it's not likely to come up much, but, if anything, that should make reforming it all the easier. There are presently three spellings, two of which are OK, and either of which would do, and a third which is misleading. The one that is best, for showing a long-I most clearly, is the only one we should permit, "syce". "Sice" also shows a long-I, but not as powerfully. But "saice" should be pronounced with a long-A, so is misleading. "Syce" shows a long-I sound twice, in both the ICE formula of vowel+consonant+silent-E and Y(+consonant+silent-E). So let's use that and retire the other spellings: "syce".
____________________* Microsoft Encarta Dictionary: "formerly in India, a groom, stable hand, or other attendant".
Wensday, April 20, 2016: "si" for "sai"
This recent borrowing from Japanese, for a weapon in traditional Okinawan martial arts, has an un-English spelling that should, in English, be read as having a long-A, whereas it actually has a long-I sound. To show that, we should simply delete the A, which would then leave only an -I at the end, which should then be read like other English words that end in -I, such as "alibi", "alkali", and "cacti": "si".
Tuesday, April 19, 2016: "spurj" for "spurge"
Why is the J-sound here spelled GE? G has its own sound, represented by no other letter (as in "get", "gecko", and "gearbox"). We have a different letter for the sound in today's word, J, so let's write J: "spurj".
Munday, April 18, 2016: "spirokeet" for "spirochete"
This scientific term for a type of bacteria, employs CH for a K-sound. Why? If the sound is K, let's just write K. A second issue is whether ETE is the best way to spell a long-E followed by a T-sound. It's not, but could be pronounced with a long-E in a final syllable to itself, as in "epitome" or "machete". EET would be clearer: "spirokeet".
Sunday, April 17, 2016: "sfagnum" for "sphagnum"
We have here another word with the preposterous formulation PH for a simple F-sound. If the sound is F, write F: "sfagnum".
Saturday, April 16, 2016: "soh" for "sow"
There are two words of the same spelling but different senses pronunciations and meanings. The noun "sow", pronounced sou, means a female pig. The verb "sow", meaning to spread seeds, is pronounced so. But that's already a word. OH, however, is available to represent a long-O, especially at the end of a word, so let's use that: "soh".
Friday, April 15, 2016: "skil" for "skill"
We do not need two L's to show an L-sound. One will do very nicely: "skil".
Saturday, April 14, 2016: "shipbord" for "shipboard"
OA does not spell the AU-sound. Before R, we could write either AU or O. Since O is shorter, why not use that?: "shipbord".
____________________My thanks to "Cal..." for this suggestion.
Wensday, April 13, 2016: "scrumpshus" for "scrumptious"
TIO does not spell the SH-sound. SH does. Once we make that substitution, we will also end a common mispronunciation in which people say a U-sound, as tho the word were written "scumpchuous". Let's write today's word in a way that no one will think to say a long-U-sound: "scrumpshus".
Tuesday, April 12, 2016: "spinell" for "spinel" and "spinelle"
There are two accepted spellings for the name of this group of minerals, some of which are used as gems. The first, "spinel", is inadequate, in that it is not likely to be understood by a reader who is not familiar with the word, as taking stress on the second syllable. The alternative spelling is likely to be seen as signal(l)ing stress on the second syllable, which isn't so bad, but it is a little longer than it need be. We can drop the -E at the end, and the reader is still likely to understand that the second syllable is stressed, don't you think?: "spinell",
Munday, April 11, 2016: "smartfone" for "smartphone"
PH is an inefficient, preposterous, and ambiguous way ("uphold", "uphill", "upheaval") to write an ordinary F-sound. If the sound is F, let's just write F: "smartfone".
____________________My thanks to "space..." for this suggestion.
Sunday, April 10, 2016: "seshun" for "session"
SSI is an unusual and unphonetic way to write the SH-sound. If the sound is SH, let's just write SH.After that consonant, we have to choose how to write the vowel before the final-N. It's a schwa, and any vowel can be seen as a schwa in an unstressed syllable, but either O (as in the traditional spelling, "session" or U, as in "shun", would seem advisable. Let's use U: "seshun".
Saturday, April 9, 2016: "shool" for "schul" and "shul"*
Yesterday we dealt with another Yiddish word whose anglicized version has two forms, one with SCH to represent the ordinary English SH-sound, and the other without a C between the S and H. Plainly, the C adds confusion, so should be eliminated.A second issue is the sound of the U in both spellings. UL is sometimes pronounced with a short-OO sound, as in "pull", "bull", and "full". That's not the sound here, which is the English long-OO sound, another way of saying a long-U without an initial Y-glide. Since there are two OO sounds, we should ideally use another spelling to show the long sound. Unfortunately, there is no absolutely unambiguous spelling for that sound, so OOL is about as clear as we can make the pronunciation, especially in that both pronunciations are in use, so we don't have to try to show only one: "shool".
____________________* Schul/shul is another way of saying "synagog/ue". Dictionary.com shows the plural as "shuln", but Microsoft Encarta Dictionary shows is as either "schuls" or "shuls". Let's come down on the side of regular plurals, "schuls" / "shuls".
Friday, April 8, 2016: "shmooz" for "schmooze", "schmoose", and "schmoos"
As with many other words from Yiddish, different people take different approaches to anglicising today's word. One issue is how to spell the initial consonant. Why should there be a C between the S and the H? There shouldn't be. It confuses the issue, since SCH can be pronounced like SK, as in "schedule", "school", and my surname ("Schoonmaker", which my family pronounces skúen.màe.ker). The sound in today's word is usually spelled with just S+H ("shave", "fishing", "rush"), so let's drop the C between.The second issue is how to spell the Z-sound at the end of the word. You'd think this would be supremely easy. If the sound is Z, why would we not simply write Z? Well, you see, -S is often used to pluralize nouns or indicate the third-person singular of verbs, but is pronounced like Z in most cases, that is, after all but a few final unvoiced consonants, like T, F, and K. None of those sounds occurs in today's word. And indeed, it is not a plural nor a third-person singular. So why would anyone use an S to represent the Z-sound here?
Moreover, -SE can be pronounced with a regular S-sound, as in "goose", "loose", and "caboose". So the use of an S here is very ambiguous and thus misleading. If the sound is Z, let's just write a Z. We don't need an E after it, since the Z-sound is the last sound in the word. So let's just write E, without anything after it: "shmooz".
Thursday, April 7, 2016: "saluebreus" for "salubrious"
There are three things wrong with the spelling of today's word: first, the sequence of two consonants, BR, should be read as marking the previous vowel (here, U) as short, but it is actually long. To show that, we have to indicate the sound of the U in the spelling of the vowel sound itself, not by what follows it, which is more common. UE would do.Second, there is an I in the third syllable that represents neither of I's sounds, long as in the pronoun "I" itself, "bridal", and "pious" (which is exactly parallel to the end of "salubrious" in spelling but not sound), but long-E. If the sound is E, let's just write E.
Third, there is, in the fourth syllable, the vowel sequence OU, but no OU-sound. The sound is a simple short-U, or schwa sound given that it appears in an unstressed syllable, which will be clear if we drop the O but leave the U. Putting this all together, we get "saluebreus".
Wensday, April 6, 2016: "rodeum" for "rhodium"
Why is there an H in this word? It's not pronounced, so should not be there. Let's drop it, and save ourselves a letter, which is always to the good.A second issue is IU for the vowel sequence long-E plus short-U. If the sound is long-E, why on Earth would we write an I? Let's just use the proper letter, E: "rodeum".
Tuesday, April 5, 2016: "revvenant" for "revenant"
RE- is a very frequent prefix, usually pronounced with a long-E. That is not the sound here, even tho not only does the word start with RE-, but there is also an E after the single-V in the traditional spelling, which is a second cue to the reader that the first-E is long. But it's not. To show the proper, short-E sound, we need to double the V: "revvenant".
Munday, April 4, 2016: "peubis" and (plural) "peubeez" for "pubis" and "pubes"
We have here an anatomical term for the lowest portion of the human abdomen and the hair that appears in that region at puberty. The plural, "pubes", is commonly mispronounced as one syllable, rhyming with "cubes", "tubes", and "rubes". It is actually pronounced in two syllables, with the vowel sound in the second syllable being long-E. Replacing the -ES with -EEZ would show the correct pronunciation handily.One issue remains, the pronunciation of the U. As you can see from the sample words above, only one of which is pronounced with an initial Y-glide, the reader cannot know from the present spelling whether there is or is not an initial Y-glide. There is. To show that, we should replace the U in both singular and plural with EU (as in "euphemism", the personal names "Eugene" and "Eugenia", and the scientific term "eugenics"): "peubis" and (plural) "peubeez".
Sunday, April 3, 2016: "tribbulation" for "tribulation"*
A single-T after the first-I in today's word leaves unclear whether that I takes its long sound, as in "tribal", or short, as in "shibboleth". It's short. To show that plainly, all we need do is double the following-B: "tribbulation".
____________________* 'We interrupt this march of words in alphabetical order [at least as regards the first letter, if not what immediately follows the first letter] to present a word more appropriate to Sunday, in that we ran out of religious words starting with P. We shall return to words that start with the letter P, tomorrow.'
Saturday, April 2, 2016: "pickup" for "pick-up" and "pickup"
We have here a term with two spellings, one with and one without a hyphen. We don't need a hyphen, and modern usage dislikes needless hyphens, so let's just drop it, OK?: "pickup".
Friday, April 1, 2016: "picotta" for "piccata"
This Food Friday, let's fix two little absurdities in a term from Italian cuisine meaning (Dictionary.com) "cooked, served, or sauced with lemon and parsley". The first issue is that the double-C powerfully suggests that the word's stress falls before the double-C, on the first syllable, whereas it actually falls on the second. To show that stress pattern, we should remove one of the C's and double the T.The second problem is that the first-A should be seen as being pronounced as in "cat", with a short-A, but it is actually pronounced with a "broad"-A, or short-O, the same sound. If the sound is short-O, we should write O, which before double-T will be read right: "picotta".
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