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Sunday, May 28, 2017: "dessecrate" and "dessecration" for "desecrate" and "desecration"
Today's closely related words are both ambiguous as to whether the first-E is long or short, because the two-letter sequence SE that follows allows the reader to see the E before it as long. It's short. To show that, we need to double the S: "dessecrate" and "dessecration".
Saturday, May 27, 2017: "erithrocyte" for "erythrocyte"
It's Science Saturday again, and we have the formal name for a red blood cell to deal with. Y, midword, should be reserved to the long-I sound in "dynamite", "pyorrhea", and "hydration". Here, however, the sound is short-I, so let's write I. Everything else in this four-syllable word is fine: "erithrocyte".
Friday, May 26, 2017: "dissonnest" for "dishonest"
There are two problems with today's word. First, the two-letter sequence SH occurs, but there is no SH-sound, as in "dish", "shush", and "sheen". Second, a single-N followed by E would ordinarily be seen as marking the preceding vowel — here, an O — as long, as in "cone", "drone", and "alone".Fortuitously, there are quick fixes for both these problems. First, we should drop the H, which comes not from this word but its opposite, from which it derives, "honest". That then leaves a single-S after the I, which renders unclear whether it's long or short. It's short. To indicate that, we need to double the S.
The second problem, making clear that the O is short, is solved by simply doubling the N after it: "dissonnest".
Thursday, May 25, 2017: "distinctiv" for "distinctive"
As with yesterday's word, we can save a letter here and make the sounds clearer. The IV at the end does not represent a long-I, as in "jive", "alive", and "derive". If we simply drop the final-E, the fact that the sound is short-I will be clear: "distinctiv".
Wenzday, May 24, 2017: "discorse" for "discourse"
We have here an OU that does not represents the OU-sound. If we take the U out, the actual sound will become clear, and we will have save a letter, which is always to the good if dropping that letter does not make things unclear: "discorse".
Tuesday, May 23, 2017: "derizhon" for "derision"
In today's word, we have a DE that does not represent either long-E or short-E, but the first element in the two-letter sequence that is the most common spelling of the ER-sound, as in "iceberg", "better", and "person". Few native speakers of English will have trouble with that part of today's word, but they might want guidance as to the sound of the SION at the end of the word, given that there is a word "Sion", a variant of "Zion" prounced like Zion but with an S-sound rather than Z; and that there are some other words in which the SI in SION represents an SH-sound ("ascension", "compulsion", "expansion"). Here, the sound is that which is more clearly, if now only rarely, shown by ZH (as in "muzhik" and the surname of the historical figure Leonid Brezhnev). Let's use that: "derizhon".
Munday, May 22, 2017: "denizen" for "dennizen"
DE- is a common prefix, ordinarily pronounced with a long-E ("deny", "defy", "decent"). We need to show that in this word, the E is short, and the way we usually, and easily, do that is by doubling the following consonant. Good idea: "dennizen".
Sunday, May 21, 2017: "clumzy" for "clumsy"
Here we have one of the hundreds of words that inexplicably use S to stand in for the Z-sound. Why? We have a different letter for that sound, Z. Let's use it. "clumzy".
Saturday, May 20, 2017: "nidarean" for "cnidarian"
This Science Saturday, let's reform the name of a sea creature with stinging tentacles. The C is silent, so shouldn't be there. Near the end, an IA is supposed to represent a long-E followed by a schwa, but IA should be reserved to words in which the I takes its own long sound, as in "vial", "reliance", and "diaphanous".
Friday, May 19, 2017: "crokett" for "croquette"
This Food Friday, let's fix a two-syllable loanword from French, the source of multitudious problems in English spelling, that has three problems. First, there is a QU where there should be no Q, because it represents only a K-sound in English, and K covers that sound both nicely and efficiently, as only-K.Third, there is no U-sound, not long, as in "rude", nor short, as in "grub", not a W-sound "guava", so is much more reasonably written with just-K. Further, there is no KW-sound, so should be no written-U, as in words where U stands-in for a W. Second, the second syllable takes the primary stress, which the ETTE is supposed to indicate, but we don't need both a TT and a final-E to show that. TT, without more, should indicate that plainly: "crokett"y:
Thursday, May 18, 2017: "cimeerean" for "Cimmerian"
This unusual, literary word has four problems. First, there is a capital letter at the beginning, which is not needed if the meaning is just "very dark, gloomy" rather than a term from classical mythology meaning "a western people believed to dwell in perpetual darkness" (both definitions from Dictionary.com). So let's lowercase the word if it is just a term for very dark.Second, we don't need a double-M, since the word's stress falls on the second syllable, so anyone who knows where the word's stress falls will know not to read a long-I in the first syllable, in that English almost never puts two long vowels in adjoining syllables. So if we can show, unamgibuously that the stress falls on the second syllable, that, by itself, will cue the reader to say a short-I, because a long-I would pretty much never all in an unstressed syllable. Can we show, clearly, that the word's stress falls on the second syllable? Sure. All we need to is double the E in the second syllable.
The last problem is that the I near the end should be pronounced as long-I, as in "diagram", "hiatus", and "trial", whereas it is actually pronounced long-E. To show the proper sound, we need merely replace the I with E.
Putting this all together, we get: "cimeerean".
Wensday, May 16, 2017: "cuvvet" for "covet"
There are two things wrong with this short word. First, the vowel in the first syllable is wrong. It's not an O-sound, either long as in "go" or short as in "on". Rather the sound is short-U, as in "cup". So we should write U. Because it is a short-U, we have to indicate that somehow. The convention is to double any single consonant after a short vowel, which, here, is a V. Let's do that. A third issue, not exactly a problem, is whether to leave the E or change it to I. This is not crucially important, because either E or I in this location will be said as a schwa rather than a full short vowel. In that the traditional spelling has an E, we can just leave the E: "cuvvet".
Tuesday, May 16, 2017: "cuzzin" for "cousin"
I'm astonished that I hadn't offered this word before now, in that this project has been going since July 2004 and this word is an obvious target for revision. Better late than never, I suppose.There are three flagrant absurdities in this short word. First, there is an OU but no OU-sound. Rather, the sound is short-U, which would rationally be spelled with just-U, but followed by at least a two-letter consonant cluster. The absence of such a consonantl cluster is the second problem today.
The third problem is what consonant cluster should follow the U, to mark it short. Presently, an S follows the U, but that's phonetically wrong. The sound is not S, the voiceless member of the S/Z unvoiced/voiced pair. (Most people interested in phonetics will know what these terms mean, but if you are new to phonetics, let me explain. "Voiced" means that you employ your voice when saying a given consonant. There are several voiced/unvoiced pairs. B is voiced; its pair, P, is NOT voiced, but something like a whisper. D is voiced; its pair, T, is unvoiced/voiceless. F is unvoiced; its pair, V, is voiced. You use your voice with G, but not with K, which would otherwise be the same sound. J is voiced; its pair, CH, is unvoiced. If you were to use the wrong member of the pair in speaking, you would puzzle listeners. You should't do that in speech, and equally should not do it in writing. In alphabetic writing, what you write should plainly indicate what you mean people to hear when they say it to themselves. That's what an alphabet, as against ideographic writing, was designed to do: convey SPEECH. Happily, all the problems in today's word have easy fixes: "cuzzin". Bizarrely, some people would write "cuzzin" in dialect that is supposed to indicate an uneducated person, even tho it is far and away more intelligent a spelling than the idotic "cousin". Let us hereafter write the enormously more sensible spelling: "cuzzin".
Munday, May 15, 2017: "cortezan" for "courtesan" and "courtezan"
Few people realize that there are two spellings for today's word (for a high-class prostitute or paramour who bestows her favors on rich and/or noble men), but neither is quite right. The first, with an S, is very wrong. The second, with a Z, is less wrong, but still not right.The first problem is that there is an OU in both spellings, but no OU-sound. We need to drop the misleading-U. The second problem is, of course, the misleading S, in the primary spelling, which is supposed to convey the Z-sound, but does not. The sound is actually the voiced member of the S/Z pair (S representing the unvoiced, or voiceless, member). The sound is Z, so we should write Z: "cortezan".
Sunday, May 14, 2017: "candelobrum" and (plural) "candelobra" for "candelabrum" and "candelabra"
A is not the right vowel for the third syllable of today's word. That spelling is supposed to represent neither of A's ordinary sounds, long as in "creation" and short as in "rat". Rather, the vowel sound here is "broad"-A, a dopy, needless alternative term for short-O, the same sound. Let's just write O: "candelobrum" and its irregular-plural, "candelobra".
Saturday, May 13, 2017: "cardeomyoppathy" for "cardiomyopathy"
This Science Saturday, let's reform the spelling of a term from medicine, for a serious problem with the heart, but of unknown or ambiguous cause. There are only two problems in this seven-syllable word. First, IO is clearly not the right spelling for the sound sequence long-E plus O. IO should be reserved to a long-I sound plus long-O ("iota"), short-O ("ionic"), or schwa ("biological"). So we need to replace the I with E.The second problem has as much to do with syllabic stress as with the vowel sounds. MYO will be seen by many readers as a long-I plus long-O, such that the end of this word would be said as -míe.yoe.pàa.tthe (and the full word, as kòr.dee.yoe.míe.yoe.pâa.tthee. That is NOT the pronunciation intended. Rather, the O after the Y is short. If we double the P thereafter to show that the O is short, we also cue the reader to where the syllabic stress falls in this very long word: "cardeomyoppathy".
Friday, May 12, 2017: "coorzhett" for "courgette"
This Food Friday, let's fix the preferred British term for "zucchini". The British version is a loanword from French; the preferred American term is on loan from Italian. Either way, the two terms are spelled inappropriately for English. We already offered "zookeeny", on March 16, 2007. Now it's time to fix "courgette", by (1) replacing the OU, which has no OU-sound, with OO; (2) replacing the G, which is completely wrong phonetically, with the phonetically correct ZH; and (3) dropping the silent-E, which serves no purpose, at the end. An E at the end of a word, even after two consonants, sometimes indicates a long vowel before the intervening consonants, as in "lathe" and "taste". The E here has no such effect, but has absolutely no effect on the word's sound, so should just be dropped. Leaving the TT should be enough to cue the reader to the fact that the word's stress falls on the last syllable: "coorzhett".
Thursday, May 11, 2017: "cheet/er/s" for "cheat", "cheater", and "cheaters"
EA is a hugely ambiguous spelling ("sea", "Beatrice", "diarrhea", "Sean", etc., etc.), so cannot be made plain, esp. to people outside the traditionally English speaking countries. Here, the sound is a simple long-E, which is best written EE. The verb has an agent form, "cheater", which we need to fix as well. There is, further, a noun, "cheaters", slang for "eyeglasses", that we should also fix: "cheet", "cheeter", and "cheeters".
Wensday, May 10, 2017: "candlelyt" for "candlelight"
This word includes the insanely stupid letter sequence IGHT, which has two silent letters, the G and the H. If they are silent, they shouldn't be written. But without them, the spelling would be "candlelit", which is an adjectival form derived from the past tense of the verb. There are three obvious ways to show a long-I in the third syllable, ITE, YTE, and YT. LITE is used in informal writing in the sense of the opposite of heavy, or rich in calories, so either LYTE or LYT would be better. LYTE has a silent-E, so if we want to show the sound sequence efficiently, we would do better to drop the E and let Y represent a long-I sound, as it does, without a silent-E, in words like "hydro", "bypass", and "dynamometer". So let's write: "candlelyt".
____________________My thanks to "Fisherman..." for suggesting reform of this word, tho I chose a slightly different solution.
Tuesday, May 9, 2017: "cleevij" for "cleavage"
Altho most people, on hearing this word, will think of the third definition at Dictionary.com, "the area between a woman's breasts, especially when revealed by a low-cut neckline", that authority actually lists seven definitions for "cleavage". In any event, this project is concerned with spelling, not meaning, and the spelling is misleading, in that AGE should be said with a long-A, as in the word "age" to itself, "page", and "rage". That is not the sound here. Rather, the vowel (a schwa) is so close to a short-I that we might better write IJ. Let's.In the first syllable, we have an EA, which is a highly ambiguous vowel sequence ("area", "rhea", "break", "bean", "Sean", and so on). Here, the sound is a simple long-E, which is best written EE: "cleevij".
Munday, May 8, 2017: "cinneeyast" for "cineaste", "cineast", and "cinéaste"
Three spellings — none of them quite right — for one word, is the kind of chaos that makes learning and using English so difficult, not just for the billions of people in non-English-speaking countries around this planet who want to master the most useful of all international languages in the history of the world, but also for people in the English-speaking countries themselves (ourselves).The first problem is that a single-N makes unclear whether the preceding-I is long, as a reader might expect, esp. in that there is an E immediately after the N, which calls into question whether we have here one of the multitudinous "silent E's" that are not exactly silent but mark the preceding vowel, beyond an intervening consonant, as long. INE in particular is a special case. This letter cluster has three common pronunciations, as in "fine" (long-I), "magazine" (long-E), or "adrenaline" (short-I). Here, the E does not link to the I before the N, but is the vowel sound of a syllable to itself, pronounced long-E. To clarify that the I is short, and thus that the E in the second syllable represents another sound, we need to double the N.
The second problem in this trio of spellings, is that in two of them, "cineaste" and "cineast", the letter cluster EAST might be seen as one syllable, having the sound eest, as in the term for the cardinal point of the compass ordinarily shown to the right in maps. In actuality, however, in these words there are two syllables in the letter cluster EAST, which divide between the E and A. In "cineaste" and "cineast", the E just after the N represents a long-E sound; and the A, a short-A. In "cinéaste", the A still represents a short-A, but the E with a written acute accent represents a French pronunciation that equates with an English long-A sound. Curiously, tho, the A thereafter, in the Frenchified spelling, does not take a French pronunciation, which would be, in English, "broad"-A or short-O, the same sound.
Few native speakers of English will prefer the French-form spelling "cinéaste", nor its pronunciation with a long-A rather than long-E in the second syllable. Pretentious people who do want to say this word in the French fashion — why? Do they think that French is a better language? that has more prestige than the most important language, ever, ours? — can retain the French-form spelling, with its accent. Everyone else should prefer to dispense with both the written accent and the long-A sound.
The third issue is whether to retain the E at the end of two of this trio, or drop it. Inasmuch as the A is short, we should definitely drop the final-E, which could otherwise lead readers to say a long-A in the third syllable (e.g., "taste","chaste".and "haste"): "cinneeyast".
Sunday, May 7, 2017: "cannan" for "canon"
We have, this Church Sunday, a word that could be thought to have a long-A, as in "Canaan", because there is only a single consonant after the A. In actuality, the A is short. Fortunately, all we have to do to show that is to double the following-N. UNfortunately, if that were the only change we make, we would end up with "cannon", which is already a word, of completely different meaning. How can we distinguish these two homophones, then? Simple: just change the O in the second syllable to A: "cannan".
Saturday, May 6, 2017: "capassiter" for "capacitor"
This Science Saturday, let's make plain that the A in the second syllable is short, whereas the single consonant after it would permit a reader to see it as long. The conventional way to show a short vowel is to double the consonant after it, but the following consonant in this word is C, and CC would be pronounced as tho written KS, rather than just-S. To show an S-sound and a short-A before it, we need to change the C to S and then double it.One other minor issue needs to be addressed, an OR at the end, which should be ER, to prevent a misreading of that suffix as having an AU-sound, as happens with some other words that end in OR, such as "sensor" and "mentor": "capassiter".
Friday, May 5, 2017: "cureus" for "curious"
Today's word is not long, but it nonetheless presents three issues. Working last to first, we need to change the OU toward the end, because it does not represent the OU-sound, but only a schwa. That has a quick fix: just drop the O, and the U that remains will be read, correctly, as a schwa.The second issue, just before the OU, is also clear. An I stands in for a long-E. Why would we use an I to represent an E? If the sound is E, let's write E.
The last issue, at the beginning of the word, may not seem as clear-cut as the others. When a reader encounters a U that would seem to be long, s/he must decide whether that U-sound has an initial Y-glide, as in "cute", or not, as in the placename "Rancho Cucamonga". As it happens, CU, at least at the beginning of a word, ordinarily does take an initial Y-glide, as it does in the traditional spelling of today's word, so we need not worry about how to show a Y-glide after a C (we can't write EU, because CEU would be seen as having a "soft"-C (that is, an S-sound); and CYU would probably be seen as needless and overlong). We do, after all, have the model "cure" on which to pattern alteration, or as guidance that we don't need an alteration here. In spelling reform, the least change is probably also the best change, so let's leave the CU as-is: "cureus".
____________________My thanks to "Doorbell..." for this suggestion.
Thursday, May 4, 2017: "caylee" for "ceilidh"
This is one of the most ridiculous and contemptible spellings ever admitted into the English language.* The word is Gaelic; its spelling is unreadable by native speakers of English. We MUST fix it, to show that its sounds are not at all complicated: "caylee".
____________________* Cambridge Dictionary: "a special event at which people dance to traditional music, especially in Scotland and Ireland".
Wensday, May 3, 2017: "civvil" and "civillyan" for "civil" and "civilian"
Here again we have single consonants that do not guide the reader to whether to say a long-I or short before the L-sound. In both cases, the sound is short-I, which we can show, as is so often the case in traditional English, by doubling the following consonant, here, the L.In the second of today's related words, we don't need to double the V, because the word's stress falls on the syllable after the V, so a reader would know not to say a long-I before the V-sound. But the IA might puzzle many readers, esp. outside the English-speaking world, and we must never forget that hundreds of millions of people in countries where English is not the local language are trying to learn and use English because it is the most utilitarian of all languages in a host of areas of human activity. In the case of the second word today, we need to guide readers to the actual sounds. The IA does not represent the sequence long-I + schwa, as in "dial" and "diametric", nor long-I + long-A, as in "hiatus" and "striation", but a consonantal-Y plus schwa, which we can indicate easily by replacing the I after the L-sound with Y: "civvil" and "civillyan".
Tuesday, May 2, 2017: "carryattid" for "caryatid"
Many readers will see the CAR in today's word as having a "broad"-A, as in the word "car" to itself, plus many other words of the same form ("bar", "barn", "star", "start", "tart", etc.) That is not the sound here, Rather, it is short-A, as in "arrow", "marry", and "carry". That difference is made clear by a double-R. So let's use a double-R here. A second problem is that a single-T leaves unclear whether the A before it is long or short. It's short, which we can show easily by doubling the T: "carryattid".
Munday, May 1, 2017: "cartryt" for "cartwright"
The first element in this compound word is fine as-is. The second, however, is not at all fine. It has three silent letters, W, G, and H! If a letter is silent it should probably not be in the spelling. We can easily drop the W without loss to readability. But if we drop the G and H, what we'd be left in the second element is RIT, which would be read as having a short-I, whereas the I is actually long. To shot a long-I, we could write ITE or Y. If we write ITE, however, we might mislead the reader into thinking this element has something to do with "writing" or "righting", whereas the combining form -WRIGHT actually means someone who builds and repairs something, here, carts. So Y is the better choice: "cartryt".
Sunday, April 30, 2017: "bwonna" for "bwana"
ANA is ambiguous ("arcana", "liana", "poinciana"), Here, the sound before the N is "broad"-A, the same sound as short-O. If that is the sound, we can make that clear by substituting O for the first-A and doubling the N: "bwonna".
Saturday, April 29, 2017: "braekthru" for "breakthrough"
The traditional spelling of today's word is sensationally idiotic. EA should not be pronounced as it is here, a long-A. So let's flip the E and A to show a long-A sound. At the end of the word appears the preposterous letter cluster OUGH, which is pronounced in different ways in different words ("though", "trough", "enough", "bough", "slough", and even "hiccough", more than just "through": tho, trauf, eenuf, bou, slue, hikup, and tthrue). Here, the sound is a simple long-U, which at the end of the word can be written as simply U: "braekthru".
Friday, April 28, 2017: "boyfrend" for "boyfriend"
In today's word, unlike yesterday's, the "boy" actually does refer to a boy (or man, a grown-up boy), so we can leave that. What we should not leave, however, is the I, which, followed by an E, should be said as long-I. The actual sound is short-E, so we need to drop the I altogether, whereupon the reader will know what sound to supply: "boyfrend".
____________________My thanks to "space..." for this suggestion.
Thursday, April 27, 2017: "boicot" for "boycott"
Altho OY is a common way to write the sound most often written OI, here it is a bad choice, because it suggests that the word has something to do with boys. It does not, but refers to Charles Boycott, whom Dictionary.com describes as an "English estate manager in Ireland, against whom nonviolent coercive tactics were used in 1880." So let's substitute OI for the OY here. We also don't need two T's at the end of the word, because the word's stress falls on the first syllable: "boicot".
Wensday, April 26, 2017: "boisterus" for "boisterous"
There is only one little problem in this three-syllable word, an OU where there is no OU-sound but only a schwa. If we drop the misleading-O in the last syllable and leave only the U, readers will know for sure how to pronounce it: "boisterus".
Tuesday, April 25, 2017: "bellettra", "bellettrist", and "bellatristic" for "belles lettres" , "belletrist", and "belletristic"
Today's related words are from French, in which the S's at the end of both elements of the base phrase, "belles lettres", are silent. Readers of English would not expect that. So we need to drop both S's. In the second word, the E in the middle takes the word's stress. To show that more like clearly, we should double the following-T. In the third word, the E in the second syllable does NOT represent a short-E, but schwa, which is most clearly written as A. So this trio should be written: "bellettra", "bellettrist" and "bellatristic".
Munday, April 24, 2017: "bauk" for "balk" and "baulk"
We have here a word that the reader is supposed to treat as a match to "walk" and "talk", with an AU-sound and a silent-L. But that is not self-evident to many readers, and an alternate spelling "baulk" has arisen to clarify the vowel sound. It still leaves a silent-L before the K. Why? If a letter is silent, it shouldn't appear in the word at all: "bauk".
Sunday, April 23, 2017: "appostollic" for "apostolic"
This Church Sunday, as with yesterday's word, we have a word which has two unclear sounds because the vowel is followed by a single consonant, so could be read as either long or short. As with yesterday's word too, both of the vowels are short, and doubling the following consonant will indicate that clearly: "appostollic".
Saturday, April 22, 2017: "appatettic" for "apatetic"
This Science Saturday, let's fix a word from zoology*. The initial-A is short, but you cannot know that from the spelling, because a single-P allows a reader to see a long-A. So let's double the P. A similar problem occurs with the single-T, which permits the reader to see the preceding-E as long. Again, the fix is quick: double the T. The resulting spelling is a little longer but a lot clearer: "appatettic". ____________________* Dictionary.com: "assuming colors and forms that effect deceptive camouflage".
Friday, April 21, 2017: "Anteega" for "Antigua"
This name of a Caribbean island is spelled bizarrely. The larger problem of the two in the present spelling is that a U intrudes between the G and the A at the end. Readers will expect that U to be said as a W, as in "guacamole" and "antiquated". It's not. In fact, it's not pronounced at all, but is silent, so shouldn't be there. The smaller problem is that the I takes neither of I's customary sounds, long as in "tiger" and short as in "ignorant". The sound is actually long-E, which can most clearly be shown by EE, so let's write that: "Anteega".
Thursday, April 20, 2017: "antissipate" for "anticipate"
Here again we have a four-syllable word that has two problems in the middle, in that a single-C does not guide the reader as to whether the preceding-I is long or short, and there is no way a reader, esp. outside one of the traditionally English-speaking countries, can know where the word's stress falls. If we double the consonant at the end of the stressed syllable, that will solve both problems. But that consonant is presently C, and CC would be misread as representing the sound sequence KS. To show the actual sound, we need to change the C to S, and double it. Now everything falls into place: "antissipate".
Wensday, April 19, 2017: "annorak" for "anorak"*
We have today one of the rare borrowings from Inuit/Eskimo. The term "Inuit" (or "Innuit" or "Inupik") has largely replaced "Eskimo" in Canada, but American Eskimos generally are fine with calling themselves and being called "Eskimos".**In any case, the present spelling , "anorak", is ambiguous in that some people might see the initial-A as a schwa, as in "around" and "about", so think the word is pronounced a.náur.aak or even a.náur.ak, whereas the preferred pronounciation is áa.na.ràak, and a secondary pronunciation is ón.a.ròk. The reformed spelling offered today permits both those pronunciations, but not a pronunciation of the initial-A as schwa: "annorak".
____________________* Dictionary.com: "a hooded pullover jacket originally made of fur and worn in the arctic, now made of any weather-resistant fabric".
** Canadian politesse as to these terms apparently arose from the mistaken notion that "Eskimo" was insulting, in meaning 'eater of raw meat [or raw blubber]', tho it never actually meant that, but more likely 'people who make snowshoes'. If you are going to be "politically correct", you should at least be etymologically correct! "Eskimo" was NEVER an insult. Nor was "Indian", which was applied to the indigenous peoples of the New World — or are we to change that term too? — out of the historic error Christopher Columbus made when, in trying to reach India by sailing west on what he believed to be a round planet, he discovered a huge land area theretofore unknown to (the bulk of) Europeans, which he believed to be India or "the [East] Indies", so the people he encountered there must be "Indians". Not so fast, Chris. Oddly, no one seems to have a problem with the terms "West Indies" and "West Indian", but some people insist that "Indian" or "American Indian" or "Amerindian" is a huge insult — even tho the militant organization AIM, the American Indian Movement, uses the term "Indian" for itself! People should not leap to see insult where none is intended.)
Tuesday, April 18, 2017: "amfibboly" for "amphiboly"*
In today's unusual word appear two problems. First is the ridiculous and unjustifiable spelling PH for a simple F-sound. The second is that a single-B not only does not make plain whether the preceding-I is long or short, but also leaves the reader unclear as to which syllable takes the word's stress. The second syllable does, and its vowel is short-I. We can show both things simply by doubling the B: "amfibboly".
____________________* Dictionary.com: "ambiguity of speech, especially from uncertainty of the grammatical construction".
Munday, April 17, 2017: "amoore" for "amour"
Today's word, for a love affair, often illicit, is clear in the original French, but not in English. The French phrase "toujours l'amour" (always love or love always) has three occurrences of the vowel digraph OU, all said the same, like English long-U without an initial Y-glide. But in English, OU ordinarily represents the OU-sound, as in "pound" and "shout". To show a long-U without an initial Y-glide, English often employs the digraph OO. But there are two OO sounds, long as in "food" and short as in "good". The reader generally has no guidance as to which sound to say in any word. But in a few words, like "goose" and the surname "Moore", a final-E after a consonant hints that the preceding-OO is long. Let's use that convention here: "amoore".
Sunday, April 16, 2017: "ambivvalent" and "ambivvalence" for "ambivalent" and "ambivalence"
How is the I in today's paired words to be pronounced? As short-I, that's how. To show that, we need merely double the following-V: "ambivvalent" and "ambivvalence".
Saturday, April 15, 2017: "agyuezea" for "ageusia"
This Science Saturday, let's reform a term for a loss or diminution of the sense of taste. The present spelling is ambiguous, because it employs GE, which is often misused to represent a simple J-sound. Here, however, the G retains its own, unique sound, as in "get", "gear", and "geezer". To show that, we have to put something between the G and the E. YU would be clearer, tho not entirely clear, because GY is often pronounced with a J-sound too! If we can't make everything crystal clear, we can at least try to make them less UNclear.At the end of the word, the present spelling employs SIA, which is also very ambiguous, which could be said as the word "sea", the two sounds S and long-E. That is not the sound here. Rather, the S stands in for a Z-sound, which it often does but shouldn't. The I does not represent either of I's own sounds, long as in the first-person pronoun "I", and short as in "it", but a long-E. Jeez, Louise! Sometimes SIA is said as tho written ZEA or ZHA. Here, it takes the sound of Z plus the two syllables long-E and schwa. So let's write the ending of this word that way.
Putting this all together, we get: "agyuezea".
Friday, April 14, 2017: "ommandeen" for "amandine"
This Food Friday, let's reform a word from French for "with almonds". We have no quandary with this word as to whether to pronounce the L in "almond", because there is no L in the French! (as there should be no L in the pronunciation of the English). Rather, the A at the beginning of the word is pronounced as "broad"-A, which is the same sound as short-O. To make that plain, we need merely replace that A with O and double the M after it. The middle-A is said as a schwa. And the INE is pronounced in the French fashion, with an English long-E: "ommandeen".
Thursday, April 13, 2017: "aultur" for "alter"
AL is ambiguousm often representing a simple short-A ("altruism", "pal", and the nickname "Al"). That is not the sound here, which is, instead, the AU sound as in "aura" and "caution". To show that sound, we need to add a U immediately after the A. A second problem remains, however, in that this is a homophone with the word "altar", which has an AR that should be read as having the "broad"-A of "car", "bar", and "superstar". So on Sunday, April 13, 2008, I suggested we respell that word as "aulter". So it would be better if we could write today's word as to make it clearly distinct. We can do that by using an alternate spelling for what is ordinarily thought of as the ER-sound — UR, as in "purge", "splurge" and "urgently": "aultur".
____________________* "Altar" was offered here as "aulter" on Sunday, April 13, 2008.
Wensday, April 12, 2017: "aglutinate" for "agglutinate"
The double-G in today's word is misleading, in that the reader should see it as marking the preceding-A as taking its full short sound, as in "at", whereas the actual sound is schwa, which, at the beginning of a word, is conventionally written as just-A, as in "around" and "about". To let's drop the second-G: "agglutinate".
Tuesday, April 11, 2017: "advantij" for "advantage" and "dissadvantij" for "disadvantage"
AGE is a word to itself, pronounced with a long-A and a J-sound at the end. The vowel in today's paired words is a schwa so close to a short-I that we might better simply write an I. The GE should of course be rewritten as J, the sound it is actually supposed to represent: "advantij" and "disadvantij".
Munday, April 10, 2017: "afisheonoddo" for "aficionado"
Altho today's word (for a fan or enthusiast) is from Spanish, it has long been anglicized, usually in six syllables (a.fìsh.ee.ya.nód.o) but sometimes in 5 (a.fìsh.a.nód.o). Neither anglicized pronunciation is quite right, because Spanish has no SH-sound. It is thus very hard to make a case for the 5-syllable as against 6-syllable pronunciation, since neither is fully in accord with the Spanish origin of the term. The 5-syllable pronunciation smacks of puristic snobbery, except that it is fully as ignorant of correct Spanish as the longer pronunciation. The 6-syllable version is more like what most native speakers of English say, so let's write that clearly for everyone who reads English: "afisheonoddo",
Sunday, April 9, 2017: "abstemeus" for "abstemious"
OU should not appear in this fancy word for "moderate: not indulging in or characterized by excessive eating or drinking" (Microsoft Encarta Dictionary), because there is no OU-sound. So let's drop the O, which will leave the actual sound, a schwa, clear. Nor should there be an I, because the sound is long-E: "abstemeus".
Saturday, April 8, 2017: "abizmal" for "abysmal"
There are two problems in this short word. First, a Y stands in for a short-A. No, ditch it for an I. Second, an S stands in for the Z-sound. Why? We have the letter Z to represent that sound. Let's use it: "abizmal".
Friday, April 7, 2017: "yaysayer" for "yeasayer"
EA is a highly variable letter sequence that has many pronunciations. Long-A, the intended sound here, is at best the third of its customary uses. A reader shouldn't have to guess how ANYthing is to be pronounced, ever. That is a high standard that only a totally reformed spelling system, such as my Fanetik reform, could meet. Short of that, however, we can make present spellings more like predictable. Here, we have two long-A sounds in one word. Why not spell them the same?: "yaysayer".
Thursday, April 6, 2017: "wilful" for "willful" and "wilful"
We have today a simplification of traditional spelling, choosing to enthrone the better and consign the worse to history. There are presently two accepted spellings for today's word, "willful" and "wilful". We don't need two spellings for one word. Plainly one is better: "wilful".
Wensday, April 5, 2017: "vocifferus" for "vociferous"
There are two problems with the traditional spelling of today's word. The first is that the IFE could well be read as having a long-I as in "rife" and "knife"), whereas it actually has a short-I. We can prevent such a misreading by doubling the following-F.The second problem is that the last syllable contains an OU, but no OU-sound. There's a quick fix for that: just drop the O: "vocifferus".
Tuesday, April 4, 2017: "vizhual/ize" for "visualize"
There is no S-sound in this pair of words, so there should be no S in the spelling. Rather, the sound is ZH, so we should write ZH: "vizhual" and "vizhualize".
Munday, April 3, 2017: "toew" for "tow"
OW is ambiguous. It could be seen as representing long-O, as in "slow" and "know", or the OU-sound, as in "now" and "plow". Here, it is supposed to be seen as a simple long-O. Ordinarily, we might simply drop the W to rewrite that as "to", but that is the preposterously written term that is actually pronounced tue. If we try to write, instead, "toe", we are stopped because that spells the name of a digit of the foot. So, what are we to do?Altho there are no words presently in the English vocabulary that employ OEW for a long-O — tho what new words might be admitted with that spelling, we cannot know — OEW is a perfectly reasonable spelling, well within only slitely-enlarged bounds of traditional conventions: "toew".
____________________My thanks to "space..." for this suggestion.
Sunday, April 2, 2017: "totemmic" for "totemic"
One of the reasons English is so hard to master is that a reasonable spelling in the base word is carried over into derivatives, where the spelling becomes UNreasonable, as here. "Totem" is fine, but "totemic" is NOT fine. The single-M in the derivative allows a reader to see to.tée.mik, which is wrong. Tho we can leave the base term unchanged, we need to fix the derivative: "totemmic".
Saturday, April 1 2017: "tocofferaul" for "tocopherol"
This Science Saturday, let's fix the spelling of an antioxidant. The present spelling includes the indefensibly preposterous spelling PH for a simple F-sound. So let's replace the PH with F. Here, we need a double-F, to show that the preceding-O is short.At the end of the word is an ambiguous O, which is intended to represent the AU-sound. If the sound is AU, let's write AU: "tocofferaul".
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