Sunday, July 07, 2013

Orthography, Orthographie

Thoughts on Spelling following the July 4th weekend.

It's all about letters lost across an ocean or added when going the other way.

Colour loses its u when traveling from London to Charleston and becomes color. If you live in New England and add the u to Boston Harbor so that you write harbour are you donning airs?

In America you sit on an aluminum chair, but in England and France you relax in an aluminium chair. In fact anywhere in Europe you need the extra syllable. Is it that we are interested in the essentials and eschew additional accouterments?

Perhaps it's a way of being independent, not mimicking English history. Not everyone wants to be the "and Son" on the placard.

Let us follow Thoreau's advice to simplify, to release the nonessentials-- Our life is frittered away by detail...simplify, simplify.

Ah if it was so simple-- just lop off a letter. Trim down.




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