Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watnot!watmath!clyde!rutgers!mit-eddie!apollo!arnold
From: arnold@apollo.UUCP
Newsgroups: comp.sources.d,misc.misc
Subject: Re: Literacy was: smail pronounciation
Message-ID: <339ac040.ae48@apollo.uucp>
Date: Wed, 11-Mar-87 15:10:00 EST
Article-I.D.: apollo.339ac040.ae48
Posted: Wed Mar 11 15:10:00 1987
Date-Received: Thu, 12-Mar-87 20:07:48 EST
References: <667@rtech.UUCP> <1074@ulowell.cs.ulowell.edu>
Reply-To: arnold@apollo.UUCP (Ken Arnold)
Organization: Apollo Computer, Chelmsford, MA
Lines: 26
Xref: utgpu comp.sources.d:438 misc.misc:679

In article <7152@clyde.ATT.COM> spf@bonnie.UUCP (Steve Frysinger) writes:
>In article <25361@rochester.ARPA> ken@rochester.UUCP (SKY) writes:
>>There are far worse spelling errors in posted articles.  It seems the
>>fashion these days to spell words the way they sound.
>         ^^^^^^^^^^
>
>The next time you're cruising through an archive of antique documents
>(or perhaps a collection of reprints), notice the treatment of
>spelling in letters, diary entries, &c.  In 18th and 19th century
>documents I've noticed a great deal of variability in the spelling
>of common words; indeed, I've often seen the same word spelled
>two different ways in the same paragraph!
>
>	Steve Frysinger, Matrosse

As Andrew Jackson is reputed to have once said: "It's a damn poor
mind that can think of only one way to spell a word!"

Honestly, folks, can we talk about the evoultion of language in some
other group?  Meanwhile, I'll say "bang" instead of "exclamation point"
because (a) it's easier, and (b) it jerks the chains of certain people
who can't admit that language changes to suit the needs of the speakers,
not the other 'way round (mostly, anyway; debates on Sapir-Whorf
*certainly* belong elsewhere).

		Ken Arnold