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Re: textbook touchstones



----- Original Message -----
From: "Doug Craigen" <dcc@ESCAPE.CA>
To: <PHYS-L@lists.nau.edu>
Sent: Friday, May 05, 2000 9:22 AM

There's an old usenet saying that spelling flames are the lowest form of
abuse. Of course its a different context. On usenet (and on listservs
for that matter) spelling flames usually correlated well with people
wishing to carry on a fight, but they have exhausted any valid grounds
for disagreement that they may have originally had. With textbooks
people will hang onto them and use them as authoritative sources for
years, so being correct about everything (including spelling) is
important.

Doug,

As a poor natural speller, I grab 'holt of every spelling aid I can find
when I write and always keep my F&W at my side.

Having admitted this, I must express my amazement at the lack of
embarrassment exhibited by many otherwise well educated folks who post
messages in fractured English. God knows, I post my share of spelling goofs
despite all my care, but at least I am ashamed when I do.

In this light, readers of this list might be interested in this little piece
published recently by the folks at European Union Headquarters:

The European Union commissioners have announced agreement by all members to
adopt English as the preferred language for communications throughout
Europe, rather than German, which was the other candidate. As part of the
negotiations, the British government conceded that English spelling had some
room for improvement, and has accepted a five year phased plan to introduce
what will be known as EuroEnglish.

In the first year, "s" will be used instead of the soft "c". Sertainly,
sivil servants will resieve this news with joy. Also, "k" will be used
instead of the hard "c". Not only will this klear up konfusion, but
keyboards kan have one more funktion key.

There will be growing publik enthusiasm in the sekond year, when the
troublesome "ph" is replaced by "f" This will make words like "fotograf",
"filosofy", and "fosforus" twenty per sent shorter.

In the third year, publik akseptanse of the new spelling kan be expekted to
reach the stage where more komplikated changes bekum praktical. Governments
will enkourage the removal of double leters, which have always ben a
deterent to akurate speling. Also, al wil agre that the horible mes of the
silent terminal "e" in the languag is disgrasful, and it would go.

By the fourth year, peopl wil be reseptiv to a small nod to the Germans;
namely, replasing "th" by "z" and "w" by "v."

During ze fifz year, ze unesesary "o" kan be dropd from vords kontaining
"ou", and similar changes vud of kors be aplid to ozer kombinations of
leters.

After zis fifz yer, ve vil hav a reli sensibl riten styl for EuroEnglish.
Zer vil be no mor trubls or difikultis and evrivun vil find it ezi tu
understand ech ozer. Ze drem of a unitd Urop vil finali kum tru.

Paul O. Johnson