Lost on the roadmap to peace: Simplified spelling
December 26th, 2007
We all know that the english language does not always make sense. It’s not surprising then that there have been attempts to reform spelling rules. Apparently Andrew Carnegie [wikipedia entry], the steel tycoon and philanthropist, was a proponent of these reforms. He wrote a scathing attack on “ough” words in the New York Times in 1906 [pdf]. What I found most interesting is that Carnegie saw this as a step toward world peace. His reasoning was that english was emerging as a worldwide language, and that non-native speakers would resist learning english due to its inconsistent spelling rules. That’s quite a contrast from what the U.S. does now in the name of world peace.
Inspired by Neatorama
Article on Carnegie from the Journal of the Simplified Spelling Society