Attention all grammar nazis...

[vienna]

Perhaps it is time for spelling reform:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghoti


<O>

[Tango589]

The New European Language!!!

Writer Unknown

Read Aloud For Best Effect!!!

The European Union commissioners have announced that agreement has been reached to adopt English as the preferred language for European communications, rather than German, which was the other possibility. As part of the negotiations, Her Majesty's Government conceded that English spelling had some room for improvement and has accepted a five-year phased plan for what will be known as EuroEnglish (Euro for short).

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

There will be growing publik emthusiasm in the sekond year, when the troublesome "ph" will be replaced by "f". This will make words like fotograf" 20 persent shorter.

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

By the fourth year, peopl wil be reseptiv to steps such as 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. Zer vil be no mor trubls or difikultis and evrivun vil find it ezi tu understand ech ozer.

Ze drem vil finali kum tru.

[swamprat69er]

Wow! There are more differences than I thought.
then there is the 'Zee', 'Zed' argument. I have to this day always used Zee and have been corrected on it more times than enough.

[TarJak]

Originally Posted by swamprat69er

Wow! There are more differences than I thought.
then there is the 'Zee', 'Zed' argument. I have to this day always used Zee and have been corrected on it more times than enough.

Zee is something you swim in if you are Dutch. Zed is the 26th letter of the alphabet.

[Sailor Steve]

Originally Posted by TarJak

Zee is something you swim in if you are Dutch. Zed is the 26th letter of the alphabet.

Yep, and all those other letters are pronounced Bed, Ced, Ded, Ed, Ged, Ped, Ted, and Ved.

The reality is that the ancient Greeks, who invented the letter, spelled it Zeta, so Zed is probably the better, and certainly the older pronunciation. On the other hand, like 'Soccer', which we constantly get blamed for, 'Zee' was originally a British pronunciation, not American, and dates back to the 1600s. It was also one of many, including things like 'Izzard'.
http://www.straightdope.com/columns/...e-letter-z-zed