Oh my God, my species is doomed.

[Mr1337Duck]

This is NOT satire, this is a real story:


http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2001945879_spell03.html


Spelling-bee protesters 'thru with through'

By Seattle Times news services



WASHINGTON � Protesters delivered a message yesterday to the national spelling bee: Enuf is enuf!
Members of the American Literacy Society picketed the 77th annual spelling bee, which is sponsored every year by Cincinnati-based Scripps Howard.

The protesters' complaints: English spelling is illogical, and the national spelling bee only reinforces the crazy spellings that they say contribute to dyslexia, high illiteracy and harder lives for immigrants.

"We advocate the modernization of English spelling," said Pete Boardman, 58, of Groton, N.Y. The Cornell University bus driver admitted to being a terrible speller.

Protester Elizabeth Kuizenga, 56, is such a good speller that she teaches English as a second language in San Francisco. She said she got involved in the protest after seeing how much time was wasted teaching spelling in her class.

Bee spokesman Mark Kroeger said good spelling comes from knowing the story behind a word � what language it comes from, what it means.

"For these kids who understand the root words, who understand the etymology, it's totally logical," he said.

The protesters contend that the illogical spelling of English words makes dyslexia more difficult to overcome and helps explain studies that suggest one in five Americans are functionally illiterate.

"If these people were able to read and write with a simplified spelling system, they would be able to fill out a job application, stay employed and stay out of prison," said Sanford Silverman, 86. The retired accountant was handing out copies of his book, "Spelling for the 21st Century: The Case for Spelling Reform."

Carrying signs reading "I'm thru with through," "Spelling shuud be lojical," and "Spell different difrent," the protesters drew chuckles from bee contestants.

"I can't believe people are picketing against something this ridiculous," said contestant Steven Maheshwary, 14, of Houston.




By day's end yesterday, 46 of the original 265 spellers remained for today's championship. The participants are competing for a top package of $17,000 in cash and other prizes.

Some of the stumpers yesterday were "phyllotaxy," "triboluminescence," "ziphioid" and "dacquoise."


Copyright � 2004 The Seattle Times Company

[Lartnev]

Illogical or not that's how you spell the bloody word ffs.

Some people will complain about anything these days.

[Sputty]

They must die now

[EineBeBoP]

Damn. Glad Im not part of "your species"
Human Beings > Ducks

[Sputty]

Damn. Glad Im not part of "your species"
Human Beings > Ducks
lies
ducks rock
Thgey're in the top 10 tierof boodas(kittens are tier 1, chickens are geckos are tier 2, ducks are probably 3 or 4)

[Indecisive]

I used to have 4 ducks. This is when I lived on a pond thing though. Some homo neighbor complained that *at 10:00* the ducks woke him up, so we had to get rid of them. Its too bad. They were leet.

[1024]

damn these people have WAY too much time on their hands. They're fucking protesting about spelling, hfs, hahaha.

[Dharkbayne]

I thought Seals were tier 3 boodas?

[1024]

no, they're level 2 water creatures.

[Sputty]

I thought Seals were tier 3 boodas?
they are
...there can be multiple boodas on a single tier(seals are more tier 2 depending on the seal)

[lightfire]

Hey guys dont you whine about people's spelling on the INTERNET often? sputsput Dharkban

[Wraithlord]

u r awl fuking retardz anywayz

I propoz that we kil awl thoz stoopid peeple

[Sputty]

Hey guys dont you whine about people's spelling on the INTERNET often? sputsput Dharkban
....
You don't understand what they're protesting about, do you?
Ignorance is all too common though, so I shouldn't be surprised

[ChewyLSB]

You gotta admit, the English language is one of the most strangely put together languages. It doesn't really help that, although it's classified as a Germanic language, it's more of a Romantic language, and then there's French thrown into English.

English is one of the most illogical languages on Earth. I wouldn't protest about it though. :rolleyes:

[AztecWarrior]

damn these people have WAY too much time on their hands. They're fucking protesting about spelling, hfs, hahaha.

[Lartnev]

English is one of, if not THE most flexable languages in the world. I mean we don't have to have adjectives and verbs which agree in number, gender and case like in Latin, and many languages such as French and German require a match for gender (ie le and la, das, die and der). But I suppose that's more grammar than spelling.

As far as spelling itself goes, if you're told how a word is spelt, that's how it's spelt. There doesn't need to be any logic, just that's how it's spelt, simple as that. Modernisation of a language is the choice of words for the times, not being lazy with how you spell them.

[Dharkbayne]

Hey guys dont you whine about people's spelling on the INTERNET often? sputsput Dharkban

You sir, are a douche. That is all. Good day.

[Jaged]

Which sentence is harder to read?

Wihs sentnce is harder to reed?

Wouldn't a "simplified" way to spell words do more harm then good. Imagine having to re-learn how to spell everything. Thees peeple r fuking moorons.

[ObnoxiousFrog]

lies
ducks rock
Thgey're in the top 10 tierof boodas(kittens are tier 1, chickens are geckos are tier 2, ducks are probably 3 or 4)

Dot dot dot, good sir. Unveil the Zen Frog.

[mechaman]

A reform in English spelling would be like switching from qwerty keyboards to dvorak keyboards. It's not going to happen and those people are wasting their time. plus we have words that would be spelled the same but have differant meanings. it just wouldn't work

[Jaged]

wtf is a dvorak keyboard?

[Dharkbayne]

Dunno, different language/nationality keyboard, where instead of QWERT it's DVORAK

[Cryptica]

Wow what a waste of time. Don't we have some slightly more important matters at hand nowadays? Besides, if people are stupid enough to not figure out how to spell well enough these days, then they and their stupid-genes should be banned from ever reproducing. WE SHOULD NOT CATER TO THE STUPID! Goddamn, that makes me mad.
Now, I'm not brilliant. If I was smart, I wouldn't be playing Planetside all day instead of doing my schoolwork. HOWEVER, even I can spell my own damn language, and damnit, if people are any stupider than I am, then that's pretty damn stupid and they shouldn't be allowed to live! Damnit!

GRR!!

:rock:

[Cyanide]

A dvorak keyboard simply has the letters in different places. I've never seen one, but I imagine instead of "qwerty" in the top left of the keyboard, it says "dvorak". Dvorak keyboards allow you to type much faster because the key arrangement is much more logical in terms of which keys are used most and placing them in the easiest to hit places. The QWERTY layout was designed to purposefully slow down typers because in the old days of mechanical typewritters, the mechanisms could get jammed if you typed too fast. That's not so anymore with electronic keyboards, but we just never switched because QWERTY is what people were used to.


Anyway, I can't spell worth crap, but even I think changing the spelling of every word so that stupid people and lazy teachers can feel better is just rediculous. If I need to know how to spell something I either look it up in the dictionary or I use a spell checker. Then I try to remember how to spell it for the next time. Besides, we have multiple letters and combinations of letters that make the same sounds. Who gets to say what the phonetic spelling should be? We'd have to revamp the alphabet with 46 different letters for the 46 different sounds.

[ControlledBurn]

Fucking hippies. If you don't like English, move to Mexico or Quebec.

[Heavygain]

You cant really expect the U.S. to change their spelling just because you said so can you? maybe if i had been the one to say it, it would be different.....