Theze arguments are the most difficult to counter becauze they actually make sum sense. The crucial difference iz that they dont try to justify regular spelling. Insted the basic premise iz that replacing it iz impossible, so any effort iz wasted.
PULL !
There is too much stuff written in regular English. It would cost a zillion dollars to rewrite all the books, change the names on all the stores, replace all the street signs, etc. Its too late to change now. BOOM ! This iz the same az saying "My house iz too messy to clean up. I may az well just keep adding more trash."
SLACKER !
The argument boilz down to expediency versez benefit. There iz always the temptation in this world to do the thing thats eaziest now without considering future consequencez. It can work for a while, but eventually the continuous cost uv inefficiency will surpass the cost of fixing the problem andor the problem rezults in sum kind of dizaster.
The slackerz house will fill completely with garbage and be torn down. The cost uv maintaining regular English alredy exceedz the cost uv changing EVERY YEAR and the probable dizaster will be the decline uv our culture. A brilliant future traded for a moment uv relaxation in a raggedy old Lazy Boy. In other wordz, no Captain Kirk sailing thru the galaxy for us.
PULL !
Nobody who grew up with English needs or wants to spend their time learning a new way to spell. Everything they want to read will be written in regular English and they will need to write in regular English if they expect anybody to read it.BOOM ! True ! But they dont need to learn the new system in order for reform to happen. The people learning English now are the wunz who will be able to see the folly of prezerving this inefficient tradition and allow it to fade away.
BOOM ! Traditional English makes everyone believe that spelling iz difficult. If you tell someone they will need to learn a new way to spell, they automaticly assume they are going to spend yearz learning a bunch uv letter combinationz like they did in grammer skool. NOT TRUE !
With Nooalf, spelling iz simple. There are only 34 letter to sound relationz to memorize, and anybody who knowz regular English already knowz most of them. There iz no big boring effort involved.
KLIK KLaK OK, Mom & Dad, this is a legitimate concern. Practically everything around iz written in regular English, so it seemz like a waste uv time to learn anything different.
BOOM ! The fault with this analogy iz that, unlike the future car, Nooalf iz compatible with the old spelling infrastructure. It can be red by anybody whoz familiar with regular spelling. It can be typed on any ordinary keyboard. Many wordz are spelt the same, and many more look very similar. So Junior can be riting stuff that you can read way sooner than with the old spelling. Plus, having a way to think about spelling will make it eazier for him to learn the old way.
(In case you didnt see it alredy, check out the PARENT - TEACHER page for more on this)
1. lojistical short circuits.
What publisher would be willing to spend millions for new equipment & training to publish stuff in a true spelling system before they knew for sure it would sell / who would spend the time to learn a new system if there was nothing to read in it ? What writer is going to learn & use a new system if typewriters for it were 10 times as expensive & nobody would publish his work anyway / what company is going to make special typewriters if nobody would buy them ?
It wuz simply too expensive to create the supply & demand infrastructure for a real system.
BOOM ! This reason iz GON ! With the proliferation of computers and the internet, it costs practicly nothing to distribute and use a real spelling system. Az mentioned before, Nooalf iz typable on any keyboard. It even works without installing any uv the Nooalf fonts.
2. Unworkable introduction stratejiez.
Nearly every notable attempt in the past was based on the idea of having the authorities convert everyone to a new spelling . The obviously gigantic expense of this is enuff to kill reform before it even gets started. Plus having Big Brother force it on everyone woud only make them hostile to it.
BOOM ! Kidz, immigrants, foreignerz, dyslexics and people who never learned how to read before are the groups who need and want an eazy to learn spelling system. They want something they can use NOW, not in 3 yearz. They are the future writerz, editorz, bizness ownerz, actorz, politicianz and ordinary citizenz who will be able to see the need to drop the old spelling.
3. Haf baked spelling systemz.
The past spelling reformz that were launched with any serious backing
were just not very good. Most uv them tried to simply 'regularize' the existing mess in hopes that it woud be more palletable to everybody who already knew how to read & write. They were basicly asking everyone to memorize a whole new collection of letter combinationz & rules for very meager gainz in efficiency & learning time. Its like arranging the trash in your house into catagories & rowz instead uv just throwing it away ! Not a productive expenditure of time and definitely nothing that any sane person would be enthusiastic about.
The few true spelling systems that were proposed werent very well refined. They all failed to take many useability factors into account and didnt even have a clear match between the number of letterz to the number uv soundz !
BOOM ! Nooalf takes all the important factors into account in order to make it a spelling system that can be used now and forever without ever needing to be repaired. Why make a BIG effort with a little reward wen you can make a small effort for a BIG reward ?
"OK, JO. You convinced me. Now kwit yammering and sell me sumthing!"
There are quite a few reformed spelling systemz to be found on the internet. Most uv them are pitiful attempts at regularization that arent even az good az the casual simplificationz I am doing here. But still, there are some serious efforts worthy uv a look. I had a notion to make another skeet club page devoted to the faulty reazoning uv my comrad-competitorz, but never got around to it. (see the LINKS page if you want to see the best wunz)
Instead, the next page is aimed at change fearing fossil hedz.
If you are still against reform and hav an argument that I havent destroyed yet, polish it up & send it to me.
If its good enuff, I'll ad it to this section.
( LaST UPDAT FeBYQeRE 18 2007 )