I may be wide-eyed and naive and It is entirely possible that I may stand alone on this issue but sometimes you just have to take a position, even if it’s beside an escape route.
I have perpetuated a sinister plot on the pages of this blog and it is time to come clean.
Around the world, passionate people are vigorously protesting, blocking traffic and breaking windows while attempting to promote many different causes. Today I feel obliged to tell you that I have joined them.
While they may carry signs, chant simplistic slogans or even fire guns, my protest stands on the power of one written word. Drastic times call for strange measures.
How did it come to this?
The English language can be complicated, illogical and downright frustrating even before any attempt at spelling where real confusion awaits. The time has come to take action against this travesty. With this blog post I am officially launching a one-person, one-word crusade to simplify the spelling of the English language.
There were many options available but I have chosen the word thoughts to carry the torch in this worthy crusade. Observant readers of my blog have noticed that I have been shortening the spelling to thots on these pages. It is a simple, powerful change that results in 38% less letters and 100% more common sense.
It is my sincere, but faint, hope that I will gradually win the hearts and minds of writers and eventually a tsunami of people around the world will join me in simplifying the English language. And it all starts with one word and a devious blog plot that went public today.
Will you join me? I’d appreciate your thots.
Krahnpix 
This a priceless photo love the squirrel.
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Thanks. It was fun taking it.
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Wen the beating of your hart ekos the beating if the drums, there is a life about to start wen tomoro comes! Good luck!
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Well said and with the greatest economy of letters. Thank you.
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Made me laugh..thanks.
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Glad to hear that. A laugh is a valuable commodity.
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My crusade has always centered around the fact that rough and slough aren’t pronounced the same. We have a lot of sluffs around here, but everyone seems to insist on calling them slews.
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You make a great point. Sadly the English language has too many of them.
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There’s an idea. Thanks for sharing your sentiments. (Me, I just avoided using either spelling of that word twice, that way I don’t have to think about it. Much easier to put the head in the sand than to think about it… You could also use “thinked” for your past tense of “think”, except that still leaves you with the noun form.)
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It’s amazing how many options there are if you think about it. Thanks for the creative options. Head in the sand probably leads to fewer headaches.
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Haha… Great image and nice commentary. 😀
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Thanks. Glad you enjoyed it.
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I suppose it depends on w/h)ether you pronounce thot to rhyme (rime?) with got hot pot. In BE the first is long, and the others are short, so the extra letters add length, … or gravitas 🙂
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Yes that is true. There are a few factors to consider. It would be interesting what a language would look like if it was started from scratch with clear principles. I’m guessing nothing like English.
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I agree. The English spelling is gorgeously inconsistent.
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swnz gud
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Excellent. That’s great economy of letters and words.
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Well I would actually spell it thort, but maybe I’m not hearing the Canadian accent.
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Yes I imagine our accent is quite different than your Australian one.
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Ha Ha! I wish you luck with your one-man protest. I would protest too but fear that in my mid-life crisis memory loss phase, that all those words I struggled so very hard to learn how to spell correctly would, if spelled in new ways, never stick to my shrinking brain. So I may have to launch a counter-protest, in order to preserve the slim semblance of looking like I know what I’m doing in my classroom…
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That’s funny and a good point to consider. Sometimes the hardest part is just spelling words consistently.
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I would love to know the joker who decided to spell the word ‘laugh’ like that…. Sheesh.
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There are so many examples like that. I don’t know why the ESL folks don’t just give up in despair.
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My sister has a house in Croatia and on my visit last November I tried my hand at Croatian – let me tell you, I’d learn English in a heartbeat. That is one TOUGH nut to crack! But yes – I watch my ESL students in considerable admiration as they struggle with our idiosyncracy….
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My thots are that I should stop only looking at the pictures and waiting to see if my wife comments on the blog’s content before I read it. Maybe more insightful titles are in order.
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Interesting. And here I thot I was putting up provocative titles that would draw people in to read:)
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I think we could also put away with direct and indirect articles. 🙂 They don’t use them in Asia and things are just fine. When I had to communicate with my Japanese colleagues in English, I found that our communication became less confusing and much more efficient after I used one little trick: I dropped all articles. Is there any ambiguity in ‘I send email to you’ or ‘I go to scanner and scan paper for you’?
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Your comment helps me understand why Asian writers often miss words when writing in English – I didn’t realize they don’t use articles in their own languages. The meaning is clear though I must say it doesn’t seem right. That would be quite the change.
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This allows the reader to interpret the pronunciation, unless you include pronunciation symbols, ˈthȯt. Without this guide the ‘ou’ could be pronounced as ō, a long ‘o’ as in though. And you lose the playfulness of the language, used by writers and poets, etc. But I suppose brevity and inaccuracy is acceptable rather than learning and the nuances it brings to our lives.
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I think we need another post or straw poll on how many English speakers actually know and use either the pronucation guide or the symbols. That might be the new 1%.
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You’re kidding, right? Most people abuse the language, including myself, thinking we have an excellent command of it. Imagine if you start reducing it. Including the commentator who said ‘put away direct and indirect articles’, as though they were being stored in a box or vault, when what most likely was meant was to do away with, as in discard or remove. Why are we so quick to reduce things to the lowest common denominator, and assume it is better. It is merely merely progress, the next step, which is not necessarily better. One can progress in the wrong direction.
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I agree there is abuse of the language by people who think they know it well. You’ve done a good job of listing some of the issues with my suggestion. To be honest, I expected a lot more comments like yours. I think the inconsistencies incorporated into the language as it developed, inadvertently made simplicity more appealing. The discussion is interesting.
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The ESL students who I’ve been tutoring are joining your crusade, for sure! Stupid English spelling is driving them bonkers.
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I can certainly see how they would get there. I’m sure you’ve given them rationale explanations for everything:)
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Nutty cause you’ve gotten yourself into there Lyle. A couple of questions: what are you doing with all those extra letters you are squirreling away? And, have you given any thot to how this might confuse people who pronounce it thawt? Just asking.
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I entirely agree on the nutty cause description but I find it irresistible. Both questions left me stumped and laughing. And here I thot I had a good question.
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Be careful Lyle, the thot police may be on to you. 😯
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I think they may already be there.
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lyle, you do have a way with words, and dat is actually y I follow ur blog. As to eliminating certain letters, I’m on board. I’ve done some of it when switching from british english to american. now what about capitalizing? many languages don’t have capital letters!
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Thanks for the comments on the words. I have noticed lately that while I really enjoy photography, the writing actually brings more satisfaction. As for capitalization, that is opening up a whole new can of worms. I had never thot of that though many texts seem to adopt that format.
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Dear Friend,I agree that some silent alphabets in the language can be eliminated to simplify the writing process without changing the meanings.The beauty lies inside and it is not external other than nature,in which you are a real master.Beautiful shot of dear squirrel.Ganesh.
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You raise a good point about focusing on the beauty. Thanks for the comments.
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My thots are with you…
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Always appreciate good thots and the support in this cause.
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My sentiments exactly. Some english words, they have similarities in their spelling but their pronunciation is different, say cliche and douche. For me where English is not my native language, I blindly thought (oops…thot) that they would be the same in pronunciation. Well, I was wrong.
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Even though English is my first language, I sometimes find it hard to remember all the exceptions to the supposed rules. Hats off to people like you who are able to navigate the spelling and pronunciation swamps in a second language.
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He he, well, it isn’t all that bad, and besides – you write an excellent English so where is the real problem?
It’s, however, been proven that the human brain is a real masterpiece when it comes to ignoring such faults, and that you may safely delete at least two letters from just about any word as long as it doesn’t alter the meaning of the word itself.
Our brains will igonre it! See?
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You are so right, our brains are miraculous in what they can do and the ability to correct errors on the fly. As for the real problem there likely isn’t one, just an impatient preference. Thanks for the compliment.
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And I thought, sorry thot, English overseas was already simplified enough, sorry nuf. 😉 (Doughnut vs donut, etc) Great picture and caption, made me LOL again!
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I had totally forgotten about spelling donut with all those extra letters – perhaps a good reminder that there is a process already underway. Glad you liked the photo – maybe a cuter one would be more persuasive.
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Thrs mvmnt 2 cmpltly rmv vwls frm wrds n Nglsh lngug, smthng lk thss. Mny ppl 30 yrs nd yngr r rdy frt nw. Wll b mch smplr wrld, lk rmving n-nssrryy n nyng grn pxls frm fttgrfs.
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Nicely done – and even a fitting reference to photography. That’s definitely a few steps further down the road than what I was suggesting but still readable.
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rt (rght?) y r! hbrw nd rbc lrdy d t.
nb: nncssry, nt n-nssrryy.
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ttly!
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ths s ddctv snt t? mb shld wrt blgpst lk ths!
strng hw r brn cn dcphr t…
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Ths s gd exrcz fr brn.
Htchng snstr plt mslf, bttlng acrnyms.
BBC-CCC-DDT-ATT-LDS-LSD-ADD-PCB-TDD-NTSB-THC-POTUS-FLOTUS-SCUBA-DUBA…
N wht y mn?
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Pretty squirrely to change the spelling. There is precedent (colour to color etc). With time, you might pull it off.
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Yes sometimes you just have to go for the long game!
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“Silent” letters don’t make sense. Why put them there when they aren’t pronounced anyway? It should be pronounced as spelled.
Count me in.
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Glad to have you on board!
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