Monday, August 08, 2005

Somewhere, the Editors of the OED Quietly Burst Into Flame

Richard Wade, founder of "freespeling," suggests that illiteracy can be combated most effectively if we just give up on standard spelling and let people spell words however they want, based the way they sound. Height becomes hite, business becomes biznis, and crackpot becomes krakpot.

I love that Wade trots out the rotting and presumably horrified corpses of no less than Shakespeare and Queen Elizabeth I to make his case.

The idea is so patently loodakris that I almost believe it's a hoax, except that if it is, both the BBC and assorted debunkers have been snowed.

Personally, I'm excited for the arrival of "freemath." 1 + 1 = llama, baby!

2 comments:

Natalia said...

As an English professor... I am horrified...

As a Math hater... oh happy day... 1+1= llama is good enough for me.

-N

Kira Snyder said...

Amen, Natalia. Welcome to the blog!