🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <717@maccs.UUCP> gordan@maccs.UUCP (Gordan Palameta) writes:
> English uses a highly non-phonetic script; the illiteracy rate in the
> U.S. is at alarming levels.  This might be a non-sequitur, but
> undoubtedly a phonetic script for English would make life a lot simpler.
> Will it ever happen?  Not a chance.

	Well, maybe a small chance.  When I was in, I think, the first
grade (in New York City, about 1965) they tried out an experimental reading
and writing system on us.  We were taught a phonetic alphabet.  All I
really really remember about it was that letters like "c" which admitted to
two pronunciation were banned -- you wrote "kalsify" instead of
"calcify", and that they added a schwa to the alphabet.  Schwa, written
like an upside-down "e" was some sort of vowel.  Dictionaries use it a lot
to show pronunciation.

	My mother is convinced that my poor spelling skills are a direct
effect of this phonetic writing experiment.  She's probably right.
-- 
Roy Smith, {allegra,cmcl2,philabs}!phri!roy
System Administrator, Public Health Research Institute
455 First Avenue, New York, NY 10016