“lite” spelling
Attempts
to “reform”
English spelling to render it more phonetic have mostly been doomed to
failure—luckily for us. These proposed changes, if widely adopted, would
make
old books difficult to read and obscure etymological roots, which are
often a useful guide to meaning. A few—like “lite” for “light,” “nite”
for “night,” and
“thru” for “through”—have attained a degree of popular acceptance, but
none of these should be used in formal writing. “Catalog” has become an
accepted
substitute for “catalogue,” but I don’t like it and refuse to use it.
“Analog” has triumphed in technical contexts, but humanists are still
more likely to
write “analogue.”
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On the podcast this week, we continue our discussion on the word romantic.
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