ALPHABET FAR FROM PERFECT,

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XXXIII, Issue 8813, 9 March 1914, Page 6

ALPHABET FAR FROM PERFECT,

1 "Erbfess.br'' Gilbert Muray, prezi-,-cleni, of ■. jtho. .Simplified SpelingSosieti, ; was 1 to';havs^piffesicied^ but;a' sore ■ throat prevented him, and in a letter conforming'to accepted; spelling, -he wrote,:— • "My Hclief ;in theneed of spelling, reform^ grows yearly stronger.; We must face the Met that',oiir alphabet is a far 'from" perfect instrument for recording our language; and that instead of using this instrument, effectively for what it is woriih according to some simple and scientific system, we wander in a chaos of traditional rules as' cpmp]icatec| as they are inconsistent.'' lii liis absence Profesiii- Sur William Ramsay, the eminent scientist, • as vies-prezident of the sosieti, presided. "English," declared Sur William, "would:be the language -of..the world were its' spelling reasonable. The spelling of the language is tlio s greatest bugbear in the way of, learning it. Languages like French, German, Italian, and Spanish especially, are spelt so easily that anyone can learn them. ■ When I was spending three years in Germany my best teacher was a -boy of four, who could also v/rite at that ;age because it was spelt, as it was spoken !