Spelling shakeup.

The 'new' spellings are more phonetical ... like Welsh lol
except they're not.
It's as if they can't be bothered with the correct spellings,
which are old and there's a history behind why words are spelt the way they are ... but nothing like that seems of any importance or interest to modern people.

I don't like it when the automatic spelling check on the computer tells me I've spelt 'colour' incorrectly. According to my laptop it should be 'color' ...

And it often anglicizes the Latin spellings of plants automatically, to my annoyance ... e.g. 'Phlox panicalata' is changed to 'paniculate' as if it was an English word. It's Latin !
Different languages have rules which should be respected.

But this is the 21st century ...

This is a tricky one for me. I've always been fascinated by language and its roots and there does seem to be an undermining attack on the English language as we older ones understand it. In my lifetime there's been increasing Americanisation as Hywel says. I, for one, think we should embrace our written and verbal heritage but I do have sympathy for those who have trouble reading it. I suppose language is not a static and unchanging thing, and has often been written phonetically in the past though. I realise as an older person the views I have on most things that are dear to me are now in the minority and I resign myself to a lot (but not all) of it...

I absolutely abhor it.....
The only one I would use out of the above would be LUV, even then only in a quick text to my own grandchildren and great nieces, that is because of their ages and close association I have with them..
I think its confusing enough to anyone who already has reading difficulties, my own father could not read properly, he used to spell things how they sounded, he was also quite deaf so to him it was buk not book, we had some right arguements as we were growing up, he also grew up in the Black Country so obviously local dialect was also different, he did get better later on in life as he loved to read ... When looking back over history, our spelling of words and pronunciation have changed many times, one only has to read Shakespeare or Pepy's Diaries to see that.. In all honesty I do think a lot of what we see and hear is now caused by being a country of mixed nationalities, people didn't bother or in some cases dare not correct spellings and pronunciation, what I would refer to as slang is now used more in our everyday lives and speech, hence the new spellings, there are words in the dictionary now that never even existed when I was at school, to put it bluntly we are more common now than we used to be, lol, as Hywel said its the 21st Century and we have to live with it, does not mean we have to like it though...

M'land I forgot to say, I don't mind in the slightest, its good to have new blogs to participate in, weather is absolutely atrocious, one needs something to pass away the time before going stircrazy..LOL...

Local dialect should be preserved as far as possible, I think, Lincs, but estuary English seems to be taking over. ( see broadcasting). I remember years ago talking to a local in Cornwall and having visited from East Anglia having great difficulty in understanding a word he said (and I'm sure vice-versa). It all adds to the richness of language. I think it's good that the Welsh and Gaelic languages are on the upsurge, too.
Agree with Lincs, Meadow!

You're talking about dialects, and Welsh and Gaelic languages Ange/Meadowland, well let me tell you there are also different dialects in Welsh. I have great difficulty understanding people from north Wales speaking in Welsh, I understand them better if they speak English.

Even my cousins in a village 6 miles away from where I grew up had a different accent and used different Welsh words to me. I think all languages are like that, different regions having different accents etc.

Klahanie, I didn't speak any English until I was 7 years old, there was no need. I did understand though.

I’m not very keen at all on these variations, I prefer the proper spelling and pronunciation of words. I don’t use the new ‘quirky’ ones. I’m not perfect with my grammar, but, it’s a bug bear for me - poor grammar.
I like to hear different accents from around UK. Hywel mentioned dialects varying greatly in a small country/district etc. I can understand this, and concur.
I took French for 5 years at school, plus Latin and Italian. However, when you use your ‘knowledge and language skills’ abroad, you realise it’s a generic form of their language.
Gaelic in Scotland was never compulsory, however, in the Highlands and Islands it was the norm to learn and speak both.

I totally agree with Kate.
Spelling, grammar and punctuation ARE very important in written language. If there is a correct way to use them, then let's do it!

I loved teaching English at primary level and if a certain level was expected from the start, most tried very hard to achieve it. It is all about having expectations I think.

If this keeps up, given time, the English language will fall back to West Saxon which means those who read “Beowulf” will be able not only to understand it right off the bat but also speak it too:). Conversely, those who pull “ Tale of Two Cities” off of the library shelf will need Dickens english translated:(. Frankly, and all joking aside, I consider myself very lucky to have lived long enough to see some of these changes in the works for better or worse.

I’m with Kate here, perhaps it’s something to do with age, we’ve been taught to spell things a certain way & don’t like change very much. I wouldn’t use any of the above spellings. Sometimes I think it makes sense to drop the extra me from the end of programme though, as the Americans do, it’s french & not really necessary, is it?

Americans do because the American Noah Webster on my side of the pond (USA) preferred the word - program- in his dictionary. Samuel Johnson or others on your side of the pond preferred it to be spelled -programme. The same thing with the word colour (Samuel Johnson)/ color (Noah Webster) or whilst/while ...etc. Personally, I prefer not to level the playing field when it comes to this. I find the differences very quaint.

in my experience as a teacher of 35 yrs some pupils were just 'lazy' or in their words 'CBA miss' CBA stands for 'can't be ar**ed', but for exams they would lose marks for spelling. Sulphur is now sulfur and I hate it. As Hywel says the spelling has meaning and comes fro its original language, be it greek/latin/french.

I used to enjoy taking pupils on that particular journey. Starting with the word photo and letting them explore other words that have photo as part of the word.

English spelling was 'standardised' mid 19th century due to one of the Schools act insisting on all children going to school. I used to know which act of Parliment but cant remember now!

I vaguely remember the ITA system that was a basically and experiment with phonetics but by 1970 had been dropped as pupils going to post primary school had to relearn spellings. So glad my primary didnt take it up.

Klahanie you do well, I've often wished I could speak another language but it was not an option during my school days, can I be extemely nosey and ask what is your mother language, I've always wondered but never dare to ask even after all these years...x

Klahanie I've often wished I could speak another language but it was not an option during my school days, can I be extemely nosey and ask what is your mother language, I've always wondered but never dare to ask even after all these years...x Sorry this appears to have gone on twice, will not let me delete.....

Hywel its the same here, it amuses us when we hear our local village names pronounced differently, also visiting different parts of England one often cannot understand what people are saying, a true Scouser for instance, especially if angry or excited is very hard to converse with, partly why I think the written word should be used and spelt correctly, then again I'm an Old Codger ...XX

I agree with Kate and Chris on this subject.
My two grandchildren both have dyslexia and they have been taught from an early age to spell properly!
They do struggle sometimes, but get it right in the end and am very proud of them.

Agree Rose. My late wife and her brother had dyslexia. As you said, it is a struggle and takes tremendous determination. She became a mortgage processor / closer. My brother-in-law was a fire control officer (Operating weapons systems and directing fire) on the battleship New Jersey and when he retired from the Navy, became a high school English teacher.