🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <330332...@pass.wayne.edu>,
Michael Edelman  <m...@pass.wayne.edu> wrote:
>Loren Petrich wrote:

>Your English example, even if true, would not be a particularly good
>one. In what way does it demonstrate path dependancy?

	The atrocious character of English spelling is a function of
history, and does not represent some Panglossian optimum. English spelling
is so bad because it is a mixture of different spelling conventions
(Anglo-Saxon and Norman) and a lot of frozen history (silent letters --
some of them are a result of analogies, however). The result is a
semi-ideographic system. 

>I'd like to hear your examples. Please name a few. 
>I'd be surprised if you could, frankly; The counter examples just don't
>exist. 

	There are many languages that do a *much* better job at 
spelling-pronunciation mapping. Finnish is supposed to be one of the 
best. Why don't you study some other languages some time -- you'll see.

	[defense of ideographic spelling...]

	Mr. Edelman, I'm surprised that you aren't wishing that English
was written in Chinese characters.

	I think that what we are seeing with English spelling is 
psychological denial -- some people can't bear the thought that it could 
be improved on, so they deny that it can.

	Much as with M$ software.

	And on my list of numerals, why is it that we have some names for 
them and not others? Why "one, two, three", instead of "pam, lok, veh"?
Why is English closest to German and Swedish, and somewhat less close to 
French or Spanish or Latin or Russian or Greek or Gaelic or Welsh or 
Hindi or Sanskrit, and resembling very little, if at all, Finnish or 
Hungarian or Turkish or Hebrew or Arabic or Tamil or Chinese or Japanese?

>>         So this is the best of all possible worlds, right?
>Straw man arguments don't cut it here. I don't think I or anyone has
>made that claim.

	That's what all those who celebrate M$'s market dominance are 
implying, that M$ is the best of all possible major software companies.
-- 
Loren Petrich				Happiness is a fast Macintosh
pet...@netcom.com			And a fast train
My home page: http://www.webcom.com/petrich/home.html
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