Re: Off topic: English orthography

From: Michael Everson (everson@indigo.ie)
Date: Thu Jul 22 1999 - 06:21:47 EDT


Ar 15:12 -0700 1999-07-21, scríobh Kenneth Whistler:

>Tex's point was that accent marks are *not* part of the literacy
>and penmanship curriculum in this country. Effectively that determines
>what the general public grows up feeling comfortable and at home
>with. The accents in (American) English words are learned haphazardly
>later -- and are actively manipulated by advertisers for effects that
>have nothing to do with lexicographic correctness. No wonder everyone
>is confused about their resumés.

But the words (façade, naïve, résumé, café) are probably not part of the
vocabulary of the children at the time they are taught penmanship.

Handwriting notwithstanding, it is a shame upon industry's education of the
users that so many of my U.S. correspondants apologize for not being able
to type accented vowels (from Latin 1!). Apple sorted this out in 1984 and
most Mac users do not have this problem. So it's not just inputting by pen
that people need help with.

Exercise for the reader: Type in my address.

--
Michael Everson * Everson Gunn Teoranta * http://www.indigo.ie/egt
15 Port Chaeimhghein Íochtarach; Baile Átha Cliath 2; Éire/Ireland
Guthán: +353 1 478 2597 ** Facsa: +353 1 478 2597 (by arrangement)
27 Páirc an Fhéithlinn;  Baile an Bhóthair;  Co. Átha Cliath; Éire



This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.2 : Tue Jul 10 2001 - 17:20:48 EDT