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here for today's
suggestion.
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to see the index of all words used so far.
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for the principles that govern the selection of words.
Click here for a list of words rejected for this
project because of those principles.
This page comprises two areas: (1) a list of over 1,594 proposed reformed spellings for individual words, plus derivatives, as at July 10, 2009 (as words are used, they are removed from this list and added to the two used-words files, alphabetical and chronological), and (2) a list of wider families of words that lend themselves to a single type of reform (e.g., changing CK to K): -ack, -age, -alk, -alm-, -angle, -atch-, -dg-/soft-G, -ee/-ea, -ed, -eeze, -ell, -ew, -eing, -ick, -ind, -ill, -illion, -ingle, -ingo/-ango, -ive, -nge-, -ock, -ogue, -old/-olt, -ore, -ous, -ove-, -ow, -ower, -own, -uck, -uff, -y/-fy (long-I sound).
I welcome suggestions, BUT first please search the current versions of (a) this list (including the families of words after the initial alphabetical list) to see if your proposed reform is already under consideration, (b) the "Archives and Index (Alphabetical)" page (filename: archives-alpha.html) to see if that word has already been used, and (c) the "Rejected Words" page (filename: Rejected.html) to be sure that it has not already been considered but rejected. The used-words files (alphabetical and chronological) change every day; the future-words list may change every day as well; and the rejected-words file changes from time to time, tho not regularly.
The partial name (to protect identity) in brackets indicates who first suggested that reform. I will credit any suggestion from another person than myself by the same designation as appears on this page, unless s/he wishes to be credited by full name and locality (which should be conveyed in the email that makes the suggestion). If, for some reason, you don't want even the abbreviation of your email ID, as below, to appear on the SSWD website, do not send me suggestions, since I can't keep track of such things. Suggestions made heretofore will bear the originator's ID as shown below.)
The notation "(comments?)" indicates that I am uncertain about what to do with this word and would welcome advice.
Please direct suggestions and feedback to Fanetiks@aol.com.)
| Traditional Spelling | Proposed Reformed Spelling |
[A] |
|
| abattoir | abbatwar (will the last syllable be seen as rhyming with present word "war"?) or abbatwahr (comments?) |
| abeyance | abayance |
| accurate | accurat [tvp...] |
| acknowledg(e)/ment | aknolaj/ment |
| active | activ [Fishin...] |
| addition | adition [Garage...] |
| address (verb and noun for "speech") | adres [Cargo...] |
| admission | admition |
| adrenal, adrenalin(e) | adreenal, adrennalin |
| adsorb | adzorb |
| adulate, adulation | ajulate, ajulation or, better ajjulate, ajjulation |
| advocate (noun) | advocat [Fireman...] |
| aer/o- | air/o- or air/a- (airasol, airospace, airanautics; airomekanic [fishstick...]; etc.) (low priority) |
| aerial | airial |
| affect (verb) | afect [Dogs...] |
| affirm (see "firm") | |
| affricate (noun), affricative | affricat or africat; africativ [Jea...] (comments?) |
| again/st | agen/st [Clap...] (Some dialects may say "a.gaenst", so perhaps we can't use this.) |
| aged (elderly) | aejid [Doghouse...] or ayjid (Are both of these / is either of these too "funny looking" to be accepted?) (comments?) aijid |
| agenda, agendum (rare) | ajenda, ajendum [GreenD...] |
| agent | aejent [Doghouse...] (is this too "funny looking" to be accepted?) or aijent (comments?) |
| agitate, agitation | ajjitate, ajjitation |
| aggrieve | agreev(e) (comments?) |
| ague | aegyu or aigyu |
| ahead | ahed (Will this be seen as past tense of "to ah" as in "ooh and ah"?) or ahedd [yaora...] or ahhed (cf. aggressive, arrange) (comments?) |
| aid | aed [Firewall...] |
| airhead | airhed [Firewall...] |
| airtight / air-tight | airtite [tite=Music...] |
| alchemy, alchemist | alkemy, alkemist |
| alien | aileean (comments?) |
| align | aline [FirePo...] |
| allay | alay [Cargo...] |
| allege/d | alej [yaora...] but adjective can be alejjid and adverb is alejjidly (comments?) |
| allegiance | aleejance |
| allergen | alerjen or allerjen (comments?) |
| allergy, allergic | allerjy, allerjic [Bookk...] or alerjy, alerjic (but cannot be done until principle of replacing soft-G with J generally is addressed) (comments?) |
| alleviate | aleviate |
| allonge | alunj |
| allophone | allofone [fishstick...] (low priority, specialized vocabulary) |
| [almond (Food Friday) | ommond [Music...] (prescriptive; there are other pronunciations)] |
| allow | alouw [Firewall...] |
| alloy (verb) | aloy |
| also | aulso [Bookk...] |
| alternative | alternativ |
| altimeter | altimmeter |
| alveolar, alveolus, alveoli | alveeolar, alveeolus, alveeoli (This is intended to indicate that the word's stress falls on the second syllable, not third. Does it succeed?) (comments?) |
| amaryllis | amarillis or ammarillis (comments?) |
| amateur | ammacher (but Brit.: amater) |
| amorphous | amorfus |
| ambassador | ambassader (The spelling-pronunciation aam.baas.a.daur is well-established. Can we defy it?) (comments?) |
| amuse | amuze [Multi...] |
| anal | aenal [Wilddog...] or ainal |
| analogue | analog (see -OGUE GROUP, below) |
| anatomy, anatomical | anattomy. annatommical |
| ancient | aenchent [Dogger...] or ainchent or aynchent (comments?) |
| androgyne, androgynous/ly, androgyny | androjine, androjjinus/ly, androjjeny |
| aneurysm, aneurism | anyerizm |
| anger, angry | angger [Firewall...] (contrast "hanger"), anggry |
| angina | anjina (NG ambiguous, GI also ambiguous) |
| angio- (-gram, -plasty, -sperm) | anjeo- (-gram, -plasty, -sperm) |
| anglophile, /-ia | anglofile, /-ia |
| anglophone | anglofone [fishstick...] |
| annoy | anoy |
| antifreeze | antifreez [fishstick...] |
| any | enny [Clap...] |
| appall/ing | apaul/ing (parallel to "ball" is lost in -ing form; cf. "palling around with terrorists") |
| aperture | appercher |
| aplomb | aplom |
| apologize, apology | apolojize, apolojy [Wurdplay...] (but see -ology, below) |
| apparatchik | opparochik |
| apparent/ly | aparent/ly |
| appeal | apeal [Shoe...] |
| appear | apeer (EA must change to EE because the pronunciation of "apear" would be confused by resemblance to "pear") |
| applaud, applause | aplaud, aplauz |
| appliance | apliance [Shoe...] |
| appreciate, -tion | appresheate, -tion [Bookk...] |
| apply | aply [Music.] |
| appropriate | apropriat (adjective) / apropriate (verb) |
| apron (Food Friday) | aepron [JohnS...] or aipron [yaora...] (comments?) |
| aquarium | aquaireum or aquareum (comments?) |
| arachnid | aracnid |
| arachnophobia | aracnofobea |
| arbitrage | arbitrozh |
| arbor vitae, arborvitae | arborvity (plural then become "~ vities") |
| archaic | arkaic, arcaic, arcayic (comments?) |
| arch(a)eology /-ical | arkeology /-ical [Cargo...] (but see -ology, below) |
| archetype | arkitype |
| architrave | arkitrave |
| archon | arkon (term is used in Greek-letter sororities/fraternities) |
| argent | arjent (low priority) |
| armoire | armwahr (cf. Brahmin, cheetah, Fahrenheit (for spellng, not pronunciation), hurrah) |
| array | aray [Music...] |
| arrest | arest |
| arrhythmia | arithmea |
| arrive / arrival | arive {Music...] / arival |
| arrow | arro [Dogs...] |
| as | az [Clap...] |
| asafetida, asafoetida | assafettida (Merriam-Webster shows a pronunciation with a long-E in the third syllable that other online dictionaries do not. Do we need to accommodate it and thus not double the T, which would make this word not appropriate for change?) (comments?) |
| ascites, ascitic | asiteez, asitic |
| ashore | ashor [Fireworks...] |
| ashram, asrama | oshram, oshrama |
| askew | ascue |
| asphyxia/te, /-tion | asfixia/te, /-tion |
| assess | asess |
| assign | asine {Music...] /-ment |
| assist/ant | asist/ant [Gator...] |
| associate | asociate (verb), asociat (noun) |
| assorted | asorted |
| assume, assumption | asume [Music...], asumption [tvp...] |
| assure | ashure [Firewall...] |
| assuage | aswage [yaora...] (Will this be read as a compound of "as" and "wage"?) or aswaje [Box...] (comments?) |
| asthma | asma [Yaora...] ("Asthma" has two pronunciations, one with a Z-sound, the other with an S-sound. Will people who use a Z-sound accept a plain S as representing their way of speaking (cf. "plasma"), or as mandating that they use an S-sound, so prefer "azma"? If the latter, this word cannot be changed, because Z will surely not be seen as accommodating the pronunciation that employs an S-sound. ) (comments?) |
| astringent | astrinjent |
| atavist/ic, atavism | attavist/ic, attavizm |
| atheist, atheism (Sunday) | aitheeist, aitheeizm [fishstick...] |
| athwart | athwaurt or athwort (offered "waurt" for "wart" on April 9, 2008) (comments?) |
| atlatl | otlottle |
| atonal | aitonal (low priority, as uncommon word) |
| atrium, atria | aitreum, aitrea |
| attack | atack / atak (see -ACK GROUP, below) |
| attempt | atempt |
| attend | atend [Music...] |
| attention | atention |
| attire | atire [Music...] |
| attorney | aturny [yaora...] |
| attract/ive, -tion | atract/iv [Music...], -tion |
| aught | awt [fishstick...] |
| au poivre (Food Friday) | oapwovra or oepwovra or ohpwovra (would opwovra be read with a short-O in the first syllable?) (comments?) |
| autobahn | autobon (This is for people who use the anglicized pronunciation. People who prefer a more German pronunciation, out.oe.bon, will prefer to leave the current spelling. So this is low-priority.) |
| autochthon | autocthon |
| autograph | autograf |
| automaton | autommaton |
| automobile | automobeel |
| autonomy, autonomic, autonnomous/ly | autonnomy, autonommic, autonnomus/ly |
| autumn/al | autum/nal |
| avatar | avvatar |
| average | avrage (but some people do use the spelling pronunciation, with three syllables) |
| award | awaurd [Music...] |
| awe, awesome | aw (but there is the interjection of the same spelling) or auw [Foog...] , awsum [Check...] (comments?) |
| aye | ie (but cf. i.e.) [Dogs...] / iy (comments?) |
| azure | azhur |
[B] |
|
| bacchanal/ia | backanal/ea |
| backdoor | backdor [Cal...] |
| badge/r | baj [Clap...] [pl.?] , bajjer (See -DG- group below.) |
| badinage | badinozh (My unabridged dictionary shows a second pronunciation, with a J-sound. How common is it? Do we need to leave the present spelling to accommodate it?) (comments?) |
| baggage | baggaj [fishstick...] or baggij (comments?) |
| balm | bolm [Clap...] |
| bandage | bandaj [Red...] or bandij (comments?) |
| bastion | baschon or bastchon (Brits who say báas.tee.yan will want to keep the present spelling, so British and American spelling will depart a tiny bit more) |
| bathing | batheing |
| bathyscaph(e) | bathiscaf(e) |
| bathysphere | bathisfere |
| behind | behiend |
| belle | bel [Music...] |
| belles-lettres, belletrist, belletristic | bellett, bellettrist, bellettristic |
| bete noire, bete noir | betnwahr |
| bevel | bevvel |
| beverage | bevrij (but some people do use the spelling pronunciation, with three syllables) |
| bibliophil/e | bibliofil/e |
| bichon frise or frise | beeshon freezay (Can this name of a breed of lapdog be changed? Some people use a French pronunciation with a long-O, nasalized and stressed, in the first word (bee.shoenn) and a long-A at the end of the second word (free.zae); others pronounce it bee.shon freez; comments?) |
| bicycle | bicicle |
| bidet | beeday |
| biggie | biggy [tvp...] |
| bight | biet [Clap...] |
| bigot/ry | biggot [yaora...], /-ry |
| billboard | bilbord [Foog...] |
| billionaire | See -illion group, below) (comments?) |
| biography | biografy [Dogs...] |
| birth/day | burth/day [GreenD...] |
| bismuth | bizmuth |
| blackboard | blakbord [Garage...] (If "black" is not revised, can this be revised?) (comments?) |
| blackguard | blaggard [Music.] |
| blarney | blarny |
| blessed (adj.) | blessid |
| blind | bliend / blynd /blynde / bliynd (comments?) |
| blow- (derivatives) | bloegun, bloehole, bloetorch [Multi...] |
| blowzy, blowsy, blousy | blouzy |
| bludgeon | blujjon |
| boardwalk | bordwauk [Smoke...] |
| boatswain (rare) | bosun |
| bocci | bochy |
| bodice | boddiss |
| body | boddy [Firewall...] |
| bold | boeld [Clap...], boald (comments?) |
| bolero | bolairo |
| boll | boal (cf. "goal"; cannot be "bole") |
| bolster | boalster |
| boloney | (See "baloney", above.) |
| bombardier | bombardeer (airman who drops bombs); bombardeeay (for snowmobile vehicle) (comments?) |
| bonhomie | bonnamee |
| boogie | boogy [tvp...] |
| boogie-woogy | boogywoogy |
| bookworm | bookwerm [Cal...] |
| boot | buet [Table...] |
| bore | bor (see -ORE GROUP, below) |
| borough, boro | berro |
| borscht, borsht, borsch (Food Friday) | borsht |
| bosom | boozom |
| botch | boch |
| both | boath [Clap...] (cf. cloth, loath) |
| boucle, boucle | booclay or booclaye (comments?) |
| boudoir | boodwahr |
| bough | bou(w) (see -OW GROUP, below) |
| bouillon | boolyon (see also "bullion") |
| boulevard | bullevard |
| boutique | buteek |
| bow (knot, arrow) | boe [Clap...] (see -OW GROUP, below) |
| bow (down) | bouw [Garage...] or bou (In pairs like bow/bow, we need not change both; it is enuf to change one class. The question is, which class to change?) (comments?) |
| bowel | bowwel [Music.] |
| bower | bowwer (see -OWER GROUP, below) |
| bowl/ing | boel [Music...] /-ing |
| braise | braize (the I is included to avoid mental link to "brazen") |
| bravado | bravoddo |
| bravo | brovvo |
| breadth | bredth |
| breeches (see also "breeches") | briches |
| breeze, breezy | breez/y [rhod...] |
| brew (Food Friday) | broo (but what do we do about "brewer/y"? broower/y?) (comments?) |
| bridge | brij |
| brief/s, briefcase | breef/s, breefcase |
| brilliant | brilyant (contrast reliant, defiant) |
| brio | breo |
| brioche (Food Friday) | breoshe or breoash (comments?) |
| britches (see "breeches") | |
| (broccoli) rabe, raab, rab | rahb ["Broccoli" by itself was offered as "brockoly" on February 25, 2005.] |
| brogue | broeg or broag (comments?) |
| brochette (Food Friday) | broashette or broeshette (comments?) |
| brochure | broshure |
| bronchia, bronchitis | bronkea, bronkitis |
| bronze | bronz |
| brouhaha | broohaha |
| brow | brou [Shoe...] |
| brown/ie | broun/y [Power...] |
| browse/r | brouze/r [Gator...] |
| bruise | bruse/bruze |
| bucked | bukt |
| budget | bujjet [Firewall...] (comments?) |
| bulge | bulj [Moon...] |
| bullion | bullyon (see also "bouillon") |
| bungalow | bungalo |
| bungle | bunggle |
| bunion | bunyon |
| buoy, buoyant | booey (noun)/ boi (verb) [Clap...] (cf. gooey, poi, borzoi), boyant |
| burgeon/ing | burjon/ing |
| bustier (lingerie) | boostyae or boosteyay or boostyay (comments?) |
| bustle | bussle |
| butch/er/y | buch/er/y or booch/er/y (comments?) |
| buttock/s | buttak/s [Clap...: "the word buttocks is often mispronounced to rhyme with rocks because of it's misleading spelling"] |
[C] |
|
| cadaver | cadavver |
| cafeteria (Food Friday) | caffeterea [yaora...] |
| cage | caje [yaora...] (low priority) |
| cakra (see "chakra") | |
| calcium (Food Friday) | calseum [Clap...] |
| calorie (Food Friday) | calory [Firewall...] (In the plural, this would revert to "calories". Is it thus worth doing?) |
| candlelight | candlelite [Fisherman...] |
| capelin (Food Friday) | cappelin |
| cappuccino (Food Friday) | cappucheeno |
| carapace | carrapace (low priority) |
| caravan | carravan [Tom...] |
| caravel | carravell [Music...] |
| cardboard | cardbord [Shoe...] |
| cardio- (e.g., -vascular) | cardeo- |
| caregiver | caregivver |
| caret | carret or carrit (Tho RR is a common way of showing a short-A rather than broad-A before an R-sound, it's not foolproof (barroom, warrant, bizarre, catarrh), so many people might see no advantage to making this word longer.) (comments?) |
| carney | carny |
| carol | carrol [Socks...] |
| carrefour | carrafoor(e) |
| cartilage, cartilaginous | cartilaj, cartilajjinus |
| cartwright | cartrite |
| cashew (Food Friday) | cashue or cashoo or cashu (comments?) |
| cashier | casheer |
| castle | cassle [Garage...] |
| cataclysm | cataclizm |
| cataplasm | cattaplazm (use only with "poultice") |
| catarrh | catar or catarr (comments?) |
| caterpillar | catterpiller [Firewall...] |
| catwalk | catwauk [Fisherman...] |
| caulk, calk | cauk |
| ceci (Food Friday) | chechy |
| ceiba | sayba |
| cellar | celler [Firewall...] |
| cello, violoncello | chello; violonchello [Fisherman...] |
| cellophane | cellofane |
| cellphone | celfone |
| centenarian | centenairean |
| centrifuge | centrifuje (esp. to fite common mispronunciation sen.tri.fyuezh) |
| centurion | cenchureon (cf. nickelodeon) |
| century | cenchury |
| certificate (noun) | certificat [Bookk...] |
| chakra | chuckra |
| chalaza, ~ae, ~as (Food Friday) | kalaza, kalazee, kalazas (the white strand in eggs that attaches the yolk to the eggshell) |
| challah, challeh, hallah (Food Friday) | holla (people who want to use the harsh guttural will continue to spell it in the Yiddish fashion) |
| chalkboard | chaukbord [Garage...] |
| challenge | challenj or chalenj (comments?) |
| champion | champeon |
| chapati, chapatti (Food Friday) | chapotty |
| chapel (Sunday) | chapple or chappel (comments?) |
| charge | charj [Moon...] |
| check / cheque | chek |
| checkerboard (Food Friday, tablecloth) | checkerbord [Fisherman...] |
| cheddar (Food Friday) | chedder [Clap...] |
| cheeseburger (Food Friday) | cheezburgur [JEA...] |
| chemo/therapy | kemo/therapy |
| chessboard | chessbord |
| chestnut (Food Friday) | chesnut |
| chew (Food Friday) | chu(e) |
| chiaroscuro | keyaroscuro |
| Chihuahua (dog) | Chiwahwa (must this be considered a proper noun? can we revise it even if it is? comments?) |
| child | chiald (cf. dial; but "children" for plural) |
| chili/ con carne (Food Friday) | chillee [Firewall...] / con carnee ("carny" and "carney" are already taken, for a person who works for a carnival) |
| chimney | chimny |
| chipotle | chipoatlay or chipoatly (comments?) |
| chiropteran | kiropteran |
| chocolatier (Food Friday) | choclateer (word has now been anglicized, so spelling should guide people away from the French pronunciation) |
| choler | coller |
| chondroitin (Food Friday) | condroitin |
| chow (Food Friday) | chouw |
| chowder (Food Friday) | chouder [Boath...] or chouwder (comments?) |
| Christian (Sunday) | Crischan [Dogs...] (but a proper noun) |
| chromatography | cromatoggrafy |
| chutney (Food Friday) | chutny |
| cinema, cinematographer | sinnema [fishstick...] or cinnema, cinnematoggrafer (comments?) |
| ciao | chou |
| cioppino (Food Friday) | choppeeno |
| circle | serkle [Red...] or sercle (comments?) |
| circus | serkus [Red...] or sercus (comments?) |
| cirque (mountain hollow) | serk [fishstick...] |
| clandestine | clandestin or clandesstin (comments?) |
| claustrophobia, /-ic | claustrofobea, claustrofobic [fishstick...] |
| cleanliness | clenliness [Cal...] |
| clear | cleer [Water...] (necessary? intended to distinguish from "nuclear", but "clear" is part of a pattern whereas "nuclear" is the exception) (comments?) |
| clergy (Sunday) | clerjy |
| click | clik |
| client | cliant (cf. "giant", "pliant") |
| cliff | clif [Mario...] (cf. "if") |
| climate | climet |
| climb | clym(e) or cliem or cliym (comments?) |
| clique | cleek |
| cloche | cloash or cloesh (comments?) |
| clockwise, counter~ | clockwize [Fisherman...], counter~ |
| close (verb) | cloze [Clap...] |
| closet | clozzet [Fisherman...] |
| closure | cloezher [Moon...] or clozher or cloazher (comments?) |
| cloture | clocher or cloacher or cloecher (comments?) |
| coati/mundi | coewottee/mundy (comments?) |
| cocaine | cocane [Tom...] or cocain [yaora...] (low priority) (comments?) |
| coccyx, coccyges | coksix, coksixes (comments?) |
| cockatiel | cockateel |
| cockney | cokny [yaora...] (low priority, after -OCK GROUP, below, has been addressed) or cockny (comments?) |
| cocoa/nut (Food Friday) | coco/nut |
| codify | coddify [Music.] |
| cogent | cojent |
| coif/fure | quoff/ure |
| coir | coyyer or coiyer [Music...] >>(''oir'' is very ambiguous and ''coir'' is the only word where ''oir'' is pronounced ''oiyer''.)<< |
| coincide/nce | coewincide/nce |
| cold | coeld [Clap...], or coald or cohld (comments?) |
| collagen | collajen |
| collapse | calapse |
| college | collej [Moon...] |
| collier | colyer |
| colloquy | collokwy |
| colonial | coloneal (contrast "dial") (low priority) |
| color | cullor or cullur [John...] |
| comedy, comic | commedy, commic |
| commode, discommode | camode, discamode |
| communique, communique | communikay |
| companion | companyon [Firewall...] (cf. "canyon") |
| company | cumpany [Monsters...] |
| composite | compozzit (Brits actually say kóm.pa.zit; if "compozzit" would offend them, they can continue to use the unphonetic spelling, and just add that to the list of words spelled differently in the New World and Old.) |
| compost | compoest or compoast (comments?) |
| composure | compozher or compoezher or compoazher (comments?) |
| conceit | conceet |
| conceive, conceivable | conceve, concevable |
| concierge | conseeyairzh or conceairzh or consyairzh or ?? |
| concomitant | concommitant |
| condescend, condescension | condisend, condisention |
| confirm (see "firm") | |
| confit (Food Friday) | caunfee |
| congenial | cunjeenyal or conjeenyal (cotrast "congenital") |
| conscience, conscious/ness, subconscious, unconscious | conshence, conshus, subconshus, unconshus [fishstick...]/ness (contrast "science" with "conscience") -NSH- is perceived by some people to have an implied T (-NTSH-), which means the whole sequence is in turn perceived as NCH (kon.chans, etc.). |
| consomme, consomme (Food Friday) | consumay or consomay (comments?) |
| consummate (adj. and verb) | consumat/e or consummat (adj.; leave verb as-is?) (comments?) |
| contemn | contemm or contem (comments?) |
| contest (noun) | conntest (low priority) |
| contingent | continjent |
| continuous | continuus (cf. "continuum") |
| control/led | controle/d [Clap...] |
| convey | cunvay [Firewall...] or convay (will comparison with "convoy" produce stress on first syllable?) |
| cookie (Food Friday) | cookee (cf. pie, tree) [Clap...] |
| copy/right, /-writer | coppy [Doghouse...] /rite [Cal...], /-riter [Red...] |
| coq au vin (Food Friday) | cocovan |
| coquet (verb and male noun), coquette, coquettish | coket or cokett or cokette (comments?), cokettish |
| cordage | cordaj [Caste...] |
| core | cor [Clap...] |
| cornstalk | cornstauk [GreenD...] |
| corps | kor [Clap...] or corr (or leave "core" as-is and make "corps" into "cor") (comments?) |
| corral | coralle |
| cortege, cortege (Sunday) | cortezh |
| cosmic | cozmic [Garden...] |
| cotto (e.g., salami) (Food Friday) | coto |
| couchette | cushette |
| cougar | coogar |
| counterfeit | counterfit |
| coup | ku |
| coup d'etat | kudaytah |
| coupe | cupay [Clap...] |
| courier | currier |
| courtesan | cortezan |
| courtesy | curtesy (however, there is an unusual legal term with this spelling) |
| cousin | cuzzin |
| cow | cou [Starry...] or couw |
| coward | cowwerd (necessary? if used, already-offered "cowardiss" (5/12/05) will have to be adjusted) (comments?) |
| cower | cowwer (see -OWER GROUP, below) |
| crabbed | crabbid (low priority for being rare nowadays) |
| crappie (fish) (Food Friday) | croppy |
| craquelure | craklure or craclure (to avoid 3-syllable mispronunciation that "cracklure" might produce) |
| creme fraiche (Food Friday) | cremfresh |
| crenel/ate (-late), -ation (-lation) | crennel/ate, -ation |
| crevice | crevviss |
| crew | cru(e) |
| crinoline | crinnalin |
| crooked (criminal) | crookid [FireW...] |
| croquet | crokay |
| croquette | croket or crokett or crokette (comments?) |
| croup | croop (comments?) |
| crouton (Food Friday) | cruton |
| crowd | croud [Wilddog...] |
| crutch | cruch [Cargo...] |
| crwth (Welsh musical instrument) | crooth [fishstick...] |
| crystal/line | cristal/in (but American pronunciation of adjectival form) |
| cuckold | cuckled or cuckald (comments?) |
| cul-de-sac | culdasack |
| culture | culchur or culcher (comments?) (would include derivatives agriculcher, viniculcher, etc.) |
| cupboard (Food Friday) | cubberd |
| curettage | curettozh |
| curfew | curfue [Staek...] |
| curious | cureus [Doorbell...] |
| curmudgeon | curmujjon |
| cursive | cursiv [Red...] |
| curtain | curtan |
| curvaceous, curvacious | curvatious or curvayshus or curvaeshus (comments?) |
| curve | curv [Fireworks...] |
| custodial | custodeol [fishstick...] (contrast "dial") |
| cutie, cutey | cuty (low priority) |
| cwm (mountain hollow) | coom [fishstick...] |
| cyan | siyan [Gator...], ciyan (comments?) |
| cylinder, cylindrical | silinder, silindrical |
| cymbal | simbal [Firewall...] |
| cynic/al | sinnic/al |
| cyst | cist (cf. cistern and esp. cisterna) or sist (comments?) |
[D] |
|
| damage | damaj or dammij |
| damascene, damaskeen | dammasene, dammaskeen |
| damn | damm [Firewall...] (but "damnable, "damnation") (comments?) |
| decolletage | daycoltozh (a guide away from spelling-pronunciations rather than prescriptivist condemnation of other pronunciations) |
| decollete, décolleté | daycoltay (a guide away from spelling-pronunciations rather than prescriptivist condemnation of other pronunciations) |
| decorative | decorativ [Table...] or deccorativ |
| defuse | defuze |
| degenerat/e | dejenerat/e [Fisherman...] |
| delegate (noun) | delegat or dellegat (comments?) |
| delirium, delirious | dileereum, dileereus |
| deliver/y (Food Friday) | dilivver [Shoe...] or delivver (comments?), /-y |
| demagogue (see "-OGUE GROUP", below) | demagog (address "demagoguery", "demigogy") (but see -ology, below, for -gy endings) |
| dementia | demensha (some dictionaries show a pronunciation with two syllables for the -TIA part of this word; if that is widely accepted, we cannot simplify this word) |
| demijohn | demmyjon |
| demise | dimize |
| demography, demographic/s | demoggrafy, demmograffic/s |
| demonstrate, demonstration, demo | demmonstrate, demmonstration, demmo |
| dengue | denggy (is 'denggay' common?) (comments?) |
| denouement / denouement | daenumonn or daynoomonn (comments?) |
| derivative | derivativ or derivvativ (comments?) |
| dermatophyte | dermatofite (Lamisil commercial introduces word) |
| derriere, derriere, | derreair or derryair (comments?) |
| designate | dezzignate (verb) [fishstick...], dezzignit or dezzignat (adj. and noun) (comments?) |
| desire | dezire |
| desperate | desprat (prescriptivist?) |
| desuetude | desswitude |
| detective | detectiv |
| detergent | deterjent [Bookk...] |
| determine | determin [Clap...] |
| deviate | deveate (low priority) |
| deuced (Chiefly Britisih for "darned") | ducid (low priority) |
| devise | divize (contrast vise, concise, precise) |
| devolve | devolv [DonJ...] |
| dhole | doel [Gator...] (low priority) |
| dhow | dou or douw [Jungle...] or simply dow, a recognized alternate spelling (low priority) (see -OW GROUP below) |
| dialogue | dialog (see "-OGUE GROUP", below) |
| diameter | diammeter [rhode...] |
| diamond | dimond or diemond |
| diarrhea (British: diarrhoea) | diarea or does it need to be distinguished from "area"?: diareeya |
| dicotyledon | diekottiledon or diekottileedon (comments?) |
| dilettante | dilletont |
| diligent | dilijent |
| dingo | dinggo [Unicycle...] (see -INGO GROUP, below) |
| dingy | dinjy [Music...] |
| dinosaur | dinosor [Gator...] |
| dialysis | dialisis |
| diocese/s (Sunday) | diasis / diasees |
| dirt/y | dert/y [GreenD...] |
| disaster, disastrous | dizaster, dizastrus [Firewall...] |
| discharge | discharj [Moon...] |
| disguise | disgize (often actually pronounced "diskize" thru process of assimilation) |
| dispose, disposal (Food Friday) | dispoze, dispozal [Red...] |
| dissuade | disswade [yaora...] or diswade (comments?) |
| distinguish | distinggwish [Bookk...] (too "funny looking" to be accepted?) (comments?) |
| distribute, distribution | distribbute (Many speakers of foreign languages see the traditional spelling as dis.tri.byuet.) but still distribution |
| Doberman pinscher | Doberman pinsher |
| doll | dol [Firewall] |
| done | dunn (I would prefer 'dun', but that's already taken, and people would resist flipping the two. Tho SSWD prefers avoiding needless double letters, it's either that or make a homograph with "dun" - or leave "done" as-is.) |
| don't | doan't or doen't (cf. "dont walk" signs) [Clap...] (comments?) |
| do-si-do | dosydoe |
| dosage | dosaj [fishstick...] or dosij (comments?) |
| douche | doosh or duesh (low priority and perhaps not entirely appropriate to this project, which is largely directed to schoolchildren) (comments?) |
| doughty | douty |
| dower, dowry | dowwer, douwry (see -OWER GROUP, below) |
| dowry | douwry or doury (comments?) |
| dragee, dragee (Food Friday) | drazhay |
| dreadlocks | dredloks |
| dreamt | dremt [Clap...] |
| dreidel, dreidl (Saturday) | dradle |
| dressage | dressozh |
| drew | droo [Mario...] |
| drivel | drivvel [Smoke...] or drivvle (comments?) |
| driven | drivven [Red...] |
| droll | drole |
| drowsy | drowzy |
| drusy | druzy |
| dudgeon | dujjon |
| duplicate (adjective and noun) | duplicat [Dogs...] |
| dwarf/s, dwarves | dworf /s[Clap...], dworves |
| dynamic | dynammic |
| dynamite | dinamite [Clap...] |
| dysfunction/al | disfunction/al |
| dyslexia | dislexia or dislexea (comments?) |
| dystopia/n | distopia/n or distopea/n |
[E] |
|
| earring | earing [Unicycle...] (low priority) |
| echinoderm | ikinoderm or ekinoderm [Unicycle...] (low priority) (comments?) |
| edify | eddify (low priority) |
| effloresce/nt, -nce | effloress/ent, -ence |
| effulgent | effuljent (low priority) |
| effuse, effusive | (verb) effuze; (adjective) effuse, effusiv |
| element | ellement (low priority) |
| elevate, elevator | ellevate [yaora...], ellevator (low priority) |
| eleven | elevven [Bookk...] (if "seven" is changed to "sevven", which may not be necessary) (comments?) |
| emerge/ncy, emergent | emerj/ency [Castle...], emerjent |
| emissary | emmisserry |
| enclose, enclosure | encloze [Red...], encloezher |
| endow | endou [Starry...] or endouw (better for grammatical suffixes: endouwing) (comments?) |
| enemy | ennemy [fishstick...] |
| energy, energetic, energize | enerjy, enerjetic, enerjize [Monsters...] (low priority) or ennerjy, ennerjettic, ennerjize (comments?) |
| enervate | ennervate |
| English | Inglish [Clap...] or Ingglish (This word is a proper noun, and SSWD in general avoids proper nouns. Some spelling reformers think changing the E to I would be good in distancing the language from "England" and instead using an I as in "international". Might, however, people in England object? The double-G indicates the more common pronunciation, but would forbid the pronunciation without a hard-G. Omitting a second-G would permit both pronunciations. But might not people who do not pronounced a hard-G use a respelling without a second-G to argue that their pronunciation is preferred?) (comments?) |
| engross | engroess [Fisherman...] or engrose (comments?) |
| enlighten/ment | enliten [Music...] / -ment |
| ensure | enshure [Firewall...] |
| en/visage | envizzaj, envizzij (comments?) |
| enzyme, enzymatic | enzime [Fisher...], enzimatic ("enzyme" itself does not require change; should we change the root to accommodate the derivative "enzimatic"?) (comments?) |
| epilogue | epilog (see "-OGUE GROUP", below) |
| eponymous | eponnimus ("epponim" was used as part of the -NYM family on June 11, 2006) |
| ere | ayr (but see "heir", below) (comments?) |
| escalator | escalater [Dogs...] |
| eschew | estchue |
| escort (noun) | esscort [fishstick...] (Helpful but hardly necessary, since syllabic stress is not usually differentiated by spelling between nouns and verbs. Low priority.) (comments?) |
| escutcheon | escuchon (uncommon, so low-priority) |
| esoteric | essateric |
| esprit/ de corps | espree/dacore |
| estimate (noun) | estimat [Dogs...] |
| etagere, etagere | aytazhair |
| ethyl/ene | ethal/ene [fishstick...] |
| etiolate | eteolate (-TIO- might be seen as being pronounced -SHA-) |
| etymology, -ical | etimollogy, ~ical/ly or ettimollogy, ~ical/ly (but see -ology, below) (comments?) |
| euchre, euchred, euchring | euker, eukered, eukering |
| euphemism, -istic | eufemizm, -istic |
| euphorbia | euforbia or euforbea |
| even | eeven (to distinguish from, for instance, "seven") (comments?) |
| evolve | evolv [Wurdplay...] |
| ewe, ewer | yue {Music...] (but what about "ewer"? yuewer?) |
| exaggerate, exaggeration | exajjerate, exajjeration [yaora...] (There is also the issue of the X, which takes the GZ-sound here. Does that need to be changed too?) (comments?) |
| exceed | exeed [fishstick...] |
| excel/lent | exell, exellent or exelant [fishstick...] (comments?) |
| excelsior | (wood shavings) exelsior |
| excerpt | exerpt [fishstick...] |
| excess | exess |
| excite/ment | exite/ment |
| excuse (verb) | excuze [Clap...] |
| exercise | exercize [Dogs...] / exersize (relate exercise to change in size) [Clap...] |
| exhilarate, exhilaration | exillerate, exilleration |
| exhort/ation | exort/ation |
| expensive | expensiv [Fisherman...] |
| expertise | experteez (contrast paradise, precise, concise) or experteze (cf. trapeze) (comments?) |
| explosive | explosiv [JEA...] |
| expose, exposure | expoze [Red...], expoezher |
| extensive | extensiv [Red...] |
| extinguish | extinggwish [Bookk...] (too "funny looking" to be accepted?) (comments?) |
| extoll | extole |
| extraordinaire | extrordinair |
| extraordinary | extrordinary [Clap...] (but some dialects, especially in Britain, actually pronounced the A in "extra") (comments?) |
| eye | ie, iy, iye (comments?) |
[F] |
|
| falter | faulter [Mail...] (prob. not necessary because all words of this form take the same sound) |
| feasible | feazible [Firewall...] |
| feces | fecees or feceez or feceeze (like "freeze" and "sneeze") or feceze or feeseez or feeseze (comments? is the word too likely to draw snickers to use in this project?) |
| ferrule | ferrul |
| fever | feever [Clap...] (cf. ever, clever) (if "evver" is not adopted for "ever" and parallel words) |
| fiery | firey or firy [yaora...] or should "fire" be changed to "fier"? (comments?) |
| fillet (in non-food senses) | fillit |
| find | fynd or fynde or fiynd (low priority) (comments?) |
| firm, affirm, confirm, infirm, terra firma | ferm [GreenD...], aferm, conferm, inferm, terra ferma |
| fishbowl | fishboel [Fisherman...] |
| flambe (Food Friday) | flombay |
| flamingo | flaminggo [Unicycle...] (see -INGO GROUP, below) |
| flange | flanj [fishstick...] |
| flashlight | flashlite [FireW...] |
| fleche | flaesh or flaysh or flaish (comments?) |
| flew | floo [Cal...] |
| floodlight | fludlite [Fisherman...] |
| fluoresce/nt | floress/ent (Dictionaries list multiple pronunciations, but I don't know how common others are; if common, we cannot reform this word.) |
| fluoride | floride (Dictionaries list multiple pronunciations, but I don't know how common others are; if common, we cannot reform this word.) |
| footwear | footwair [FireW...] |
| forearm | forarm [Unicycle...] |
| forehead | forhed |
| foremother (rare) | foremuther |
| foreword | forewerd |
| forgive/n | forgiv/ven [Fishin...] |
| forte | fortay [Clap...] (prescriptivist?) (comments?) |
| foul | fouwel [Foog...] |
| fowl (Food Friday) | fowwel [Foog...] |
| freeze (Food Friday) | freez |
| fricative | friccativ |
| fridge (Food Friday) | frij |
| frigid/ity | frijid/ity [Bookk...] |
| frise, frise (Food Friday) (see also "bichon frise") | frizay |
| frou-frou, froufrou | fruefrue or froofroo (comments?) |
| fruit/fruity, grapefruit (Food Friday) | frute/fruty, grapefrute |
| fuchsia | fuesha or feusha or fyuesha (comments?) |
| fudge (Food Friday) | fuj [Caste...] |
| fugue | fyueg [Music.] or feug (comments?) |
| full | fooll [Orange...] (Will this still be read as having a short-OO?) (comments?) |
| furnace | furnus [Fireworks...] (contrast "fireplace") |
| future | feucher [yaora...] or fuecher or fyuecher (comments?) |
[G] |
|
| gabion | gabeon |
| gas (Food Friday) | gass [Gator...] (cf. "mass", "class"; contrast "as", "has", "spas") |
| gasoline | gasolene or gassolene (comments?) |
| geminate, /-tion | jemminate, /-tion [fishstick...] (low priority) |
| gene/tic/s | jene/tic/s [JohnS...] (low priority) |
| genus, genera | jenus, jennera |
| geology, geologist, geological | jeolojy, jeolojist [Fishin...], jeolojjical (some people may resist altering the -ology ending, but it should be done, sooner or later) |
| geranium | jeraneum |
| gesture | jescher [Music...] or jestcher (need T so SCH is not misread?) (soft-G before E rule makes this low-priority) |
| geyser | gizer [Clap...] (but there is a British pronounciation geezer) (comments?) |
| giant | jiant [Jungle...] (low priority) |
| gigantic | jiegantic [Doghouse...] or jygantic (comments?) |
| gingiva, gingival, gingivitis | jinjiva, jinjival, jinjivitis |
| giraffe | jiraff (soft-G before I rule makes this low-priority) |
| girandole | jeerandole |
| gird, girt | gurd, gurt [JEA...] or gerd, gert |
| girdle | gurdle [Caste...] or gerdle |
| girl | gurl [Clap...: see http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=gurl&btnG=Google+Search] or gerl (comments?) |
| girth | gurth [Jacke...] or gerth |
| glottal | glottle [Caste...] (low priority because "glottal" is phonetic, if not consistent with other words of parallel pronunication) |
| glove | gluv (see -ove group, below) |
| glow | glo [Firewall...] |
| glower | glowwer (see -OWER GROUP, below) |
| glucosamine (Food Friday) | glucosamene |
| gneiss | nise or nyse or nyss ("nise" could be used only after many words ending in -ISE but pronounced with a Z-sound have been changed to -IZE: revize, surprize, demize, gize, etc.) |
| gnomon | nomon (unusual word, for the part of a sundial that throws the shadow; low priority) |
| gnu | nu or nuw [Castle...] or noo (like "zoo") ("nu" is an existing word, for a Greek letter, but is not well known, so perhaps there is no reason to distinguish it from 'gnu', in that they would never be confused in context. However, "nu" could also be used for "new" or "knew", but should not be used for both. If we draw a distinction between "new" and "knew" as "nu" and "nue", what shall we do about "gnu"? Comments?) |
| godchild, -daughter, -father, -mother (Sunday) | godchiald, goddauter, godfother, godmuther [GreenD...] |
| gold/en | goeld/en [Clap...], goald/en (comments?) |
| gonna | gunna (very informal; perhaps does not therefore need reform) |
| gonorrhea | gonnarea |
| gorge/ous | gorj/us |
| graffiti / graffito | grafeety / grafeeto (rare) |
| grammatic/al, grammar | gramattic/al, grammer |
| grand prix | gronpree [Music.] |
| grandaunt, -child, -daughter, -father, -mother | grandont, -chiald, -dauter, -fother, -muther [GreenD...] |
| grapefruit (Food Friday; use at same time as "fruit", above?) | grapefrute |
| grapheme | graffeme [fishstick...] (low priority, specialized vocabulary) |
| graphite | grafite [Dogs...] or graffite |
| gravel | gravvel (See "travel", below.) |
| gravity | gravvity |
| grief, grieve (Sunday) | greef [Earth...], greev(e) (comments?) |
| grind (Food Friday) | griend |
| grisly | grizly (remains distinct from the bear, whose name has two Z's, grizzly) |
| gross | groess (''Gross'' does not rhyme with ''moss'', ''floss'', ''boss''.) [Clap...] or grose (comments?) |
| grotesque/ry, /-rie | grotesk/ery |
| group/er (Food Friday) | grupe/r |
| grow, grew (Food Friday) | gro, gru [Clap...] or groe, grue (comments?) |
| growl | growwel [Table...] (sensible but significantly longer than the current spelling, so may be resisted for that) |
| gruel/ing | grual, gruling (comments?) |
| grunion (Food Friday) | grunyon |
| gruyere, gruyere (Food Friday) | gruyair (people who ignore the U now, to say gree.yair, can continue to ignore it) |
| guacamole (Food Friday) | gwockamoly |
| guar (Food Friday) | gwar [Firewall...] |
| guarana (Food Friday) | gwaranah |
| guava (Food Friday) | gwovva [Firewall...] |
| guernsey | gernzy or gurnzy (comments?) |
| guerrilla, guerilla | garilla or gerilla (comments?) |
| guesstimate | gesstimat or gestimat (noun), gesstimate or gestimate (verb) |
| guide, guidance | gide [Wilddog...], gidance or gidence [Sci...] or gyde, gydence ("Gide" may work (tho some people will see it as the name of a French writer), but "gidance", which flows from it, looks like it has a short-I in the first syllable and stress on the second, gi-DANCE.) (comments?) |
| guilt/y | gillt/y [Wurdplay...] ("Gillt" was offered to distinguish from "gilt". Will that be accepted? -LLT- is "un-English" and occurs only in compound words. The American Heritage Dictionary shows only "hilltop", "smalltime", and "telltale" (and their derivatives), not so much as one word in which LLT ends the root word.) (comments?) |
| guise | giez [Table...] or gize or gyze (depends on if and how "guy" is reformed) (comments?) |
| guitar | gitar [Gator...] |
| gull | gul [Firewall...] |
| gunpowder | gunpouder [Mario...] |
| gurney | gurny |
| guy | gie [Clap...] / giy / gye (A Japanese spelling reformer points out that -ay is pronounced long-A, so it makes perfect sense for -iy to be pronounced long-I.) (comments?) |
| gymnasium / gym | jimnasium / jim |
| gymnast/ics | jimnast/ics [Dogs...] |
| gyp, gip | jip |
| gypsum | jipsum [GreenD...] |
| gypsy | jipsy [Robert...] |
| gyre | jire [Dogger...] |
| gyro/scope | jiro/scope [Cargo...] |
[H] |
|
| hairdo | hairdu [Box...] |
| halloo | haloo |
| hallucinate, hallucinogen | halucinate, halucinojen |
| halophyte | halafite |
| handsome | hansome / hansum / handsum (very low priority) |
| harpsichord | harpsikord |
| hatchback | hachbak [fishstick...] (low priority) |
| head- (other derivatives) | hedbord , hedline[GreenD...], hedlite/s [FireW...]; hedband, heddress, hedmaster, hedmistress, hedstart, hedwaeter, hedway, hedwind, etc., etc., etc. |
| heart (Food Friday) | hart (would create a new homograph with the unusual word "hart" and proper noun "Hart", but maybe that's okay; comments?) |
| hebetude | hebbetude (low priority; unusual word for "lethargy") |
| heir/loom | ayr [Robert...] (comments?), /-loom |
| heist | hyst (words like "hysteria" and "hysterectomy" would also have to be reformed to replace the Y with I in order for "hyst" to be available to represent a long-I sound) |
| helium | heleum [Fisherman...] |
| hemophilia (Brit. haemophilia) | hemofilia |
| hemorrhoid/s (Brit. haemorrhoid/s) | hemmaroid/s (RRH suggests that the second syllable takes the word's stress, when in actuality the first syllable does, and the first O is either a schwa or completely dropped by some people.) |
| hermaphrodite | hermaffrodite |
| heroin, heroine | This is complicated. OI is ordinarily said as in "coin", but how do we change it here? "Herowin" will be seen by many as hee.roe.win; by others as her.ou.win. "Heroewin" will also be read as hee.roe.win. "Herroewin" is plain but may be resisted as cumbersome. Is "herrowin" plain? (cf. "harrowing")? And should we distinguish the politically-incorrect word "heroine", which may still be used in discussions of literature? If so, how? (comments?) |
| herpes | herpeez (inappropriate for this project, which is largely directed to schoolchildren?) |
| hers (see "his", below) | |
| hey | hae [Clap...] |
| hind | hiend / hynd / hiynd (comments?) |
| hinge | hinj |
| highway | hiway [fishstick...] |
| hippie | hippee [Clap...] |
| his | hiz [Clap...] (If we change this, we should also change "hers" to "herz".) |
| history | histery (low priority) |
| hoarse | horss [fishstick...] or horce (low priority; arguably unnecessary) (comments?) |
| hold | hoeld [Clap...], hoald (comments?) |
| holiness (Sunday) | holyness |
| homework | homewerk [GreenD...] |
| homograph | hommagraf |
| homophobe /-ia | homofobe, /-ia |
| homophone | hommafone [Dogs...] or homofone |
| horseshoe | horseshue [Cal...] or horseshu |
| hotel | hotell [yaora...] |
| hottie | hotty (contrast "hogtie", "necktie") |
| housework | housewerk [GreenD...] |
| how | hou (cf. "thou") [Gator...] |
| howl | howwel [Table...] (sensible but significantly longer than the current spelling, so may be resisted for that) |
| huge | huje [yaora...] (very low priority, after issue of J for soft-G is addressed) |
| hull (noun) | hul [Firewall...] ("Hull" is also a verb, and there would be little point to dropping the second-L in the root since it would have to be put back for some inflected forms, such as "hulled", "hulling". Is anyone going to see any point to changing the noun but not the verb? Or should we just forget about this kind of word?) (comments?) |
| husband | huzband |
| hydrogen | hydrojen |
| hydrochloric, hydrochloride | hydrocloric; hydrochloride [fishstick...] |
| hydrometer | hydrommeter [rhode...] |
| hymn, hymnal (Sunday) | hym [Firewall...] or himm, himnal [fishstick...] (no long-I sound, which Y might suggest; comments?) |
| hyphen | hifen |
| hypochloric, hypochloride | hypocloric, hypocloride |
[I] |
|
| idiosyncrasy, ~cratic | iddeosincrasy, ~cratic |
| ignore | ignor [Dogs...] |
| image | immij |
| impetuous | impechuus (At least some Britons say im.pet.yu.was; should that rule out reforming this word?) (comments?) |
| impinge | impinj (Note: There is a security company named Impinj.) |
| indigene, indigen | indijeen, indijen ("indigene" is ambiguous by comparison to "aborigine", a related concept) |
| indiscriminate | indiscriminat or indiscriminit (comments?) |
| indoor/s | indor/s [GreenD...] |
| industrial | industreol [fishstick...] (cf. "trial"; low priority) (comments?) |
| infirm (see "firm") | |
| inflorescence | infloressence |
| insert (noun) | innsert [Firewall...] |
| insipid | insippid |
| interstice | interstiss or interrstiss (The peculiar stress (2d syllable) of this could be shown with the RR, but would it be accepted? English does not generally show syllabic stress except as a happenstance, when a doubled consonant to show a short vowel happens to fall at the end of a stressed syllable, so perhaps we shouldn't worry about that.) (comments?) |
| intransigent | intransijent |
| invective | invectiv |
| inventor | inventer |
| involve | involv [DonJ...] |
| iridesce/-nt | irridess/-ent (note two R's) |
| islet | ilet |
| -ism | -izm (this is a class of words; can it be offered to itself?)(comments?) |
| issue | ishu [Bookk...] (but note British pronunciation, which actually says this as it's written) (comments?) |
| iterate, reiterate | itterate, reitterate\ |
[J] |
|
| jarvey | jarvy [space...] |
| jati | jotty [space...] |
| jeepney | jeepny [space...] |
| jetavator | jettavator [space...] |
| jewel/ry | juwel/ry (permits pronunciation of base word in either one or two syllables) [space...] |
[K] |
|
| ?? | |
[L] |
|
| label | lable [Caste...] (low priority because "label" is phonetic, if not consistent with other words of parallel pronunciation, like "table" and "fable") |
| lambaste, lambast | lambaist, lambast (if most people see a short-A in the second syllable of "lambast". Then there would be two slitely different words, one with a long-A (lambaist"), one with a short-A ("lambast").) |
| laminate (noun) | laminat or laminit |
| lamppost | lamppoest [Fisherman...] or lammpoast or lampoest or lampoast or ~ohst (comments?) |
| lanai | lanie or lanye or laniy or ??? (Is there any way to write this unambiguously, or should we just leave it as-is?) (comments?) |
| leave | leav |
| lemon (Food Friday) | lemmon (cf. Jack Lemmon, contrast "demon") |
| lesbian | lezbeean [Fireman...] or lezbeon (Some people will object that EEAN is un-English . One could argue that the sequence EEA does occur in a few words, such as "agreeable". But there is also an issue of syllabic stress, since the existing words with this sequence (agreeable, disagreeable, decreeable, foreseeable) all have stress on the EE. Would the reader see this as lez.BEE.an? Comments?) |
| levitate, levitation | levvitate, levvitation |
| levity | levvity |
| libido, libidinous | libeedo, libiddinus |
| lick (Food Friday) | lik (see -ICK GROUP, below) |
| lightning | lietning [Monsters...] or lytning (comments?) |
| likewise | likewize [rhod...] |
| limn | limm or lim (but "limb" was offered as "lim" on June 6, 2009) (comments?) |
| limelight | limelite [FireW...] |
| linger | lingger |
| lingerie | lonzheray (Prescriptivist? Unacceptable to some dialect groups?)(comments?) |
| lingo | linggo [Unicycle...] (see -INGO GROUP, below) |
| linguist/ic/s | lingguist/ic/s (is "linggwistic/s" [Robert...] too far?) (comments?) |
| lipid, lipide | lippid, lippide; adjective: lipiddic |
| liquefy | liquify |
| liqueur | likur (Does this permit both common pronunciations, li.ker and li.kyuer?) (comments?) |
| lisle | lile [yaora...] or lial [rhode...] (comments?) |
| listen/er | lissen [Clap...] /-er |
| liter | leeter or simply leter (Cf. meter, Peter) (comments?) |
| literal | litteral [fishstick...] (but see "littoral", below) |
| literature | literacher |
| littoral | litteral (present spelling suggests stress on the second syllable; if "literal" is changed to "litteral", can this be changed to the same spelling?) |
| livid | livvid |
| llama | yomma or lomma (comments?) |
| lobelia | lobeelya |
| locomotive | locomotiv [Don...] |
| loge | loazh or loezh or lozhe (comments?) |
| logger | loggor |
| loggia | loja (accommodates both pronunciations loe.ja and loj.a) |
| logic/al | lojik/al [Clap...] |
| loll | lol (cf. "pol"; but beware Internet abbreviation LOL) |
| longer, longest | longger, longgest [Firewall] |
| longevity | lonjevity [Gator...] |
| longitude | lonjitude [Robert...] (but what of the British (dialectal?) pronunciations long.i.tued and laung.i.tued?) |
| lorgnette | lornyet or lornyett |
| loudspeaker | loudspeeker [GreenD...] |
| lounge | lounj [Red...] |
| loupe | lupe or loope (comments?) |
| lousy | louzy [Firewall...] |
| louver, louvre | loover |
| lower (to glare, sullenly) | lowwer (see -OWER GROUP, below) |
| luge | luezh |
| luggage | luggaj [fishstick...] or luggij (comments?) |
| lull | lul [Firewall...] |
| luminesce/-nt | luminess/-ent |
| lutein (Food Friday) | lutene |
| lyceum | lyceeum (English does not usually show syllabic stress, but it sometimes does when the pattern is unusual: "kitchenette" as against "kitchenet", so doubling the E to show the unusual stress of "lyceum" makes sense.) |
| lying | lieing [Firewall...] |
| lyric/s, lyrical | liric/s, lirical |
[M] |
|
| macabre | macobbra or makobbra (Are other pronunciations (ma.kob, ma.kob.er) worth heeding, or are they just affectations or spelling pronunciations?) (comments?) |
| macrophage | macrofaje |
| madame | madamm [Unicycle...] (Complicated: plural is "mesdames"; singular before a last name, "Madame Bovarie" takes stress on first syllable. Perhaps this cannot be reformed.) |
| mahi-mahi, mahimahi (Food Friday) | mahymahy or maheemahy or mahemahe (comments?) |
| major | majer [Wilddog...] (low priority) |
| malfeasance | malfeezance or malfeazance (comments?) |
| malt (Food Friday) | mault [Clap...] (low priority because, altho AL is ambiguous elsewhere, as in "altruism", words of one syllable of this pattern are pronounced alike) |
| manage/r | manaj/er or mannaj/er or mannij/er |
| mardi gras | mardee grah [Peace...] |
| marijuana | marriwonna |
| marque | marke [Fishin...] |
| martial | marshel [Red...] or marshol or marshul (comments?) |
| masque | masc [Dogs...] |
| massive | massiv (cf. massif) |
| material | matereal [Bookk...] |
| mature | machure [Clap...] (prescriptivist?) |
| maverick | mavverick / mavverik |
| meant | ment [Clap...] |
| mechanic/-al | mekanic/al or mekannic/al |
| medal | meddal [Dogs...] |
| medieval, mediaeval | medeeval |
| mediocre | medeoker |
| medley/s | medly, /-ies |
| megaphone | megafone [Dogs...] |
| melange, melange | maylonzh (Some dictionaries show a second pronunciation, mae.lonj. Is that common, as would bar reforming this to -ZH? Comments?) |
| melody | mellody |
| menace | mennis |
| menage, menage | manozh |
| meningitis | menninjitis |
| meningococcal, /-coccus | meninggocockle, meninggococcus (comments?) (Mispronounced with a soft-G (men.in.ja.kok.al) in a U.S. public-service announcement about meningitis.) |
| menopause | menopauze [FireW...] or menopauz (comments?) |
| memoir | memwahr [Clap...] (AH within a word is "un-English". I see only two words that aren't frankly foreign, in which an AH in medial position represents broad-A without a consonantal H following, "mahjong(g)" and "dahlia", and in "dahlia", oddly, some people do NOT pronounce it broad-A but short-A and even LONG-A! I would LIKE to be able to propose respellings like "memwahr", "rezervwahr", etc., but I think they will look, to most people, too much like pronunciation keys in folk phonetics, not real, general-purpose spellings. But see discussion at "armoire", above. Comments?) |
| mentor | menter [Clap...] (The spelling-pronunciation men.taur is well-established. Can we defy it?) (comments?) |
| meow | meouw |
| mesquite (Food Friday) | meskeet |
| messenger | messenjer |
| metal | mettal |
| metamorphosis, metamorphose | metamorfosis, metamorfose |
| methyl | methal [fishstick...] |
| mew | mue [Staek...] |
| miasma | miazma |
| microfiche | microfeesh [Firewall...] |
| micrometer | micrommeter [rhode...] |
| microphone | microfone |
| mien | meen [Doorbell...] |
| mild | miald [Music...] / mield |
| milieu | milyoo (This will suggest to many people a long-OO or long-U at the end of the word, whereas the sound among educated speakers of English is short-OO (as in "good"). But people less familiar with the word do pronounce it with a long-OO. People who know it is supposed to be a short-OO will pronounce it thus, and argue that the OO spelling rather than a U or UE shows that plainly.) (comments?) |
| millionaire | millionair [Music...] (or wait until -illion group, below, is addressed) (comments?) |
| mind | miend [Dogs...] / mynd / mynde (comments?) |
| minutia, minutiae | minuesheeya, minuesheeyee |
| mirror | meerer [Clap...] |
| miscegenation, miscegenate | misejenation, misejenate (Do we need a JJ here to show that the E's in the middle of the word are completely separate and the second does not show the first to be long?) (comments?) |
| miscellaneous (offer with "miscellany") | misellaneous or misselaneus (comments?) |
| miscellany (offer with "miscellaneous") | misellany or misselany (comments?) (If "misselany" can be seen as accommodating the British pronunication mi.sel.a.nee, that should be offered.) |
| miso (Food Friday) | meeso |
| mitt | mit [Music...] |
| mixture | mixcher [Multi...] |
| mobile (adjective) | moble or mobil (but note British pronunciation, moe.bie.yal; comments?) |
| model | moddle [Caste...] or moddel [yaora...] (low priority) (comments?) |
| moisture | moistcher (need T because SCH without it would be misread) |
| mo(u)ld/ing | moeld/ing [Clap...], moald/ing |
| moll | mol (cf. "pol") |
| molybdenum | molibdenum |
| monger | mongger |
| monkey | munky |
| mood/y | mude [Fishin...], mudy |
| monocotyledon | monnocottiledon or monnocottileedon (comments?) |
| monograph | monograf or monnogrf (comments?) |
| monologue | monolog (see "-OGUE GROUP", below) |
| montage | montozh |
| moonlight | moonlite [FireW...] |
| moonrise | moonrize [Fisherman...] |
| moonwalk | moonwauk [Fisherman...] |
| morel (Food Friday) | morell |
| Morellino di Scansano (Wine Wensday) | morelleeno dee sconsonno |
| morgue | morg |
| morpheme | morfeme |
| mortise, mortice | mortiss |
| mortuary | morchuary |
| mosquito | moskeeto [Red...] or muskeeto (comments?) |
| most | moest or moast (comments?) |
| motel | motell [yaora...] |
| motive | motiv |
| motor/cycle | moter [Clap...] /-cycle |
| mountain | mountan [Dogs...] or mounten [fishstick...], who says: "better respelling than mountan because it allows "mountainous" to be respelled 'mountenus' rather than 'mountanus' which looks like 'Mt. Anus'". I don't think we should go out of our way to find spellings that children can mock, because children can be very inventive. (comments?) |
| mountebank | mountabank |
| mousse/line | mooss, moosleen |
| mow (cut) | moe [Bookk...] (see -OW GROUP, below) |
| mow (barn) | mouw |
| mozzarella (Food Friday) | motsarella (Does this allow of the pronunciation iwth a long-O?) (comments?) |
| multiply (adjective) | multiplee [Dogs...] |
| muscle | mussle [Clap...] |
| mustard (Food Friday) | musterd [Clap...] |
| mutt | mut [Music...] |
| myriad | miriad [rhod...] |
| myrrh | mur [rhode...] or mer (comments?) |
| myrtle | mertle or murtle (comments?) |
| mystify | mistify |
| mystique | misteek |
| myth/-ic | mith/-ic (cf. Neolithic) |
[N] |
|
| necessity | nesessity (pair to "nessesery", offered April 25, 2009) (comments?) |
| necklace | neckliss (comments?) |
| neptunium | neptuneum [fishstick...] (low priority) |
| nick | nik (see "-ICK GROUP", below) |
| night- (derivatives) | nitelite [FireW...], nitemare [GreenD...], nitetime, etc. |
| Nike | Niky (proper noun) |
| nob | nobb |
| nonagenarian | nonajenarean [Fisherman...] |
| noogie, nuggie, nugie | noogy [caj...] |
| now | nou [Gator...] or nouw (contrast "mow", "know") (comments?) |
| nuclear | nucleur (Does this fix the problem of clarifying (making 'clear') that this word is three syllables? or might it be seen as 'nu-clure'?) or nuecleeyer (comments?) |
| null | nul |
[O] |
|
| object (noun) | obbject [Bookk...] |
| occasion/al/ly | acasion/al/ly [Firewall...] or acaizhon~ or acayzhan~ (comments?) |
| ocean/ography (and derivatives) | ocean/oggrafy (etc.) or oashan/oggrafy |
| octogenarian | octojenarean or octojenarian (comments?) |
| onto | ontu [Dogs...] |
| orange (Food Friday) | oranj |
| ourselves | ourselvs (to be offered at same time as "selves" and "themselves") |
| outdoor/s | outdor/s [GreenD...] |
| outrage (see "rage") | |
| outskirts | outskerts [Fisherman...] |
| overview | overvue |
| ow | ou [Firewall...] or ouw (comments?) |
| owing | oweing |
| owl | owwel [Jungle...] |
[P] |
|
| package | packaj [Moon...] or packij (comments?) |
| paperwork | paperwerk [GreenD...] |
| paradise | parradice (or leave all -ISE words that contain an S-sound and change only those that contain a Z-sound to -IZE?) (comments?) |
| paralysis, paralytic | paralisis or parallisis; paralitic or parralitic (comments?) |
| paroxysm | parroxizm or parruxizm (sound before X is schwa; OX suggests a full short-O) |
| parquetry | parkitry |
| parsley | parsly [fishstick...] (not only saves a letter and avoids any question of whether the -EY is as in "they" but also avoids any misreading in three syllables: por.sal.e) |
| parterre | partair (low priority) |
| partial | parshal [Dogs...] |
| passage | passaj [rhod...] (after the issue of J after short vowel is dealt with) |
| passenger | passenjer [rhod...] |
| passive | passiv |
| password | passwerd [FireW...] |
| paste, pasty (and derivatives) (Food Friday) | paest [Fireworks...] or paist, paisty (low priority) (comments?) |
| pastina (Food Friday) | pasteena |
| pastry (Food Friday) | paestry [Firewall...] or paistry (comments?) |
| patchouli, pachouli, patchouly, | pachuly |
| pathogen | pathojen [GreenD...] (low priority) |
| patio | patteo [Clap...] |
| patisserie | patissery |
| patois (singular and plural) | patwah/s |
| patrol | patrole [Firewall...] |
| pause | pauze [FireW...] or pauz (comments?) |
| peaked (wan) | peakid |
| pear (Food Friday) | paer [Firewall...] |
| pearl | perl |
| peasant | pezzant [Clap...] |
| pedal | peddal [Dogs...] |
| pedant/ic | peddant [FireW...] but pedantic |
| pedestal | peddestal |
| peeve | peev [Jungle...] |
| penne (Food Friday) | pennay |
| penny(-)wise | pennywize [rhod...] |
| pepperoni (Food Friday) | pepperony |
| perfect (adjective and noun) | perrfect |
| perimeter | perimmeter [yaora...] |
| period | pereod [Jacke...] |
| periphery, peripheral | periffery, perifferal |
| permit (verb and noun) | permitt (verb) [Music...] or perrmit (noun, and leave the verb as "permit") (comments?) |
| persian (rug) | perzhan |
| persiflage | persiflozh |
| personify | personnify (I actually heard an educated man say 'per.soe.ni.fie' in a formal presentation at a museum) |
| persuade, persuasion | perswade [yaora...], perswasion |
| peruse | peruze |
| petal | pettle [Caste...] or pettal [yaora...] (low priority) (comments?) |
| pew | pue [Staek...] |
| phagocyte, /-cytic | faggacyte, faggacittic |
| phalanx, phalanges | falanx, falangees |
| phallic, phallus | fallic, fallus [yaora...] (Inappropriate for this project, which is largely intended for schoolchildren?) (comments?) |
| pharaoh/nic | faro/nic (Prescriptivist? The present formal pronunciation of the adjective, because of the influence of the spelling of the noun, is fair.ae.yon.ik or faar.ae.yon.ik, but one does hear fa.ron.ik) |
| pharynx | farrinx |
| phase | faez [Clap...] |
| pheasant (Food Friday) | fezzant [Clap...] |
| phial | fial |
| philatelist, philately, philatelic | filattelist, filattely, filatellic |
| Phillips (-head screwdriver) | fillips [fishstick...] |
| philodendron | fillodendron or filladendron (comments?) |
| phlebitis | flebitis |
| phobia /-ic | fobea /-ic (compare "fovea") |
| phoebe | feeby |
| phoenix, phenix | feenix |
| phoneme | foneme |
| phony, phoney | fony |
| phooey | fooey |
| photogenic | fotojennic |
| photon | foton |
| photosphere | fotosfere [Moon...] |
| photosynthesis | fotosinthesis |
| phrase/ology | fraze [Clap...], frazeeology (but see -ology, above) |
| phreak | freek [fishstick...] |
| phrenology | frenology (but see -ology, above) |
| phylactery (Jewish word for Saturday, tho item itself is apparently not worn on the Jewish Sabbath!) | filactery |
| phylum | fielum [Fieyer...] |
| physiology / -ical | fiziology / -ical or fizzeology / -ical (but see -ology, above) |
| piano | peeanno [Boath...] (comments?) |
| picante (Food Friday) | picontay |
| picture | piccher {Music...] or pikcher [Tom...] or pickcher (comments?) |
| piece, apiece | peece, apeece |
| pied-a-terre | pyaidatare |
| pier | peere [Firewall...] or pere (comments?) |
| piety (Sunday) | piaty |
| pigeon (Food Friday) | pijon |
| pilaf, pilau | peelof |
| PilatesTM | Pilotteez |
| pillion | pillyon [yaora...] (contrast ''lion'') (low priority; not part of the general public's vocabulary) |
| pinot/ noir, [/ grigio has been used, 7/20/05] (Wine Wensday) | peeno/ nwahr |
| pint (Food Friday) | pient [Clap...] (contrast "mint", "glint") |
| pirogue | piroeg |
| pirouette | piruwet or peeruwet (comments?) |
| pitch/er (Food Friday) | pich/er [Tom...] |
| piton | peton or peeton (comments?) |
| pity | pitty {Music...] |
| pizzazz, pizzaz, pizazz | pizaz [Robert...] |
| pizzicato | pitsicotto |
| placebo | plaseebo [fishstick...] |
| planet | plannet [Clap...] |
| plangent | planjent (low priority) |
| plasma | plazma [Firewall...] |
| plateau/x | platoe/s [Firewall...] or plattoe/s (comments?) |
| playwright | playrite [Music...] |
| plea | plee [Bookk...] (contrast "idea") |
| plight | plite |
| plosive | plosiv [JEA...] |
| plow | plouw [Don...] |
| plumb/er | plumm/er [plummer=Dogs...] |
| plutonium | plutoneum (low priority) [fishstick...] |
| pocketknife, -knives | pocketnife, -nives [GreenD...] |
| poem | poewem (probably a hard sell, for being longer, even tho much clearer, and "un-English", there being no other word with "wem" at the end) |
| poet/ess, -ry | poewet/ess , -ry (there is "wet" in English; -ess endings may be politically incorrect among feminists, but not everyone's a feminist) |
| poise | poize or poiz (comments?) |
| polish | pollish [Unicycle...] (contrast "Polish", which need not be revised, in part because it is a proper noun) |
| poll | poel (a word spelled ''poll'' ought to rhyme with ''doll''. ''poll'' doesn't) [Clap...] or poal (comments?) |
| pollute, pollution | polute, polution [yaora...] |
| polygraph | pollygraf [yaora...] |
| polymer | pollimmer or pollimer or polimer or polimmer (comments?) |
| polymorphic, polymorphous | pollymorfic, pollymorfus |
| polyp | pollip or polip ("Poll", which is found within "pollip", has a long-O, whereas we want a short-O. However, the general rule is that a double consonant implies a short vowel preceding, even with O: "follow", "pollen". Is either of these suggested respellings clear? Is one more like clear than the other?) (comments?) |
| polysaccharide | pollysackaride |
| pomegranate (Food Friday) | pommegranit or pommegrannit or pommigran(n)it (There are alternative pronunciations that do not pronounce the E after the M and pronounce the O as if U, but people inclined to such pronunciations, ignoring the present spelling, can perfectly well ignore a better spelling too. People who want guidance as to pronunciation will be glad to have it.) (comments?) |
| pompadour | pompador |
| pore | por (or leave as "pore" to contrast with "por" for "pour"?) (comments?) |
| porous | porus |
| porridge (Food Friday) | porrij [Caste...] |
| porte-cochere, porte-cochere, porte cochere | portcoshair or portcoshare (comments?) |
| posit/ive | pozzit/iv |
| possess/ive, /-sion | pozess/iv [Red...], pozession or pazess/iv, pazession (comments?) |
| post | poest (cf. lost"", posture"", imposter"") or poast (comments?) |
| potpourri | poepooree or poparee (comments?) |
| Pouilly-Fume | pooyee-fumay |
| poultice | poaltiss (use with "cataplasm") |
| poultry (Food Friday) | poaltry, poaltree ("try" is a word, with a long-I sound) (comments?) |
| pour (Food Friday) | paur [Clap...] or por (see "pore", above) (comments) |
| pow | pou [Wilddog...] or pouw (see -OW GROUP, below) |
| powder (Food Friday) | pouder (cf. "louder") [Fireworks...] |
| power | powwer (see -OWER GROUP, below) |
| powwow | pouwou [Red...] or pouwouw (see -OW GROUP, below) (comments?) |
| practice | practiss [Cargo...] |
| prairie | prairy |
| praise (Sunday) | praze [Doghouse...] |
| precious, preciosity | preshus, presheosity or presseosity (even if "preciosity" is not reformed because there are two pronunciations, we can still reform "precious") |
| preconceive | preconceve |
| preference | prefference [rhod...] |
| premier | primmeer |
| premiere, premiere | premeer (for pronunciation pree.meer); leave premiere for uncommon/pretentious pronunciation pri.myair) |
| premium | premeum (low priority) |
| preparation | prepparation |
| present (noun and adj.) /-ation; omnipresent | prezzent/ation, omniprezzent |
| presage | pressage or pressaj or pressij |
| present (verb) | preezent |
| preserve (Food Friday), preervative | prezerv/ativ |
| president | prezzident [yaora...] |
| prestige | presteezh (I simply do not accept, as a respectable alternative, the illiterate pronuncation "presteej") |
| presumptuous | prezumpchuus |
| pret-a-porter | prettaportay |
| pretzel (Food Friday) | pretsel [Clap...] |
| preview | prevue |
| prey | prae [Firewall...] |
| prism | prizzam [Clap...] or prizzom (cf. blossom) or prizm (comments?) |
| prison | prizzon [Starry...] |
| pristine | pristeen |
| private, privacy | privat, privacy (low priority) |
| privet | privvet |
| prix fixe (Food Friday) | preefeex [Firewall...] |
| probit (statistics) | probbit |
| prodigy | proddijy |
| produce (greens) (Food Friday) | proeduce |
| proliferate, proliferation | prolifferate, prolifferation (starts "prolife") |
| prologue (see "-OGUE GROUP", below) | prolog |
| promise | prommiss [Firewall...] (cf. surmise, paradise) |
| proof | prufe |
| proper/ty | propper [Fieyer...], propperty [fishstick...] |
| propose, proposal | propoze, propozal [Monsters...] |
| prosody | prossody |
| protein (Food Friday) | proteen or protene (to distinguish from "teen", for "teenager") (There is an old-fashioned, scientific pronunciation in three syllables, proe.tee.yin, that I don't think we need to accommodate.) (comments?) |
| psalm (Sunday or Saturday) | som |
| pseudo- | sudo- |
| pseudoephedrine | sudo(-)efedrine (Do we need to insert a hyphen here? Simpler to read and write is not necessarily shorter.) (comments?) |
| psych/e | syke [yaora...], sykee |
| psychiatry, /-ic | sykieatry, / sykeeatric |
| psychology, /-ical | sykology, /-ical (but see -ology, above) |
| psychosis, psychotic | sykosis [fishstick...], sykottic |
| pterodactyl, pterosaur | terrodactil, terrosaur or terradactil, terrasaur or ~dactle (comments?) |
| pull | pooll [Orange...] (will this still be read as having a long-OO?) (comments?) |
| pulley | pully |
| pumice | pummiss [yaora...] |
| pungent | punjent (2 probs: GE for J, no NG-sound but an NG) |
| purblind | perbliend |
| purchase | purchus [Garden...] |
| puree / puree (Food Friday) | peuray(e), puray (comments?) |
| purge | perj [Red...] or purj (comments?) |
| purpose | purpus (contrast "propose", "verbose") |
| purr | pur [Unicycle...] (cf. fur, cur, blur) |
| purview | purvue |
| put | poot (cf. foot) [Clap...] |
| pueblo | pweblo |
| pyorrhea, pyorrhoea | pioreeya |
| pygmy | pigmy |
| pyramid | peeramid [Dogs...] |
| pyrotechnic/s | pyroteknic/s |
| Pyrrhic (victory) | Peeric (I actually heard Jonathan Turley, a legal scholar, say this with a long-I on MSNBC 12/5/08.) |
[Q] |
|
| ? | |
[R] |
|
| radiate, radiation | radeate, radeation [Table...] |
| radioactive | radeoactiv [rhod...] |
| radius | radeus [JEA...] (low priority) |
| ragout (Food Friday) | raggoo |
| raisin (Food Friday) | raizin |
| raison(s) d'etre, raison(s) d'etre | raizone(s) detra or raizonedetra(s) or raizoandetra(s) (comments?) |
| ramekin, ramequin (Food Friday) | rammikin |
| rapid | rappid |
| rapprochement | rapproeshmonn or rapproashmon or ?? (This word apparently retains a nasalized short-O sound in the last syllable, despite having been in the English language for 200 years. Is there any way to show this? Will NN be seen as a simple N-sound, as in inn or Finn?) (comments?) |
| ravioli (Food Friday) | ravveoly |
| recipe (Food Friday) | ressipy |
| redistribute (see distribute) | |
| redneck | rednek [Firewall...] (okay even if "neck" cannot be changed because of -ed and -ing forms of the verb) |
| refrigerate, refrigerator (Food Friday) | refrijerate/r [Doghouse...] (would a single-J suffice or would anyone try to say the prior I as long, as would argue for a double-J?) (comments?) |
| refulgent | refuljent (low priority) |
| reggiano (a cheese; Food Friday) | rejonno or rejjonno (comments?) |
| register, registration | rejister [FireW...], rejistration [FireW...] or rejj~ (comments?) |
| re/iterate (do "iterate" at the same time) | re/itterate |
| remind | remiend |
| remission | remition |
| renew/al | renue [rhod...], renuwal |
| reprise | repreeze (unusual legal word of the same spelling becomes "reprize") |
| reservoir | rezervwahr (see discussion at "memoir", above) (comments?) |
| resist | rezist [Multi...] |
| resolve | rezolv [Wurdplay...] |
| resort | rezort [Staek...] rizort, rizzort (comments?) |
| resound/ing | rezound/ing [Water...] |
| respite | resspit ("respit" could be read as "ree.spit") |
| restaurant (Food Friday) | restaront |
| restive | restiv |
| resume (verb) | rezume |
| reverie | revvery |
| review and revue | revue (Comments? do we need a distinction? if so, how should it be made? "Firewall" suggests "reevue" for the show, but that looks as tho the first syllable bears the stress. How about "rivue" for the show?) |
| revise | revize [Doghouse...] (but would that be seen as breaking the verb from its noun, "revision"?) (comments?) |
| reward (Sunday) | rewaurd [Music...] |
| rhea (Food Friday) | rea |
| rhesus | resus |
| rhetoric/-al | retteric, retorrical (comments?) |
| rheum/atic, /-ism | rume, rumatic, rumatism |
| rhyme | ryme |
| ribald | ribbald |
| rickey/s | ricky, /-ies |
| ricochet | rickashay (mention former cartoon strip Rick O'Shay) |
| ridge | rij (but what to do about the plural? rijjes? rijes?) |
| ridiculous | ridiculus |
| riff | rif [Moon...] |
| riffraff | rifraf |
| righteous (Sunday) | riechus [Caste...] |
| rind (Food Friday) | riend / rynd |
| risible | rizzible |
| Ritalin (tm) | rittalin |
| ritual (Sunday) | richual [Red...] (is this said with a CH-sound in Britain?) (comments?) |
| river | rivver (cf. diver) [Clap...] |
| rivet | rivvit |
| roar | ror [Dogs...] |
| robotic | robottic [fishstick...] (arguably unnecessary, so low priority) |
| rock-'n'-roll | rockenroll or rockenroal ([Wilddog...] avoids possible confusion with "enroll") or rockanroll / ~roal (does this phrase even have to be changed into a single word? or is it too informal and stylized for any reform to be accepted?) (comments?) |
| rogue | roeg or roag (comments?) |
| romaine (Food Friday) | romain |
| roman (poem or novel) | romon |
| romano (Food Friday) | romonno |
| rondelet | rondalay or rondelay ("Rondelay" is closer to the original, but incorporates the word "delay" so might be pronounced like that.) (comments?) |
| Roquefort | roakfort |
| roquette (=arugala) (Food Friday) | rokette |
| rose/tte | roze/tt(e) or roez or roaze ("Roze" for the past of "rise" has already been offered. Do we need to distinguish the flower? "Roaz" would be read like the familiar Biblical name boe.aaz or roe.waz, parallel to "boas") (comments?) |
| rotisserie | rotissery |
| route, router | ruet, rueter |
| roux (Food Friday) | ru |
| row (uproar) | rou [Dogger...] (cf. thou) or rouw (see -OW GROUP, below) (comments?) |
| rustle/r | russle/r |
[S] |
|
| sacrilege (Sunday) | sacrilij or sackrilij (comments?) |
| safari | safahry [fishstick...] ("safary" would not suffice because of comparison to words like "vary" and "wary") |
| salvage | salvaj |
| sandal/s | sandle/s |
| sashimi (Food Friday) | sahsheemy or sasheemy (comments?) |
| sauerkraut (Food Friday) | sourkrout or sowwerkrout or souerkrout [Don...] (comments?) |
| sausage (Food Friday) | sausaj (after the issue of J after short vowel or schwa is dealt with) |
| savage/ry | savaj/ry (plural savajes would not be a great improvement; savajjes might incline readers to see stress on the second syllable) or savvij/ry (comments?) |
| savior (Sunday) | saevyer [Cargo...] or savier or saveyer or saivyer (comments?) |
| scent | sent [Univer...] ("context would make clear what is meant"?) (comments?) |
| schav (Food Friday) | shov |
| scherzo | skertso |
| schizophrenia, -phrenic | skitsofrenea, -frennic |
| schnapps (Booze Tuesday) | shnops (but British pronunciation has short-A, not short-O) (comments?) |
| sci-fi | si-fi |
| scirocco, sirocco | shirocco / sirocco (comments?) |
| scold | scoald [JEA...] |
| scour | scowwer [Castle...] |
| screw/driver (Booze Tuesday) | scroo/driver [Red...] or scru/edriver (comments?) |
| seance, seance | sayonce or sayonss ("sayonce" might be seen by some people as a compound of "say" and "once", pronounced wuns) (comments?) |
| secret/ive | seecret [JEA...], seecretiv |
| seltzer (Food Friday) | seltser |
| selves (also, thus ourselves, themselves) | selvs [fishstick...], ourselvs, themselvs |
| semaphore | semmafore |
| senior | seenyer [rhod...] |
| sensitive | sensitiv |
| sensor | senser (The spelling-pronunciation sen.saur is well-established. Can we defy it?) (comments?) |
| separate (adjective) | sep(a)rat or sep(a)rit (distinct from verb separate) |
| septuagenarian | septuajenarean [Fisherman...] (a little arcane for this project) |
| serenity | serennity |
| series, serial | serees, sereal [Unicycle...] (cf. "cereal") |
| serious | sereus or seereus (comments?) |
| serous | serus (cf. closely related word "serum") |
| serve, service (Sunday) | serv [Fireworks...] (low priority; cf. "serf"), serviss |
| sesame (Food Friday) | sessamy [Check...] |
| seven | sevven [Fire...] (to distinguish from "even"; or should "even" be changed to "eeven"?) (comments?) |
| several | sevveral |
| severance | sevverance |
| sewer (plumbing) | suwer [Dogs...] |
| sewn / sown | soe; soen or sone or soan (comments?) |
| sexagenarian | sexajenarean [Fisherman...] |
| shall | shal (cf. Al; contrast all) |
| shea (nut, butter) | shae |
| shelv/es | shelv/s [DonJ...] |
| shepherd (Sunday) | shepard |
| shiatsu | sheotsu |
| shinney | shinny |
| shipboard | shipbord [Cal...] |
| shipwright | shiprite [Cal...] |
| shirt | shert |
| shoulder | shoalder [Clap...] |
| shower | showwer (see -OWER GROUP, below) |
| shriek | shreek |
| shrew | shrue |
| sidewalk | sidewauk [Doghouse...] |
| sigh | sie [Shoe...] or sye (comments?) |
| signature | signacher (do the pronunciations sig.na.choor and sig.na.chuer have to be respected, as would render this word inappropriate for this project?) (comments?) |
| singe | sinj [Music...] |
| singular, singularity | singgular, singgularity [Firewall...] |
| sir | ser |
| sisal | siesal, sysal (comments?) |
| situation | sichuation [Dogger...] |
| skateboard | skatebord [FireW...] |
| skein | skane |
| skeleton, skeletal | skelleton, skelletal |
| skew | skue [Multi...] |
| skirt | skert [Fisherman...] |
| skylight | skylite [FireW...] |
| sledge | slej [fishstick...] |
| sleepwalk/er | sleepwauk/er [Fisherman...] |
| sleepwear | sleepwair [GreenD...] |
| sleeve | sleev |
| slough / slew | slu(e) (comments?) |
| slough | sluf, slu or slue (separate the words) (comments?) |
| sloven/ly | sluvven/ly |
| sludge | sluj [fishstick...] |
| smooth | smoothe [Unicycle...] (''-the'' is a normal pattern of showing that the ''th'' at the end of a word is voiced rather than unvoiced, i.e. ''wreath'' vs. ''wreathe'' and ''teeth'' vs. ''teethe''; tooth, booth, breathe, seethe) |
| smother | smuther [Doghouse...] |
| sniff | snif |
| snitch | snich |
| snow/ing, snowboard, snowplow | snoew/ing, snoewbord, snoewplou(w) or snoeing, snoebord, snoeplou(w) (see -OW GROUP, below) (comments?) |
| sobriquet | soebrikay |
| sodium (Food Friday) | sodeum [Clap...] |
| soften | soffen [Firewall...] |
| soiree, soiree | swahray |
| sojourn/-er | sojern/-er |
| sold | soeld [Clap...] or soald (comments?) |
| solder | sodder |
| soldier | soljer or solger (cf. "Folger's") or soeljer or soaljer (tho these spellings do not exist in any ordinary word in present English (remember, however, that the language keeps growing), "soldier" is the only word with *oldier and thus equally unique as any of those respellings) (comments?) |
| solemn (Sunday) | sollem |
| soliloquy | salillakwy |
| solve | solv [Wurdplay...] |
| someone | sumwun [Music...] |
| somersault | summersault [Dogs...] |
| sonata | sanotta |
| sonic, supersonic | sonnic, supersonnic [fishstick...] |
| soon | sune [Caste...] (low priority) |
| sorghum (Food Friday) | sorgum [yaora...] |
| sortie | sortee |
| souffle, souffle (baked dish) (Food Friday) | sooflay |
| soupcon (Food Friday) | soopson |
| sour (Food Friday) | sowwer [Music...] |
| source | sorce (cf. sorceror) |
| sous-chef/s | soo-shef/s |
| southern (Food Friday) | suthern [Clap...] |
| souvenir | suveneer or sooveneer (comments?) |
| sow (pig) | souw [FireW...] |
| spacious | spaishus [fishstick...] |
| spatula (Food Friday) | spachala [Music...] or spachula |
| speedometer | speedommeter [rhode...] |
| spew | spue [Multi...] |
| sphincter | sfincter or sfinkter (comments?) |
| sphinx | sfinx [Music...] |
| sphygmomanometer | sfigmomanommeter |
| spigot | spiggot |
| spinel(le) | spinell |
| spirit (Sunday) | speerit [Dogs...] |
| spirochete | spirokete |
| splotch | sploch |
| spotlight | spotlite [Fisherman...] |
| spread (Food Friday) | spred |
| sprightly | spritely |
| spurge | spurj |
| squab/ble (Food Friday) | squob/ble (compare "hobble") |
| squalid | squollid |
| squash (Food Friday) | squosh [FireW...] |
| squat/ter | squot/ter |
| squeegee | squeegee [Fishin...] |
| staph, staphylococcus | staf, staffilococcus |
| stallion | stalyon |
| starlight | starlite [FireW...] |
| statue | stachue |
| stature | stacher or stachur (comments?) |
| statute | stachute |
| stealth | stelth [yaora...] |
| steatopygia | steeatopyjea |
| stegosaurus | steggosorus [Clap...] |
| stein (Food Friday or Booze Tuesday) | stine |
| stellar | steller |
| step- (family) | stepbruther, stepchiald, stepdauter, stepfother, stepmuther, etc. |
| stevedore | stevador |
| stiff | stif [Red...] |
| stir | ster [FireW...] |
| stitch | stich |
| stoic | stoewic [Gator...] or stowic (comments?) |
| stoplight | stoplite [Fisherman...] |
| stopwatch | stopwoch [GreenD...] |
| store (see -ORE GROUP, below) (Food Friday) | stor [Clap...] |
| strabismus | strabizmus |
| stratagem, strategy, strategic | strattajem, strattejy, stratejic |
| stratosphere (use with "sphere", above) | stratosfere [Moon...] or strattusfere (comments?) (mention people's misreading it as "stratastrophe" on TV show Street Smarts) |
| streetlight | streetlite [FireW...] |
| stretch | strech |
| strew/n | strue/n |
| stringent (use at same time as "astringent") | strinjent (point out not just J-sound but ambiguity of NG) |
| striped | stripid (for those who pronounced the -ED as a separate syllable; low priority) |
| striven | strivven [Fishin...] |
| stroll | strole |
| stronger, strongest | strongger, stronggest [Firewall] |
| structure | struccher |
| strudel (Food Friday) | struedle or strudle (Do we need to accommodate the Germanized pronunciation 'shtruedle'?) (comments?) |
| strychnine | stricnine or striknine or stricknine (we can't change the -INE ending because it is pronounced differently by different people) (comments?) |
| stucco | stucko [FireW...] (low priority; present spelling is phonetic, but unusual) |
| studio | studeo [Unicycle...] (cf. "video", contrast "Ohio") |
| study | studdy |
| style | stile |
| subject (noun) | subbject [Bookk...] (low priority) |
| subordinate | subordinate (verb), subordinat (adj., noun) |
| suet | suwit |
| sugar (Food Friday) | shooger or shoogur [rhod...] |
| suggest | sugjest [Fortune...] |
| suffixion | suffiction [Clap...] |
| sulphur/-ous | sulfur/ous |
| sumptuous | sumpchuus |
| sunlight | sunlite [FireW...] |
| sunrise | sunrize [Fisherman...] |
| superficies | superfisheez (Yhe singular and plural are the same, so the -S in the singular does not represent a plural; there is a minority pronunciation with 2 syllables in the present -CIES (sue.per.fish.ee.yeez), but it seems unlikely to survive very much longer so probably need not be accommodated.) |
| supersonic (see "sonic") | |
| supervise, supervisor | supervize [Firewall...], supervizer |
| supremacy | supremmacy |
| surety | shoority [Tom...] |
| surfboard | surfbord [FireW...] |
| surface | surfus [Caste...] |
| surfeit | surfet (better than "surfit", which looks like a compound of "surf" and "it") |
| surmise | surmize |
| surrey | surry |
| survivor | surviver [Red...] or serviver (comments?_ |
| susceptible | susseptible |
| suspect (noun) | susspect [JEA...] (comments?) |
| suture | suecher |
| swami | swommy |
| swan | swon [Clap...] |
| swarm | swaurm |
| swatch | swoch (see -ATCH GROUP, below) |
| swear / swore | swair /swor [Earth...] or sware / swore (comments?) |
| sweetbread (Food Friday) | sweetbred (no "bread" here) [Firewall...] |
| sweetheart | sweethart [Mario...] |
| sweetie | sweety |
| swimsuit | swimsute [GreenD...] |
| swollen | swolen [JEA...] |
| sycamore | siccamor |
| sycophant | sicofant |
| syllable | sillable [Cal...] |
| syllabus | sillabus [Cal...] |
| symbiosis, symbiotic, symbiont | simbeosis, simbeottic, simbeont (How common is the pronunciation sim.bie.yo.sis? Can we reform this word or do we have to accept the validity of the pronunciation sim.bie.yo.sis and leave this word unchanged? Comments?) |
| symmetry, /-trical | simmetry, simmettrical |
| symposium | simpozeum |
| syncopate | sincopate or sincapate |
| syncope | sincapy or sinkopy (unusual word; low priority) (comments?) |
| syncretic, syncretism (Sunday) | sincretic or sincrettic, sincretism |
| syndrome | sindrome [Jacke...] |
| synecdoche | sinekdoky, sineckdoky, or sinecdoky (comments?) |
| synod (Sunday) | sinnod |
| syntax | sintax |
| syringe | siringe (first round), sirinj (second round, after J for GE has been dealt with) |
| syrup / sirup (Food Friday) | serup [Music...] |
[T] |
|
| taillight/s | taillite/s [FireW...] |
| tapeworm | tapewerm [Caste...] |
| tartar (Food Friday) | tarter [Clap...] |
| teamwork | teamwerk [GreenD...] |
| teenager | teenajer |
| telegenic | telejennic or tellejenic (comments?) |
| tenebrous, tenebrious | tennebrus, tenebbreus |
| terra firma (see "firm") | |
| tetrazzini (Food Friday) | tetrazeeny |
| themselves | themselvs [fishstick...] (to be offered at same time as "selves") |
| therapy, therapeutic, therapist | therrapy, therrapeutic, therrapist |
| third | thurd [Fisherman...] or therd (comments) |
| thirst/y (Food Friday) | thurst/y [Red...] or therst/y (comments?) |
| thirteen | thurteen [Fisherman...] or therteen (comments) |
| thirty | thurty [Fisherman...] or therty (comments) |
| thousand | thouzand [GreenD...] (cf. "sand"; can't distinguish "thou", tho) |
| thwart | thwaurt or thwort (offered "waurt" for "wart" on April 9, 2008) (comments?) |
| tier | teer [Unicycle...] or teere [FirePo...] or tere (comments?) |
| tiff | tif |
| tiger | tiegur or tigur [yaora...] or tyger or tygur (comments?) |
| till | til (There are two words spelled the same now, as "till", one of which is another term for "until". Can we separate the two, and apply "til" to the one that means "until" and leave the other (cultivate) as "till"?) |
| timpani | timpany |
| -TIOUS ending | -SHUS (?); is this comparable in frequency -TION, as cannot be changed to something most people will regard as "un-English"? |
| tissue | tishu [Bookk...] (but note British pronunciation, which actually says this as it's written) (comments?) |
| titillate | tittilate (double letters are illogically backwards in prsent spelling) |
| tobacco | tabacco (low priority) |
| toile | twol |
| told | toeld [Clap...] or toald (comments?) |
| toll | tole (there is an unusual word of this spelling, for enameled metalware of the 18th Century) or toal [yaora...] (comments?) |
| tomatillo | tomateeyo |
| tomorrow | tomorro [FireW...] |
| ton / tonne (Brit.) | tun |
| tongue (Food Friday) | tung |
| toot | toote [Firewall...] (contrast "toots", slang for "honey" or "baby", "Tootsie roll") (comments?) |
| topography, topographic/al | topoggrafy, toppograffic/al |
| toque | toke |
| (1) torchere; (2) torchiere, torchier | (1) torshair or torshare (comments?); (2) torcheer (I was very surprised, when I went to check whether "torchiere" took a grave accent, to find that the pronunciation of that spelling and "torchier" is fully anglicized, as "torcheer". I had thought it was "torchiere", pronounced the French way, taur.shee.yair, perhaps because many boxes in the U.S. today have trilingual labeling, English, French, and Spanish, for the three languages of NAFTA.) |
| torchlight | torchlite [GreenD...] |
| tortilla (Food Friday) | torteeya [Fireman...] |
| towel | towwel [Firewall...] |
| tower | towwer (see -OWER GROUP, below) |
| trachea, tracheotomy | trakea, trakeottomy |
| trachoma | tracoma |
| tragedy, tragic | trajedy, trajic [Orange...] or trajjedy, trajjic (compare "traffic") |
| trampoline | trampoleen |
| tranche | tronsh |
| transfixion | transfiction [Clap...] (low priority, uncommon word) |
| transmission | transmition |
| trattoria | trottoreeya (Current spelling leads the English speaker to put the emphasis on the second syllable, which changes the pronunciation of the entire word, to tra.tau.ree.ya, from trot.a.ree.ya.) |
| travel/er | travvel/er or travvel/ler [yaora...] or travvle/r [yao...] (low priority) (comments?) |
| travesty | travvesty |
| treadle | treddle ("tread/mill" used August 11, 2005) [yaora...] |
| tribune | tribbune |
| tribute | tribbute |
| tricycle | tricicle |
| triple/t | tripple/t |
| troll | trole |
| trophy | trofy [Clap...] |
| troposphere | troposfere [Moon...] |
| troubadour | trubador (This spelling does not allow of the present spelling-pronunciation true.ba.duer. Is that a problem, or should we just ignore the spelling-pronunciation and give people inclined to spelling-pronunciations a new model of how they should pronounce things, because of the (new) spelling? |
| trouser/s, trowser/s | trouzer/s |
| trowel | trowwel |
| truth | trueth [Dogs...] |
| tryst | trist |
| tsunami | tsu(e)nommy (comments?) |
| tuille (Food Friday) (a wafer-life French cookie) | tweel/s |
| tulle | tule [Dogs...] |
| turquoise | turquoiz |
| twelve | twelv [DonJ...] |
| twilight | twilite [Doghouse...] |
| twitch | twich |
| two | tue |
| typhoid | tyfoid |
| tympanum, tympana, tympanic, tympani | timpannum, timpanna, timpannic, timpany ("tympani" is a variant of "timpani") |
| typical/ly, a-/ | tipical/ly, a-/ |
| tyrannosaurus | tiranosorus [Clap...] or tirannosorus (comments?) |
[U] |
|
| undulate | unjulate (but Brits use a DY sound, not J) [space...] |
[V] |
|
| vacant | vaecant [Smoke...] or vaicant (comments) |
| variegate | variagate or vareeyagate or varyagate (comments) |
| vegetation | vejetation [FireW...] or vejjetation (comments?) |
| ventriloquy (alternative term for "ventriloquism") | ventrillakwy |
| vermilion | vermillyon or vermilyon (comments?) |
| very | verry (on the model of ''berry'', ''ferry'' and ''merry'') [Clap...] (low priority) |
| vibraphone | vibrafone [Jacke...] |
| videophone | videofone [Jacke...] |
| vintage | vintaj [rhode...] or vintij (low priority) (comments?) |
| visit/or | vizzit/or or ~er (comments?) |
| vitiligo | vittiligo (There are two pronunciations of the end of this word, -íe.goe and -ée.goe, so we can't change that part, but we can at least clarify the (short-)I in the first syllable |
| vitriol | vitreol |
| vivid | vivvid |
| vizier | vizeer |
| voila, voila | vwahlah |
| volley/ball | volly [Tom...] /ball |
| volt/age | voalt (but reform of the -age ending to -aj may not be doable because a plural in -ajjes would "look funny" and "voaltajes" might be read wrong) |
| vow | vou [Jungle...] or vouw |
| vowel | vowal (low priority, since "vowel" isn't so bad, tho it may suggest a long-O) |
| voyage/r | voyaj [rhod...], /-er |
| vulgar | vulgur (cf. bulgur) |
[W] |
|
| wainwright | wainrite |
| wanna/be | wonna/be [Dogs...] |
| warlock | worlok [Music...] |
| waste | waest [John...] |
| waterworks | waterwerks [GreenD...] |
| weather | wethur [Unicycle...] (will most people see this as "we Thur", with a voiceless TH? cf. "Thursday") (comments?) |
| what | whut [Clap...] |
| wheelwright | wheelrite |
| whiff | whif [Moon...] |
| whirl | wherl |
| whiteboard | whitebord [Garage...] |
| whoa | whoe [Doghouse...] (contrast "boa, "balboa," "jerboa", "protozoa") |
| wholesome (Food Friday) | holesom or holesum or hoelsom or hoelsum or hoalsom or hoalsum (comments?) |
| wicked | wickid [Firewall...] or wikid (comments?) |
| wild | wiald [Music...] or wyld or wilde or wylde (comments?) |
| willow | willo |
| wind (verb) | wiend [Clap...] / wynd / wynde (same problem with "mind", "kind", etc.) (comments?) |
| window/s | windo/(e)s |
| winged (adj.) | wingid [fishstick...] (literary usage more than commonplace conversational) |
| wise, wisdom | wize [Clap...], wizdom |
| wolf / wolves | woolf / woolves [Clap...] or woolvs (for the plural) |
| wolverine | woolvereen [Clap...] |
| woman (and derivatives) | wooman [Music...], chairwooman [Cal...], policewooman [Cal...], etc. |
| women (and derivatives) | wimmen or wimmin (comments?) |
| won | wunn [JohnS...] (compare Dunn (& Bradstreet)) (comments?) |
| won't | woen't (contains "woe") |
| woodwork | woodwerk [GreenD...] |
| wore (see "wear", above) | wor (see -ORE GROUP, below) |
| world (and derivatives, like "worldview") | werld (The vowel in this word is often more like short-OO than E(R), and some people have suggested "wurld". R-droppers tend to say "wehld", where the H represents a slight prolongation to represent the R they don't actually say, so "werld" would seem the better spelling to accommodate R-dropping dialects.) (comments?) |
| worm | werm [Clap...] |
| would | wood [Doghouse...] (should we just give up on finding a way to distinguish between these two words (e.g., wood/woodd) and assume that context would make clear which is meant?) (comments?) |
| wow | wou [Wilddog...] or wouw (see -OW GROUP, below) |
| wrap | raap (Various spelling reformers have suggested this, but I've resisted because AA for short-A is almost "un-English" and is in any case pronounced inconsistently - broad-A (aardvark, bazaar, and one pronunciation for baa), short-A (the other pronunciation of baa), even long-A (quaalude).) Or rapp (comments?) |
[X] |
|
| xat | khot |
| xerophyte | zeerafite |
[Y] |
|
[Z] |
|
| ?? |
Now, some families of words that can be offered as a group rather than
one-by-one, unless we have patience enuf to offer them one-by-one.
| BRITISH-AMERICAN DIFFERENCES GROUP |
| -amme versus -am (gramme, programme, kilogramme) |
| -ce versus -se (defence, offence, licence, etc.) |
| -ise versus -ize |
| -lling versus -ling (levelling, travelling, etc.) |
| -our versus -or (British spellings are needlessly longer) |
| -re versus -er (e.g., centre, litre, metre, etc.) |
| Oddballs: aether/ether, cheque/check, connexion/connection, diarrhoea/diarrhea, draught/draft, encyclopaedia/encyclopedia, faeces/feces, foetus/fetus, gaol/jail, haemorrhage/hemorrhage, haemorrhoid/hemorrhoid, inflexion/inflection, jewellery/jewelry, kerb/curb (kerb is at least as good, but "looks funny" to Americans), oesophagus/esophagus (offered July 23, 2006 as "isoffagus", orthopaedic/orthopedic, pyjamas/pajamas, reflexion/reflection, sceptic/skeptic, storey/story, tonne/ton ("tun" is proposed in the main word list above), tyre/tire, |
| ACCEPTED VARIANTS GROUP (simpler spellings that are already recognized but not universally used; the idea would be to promote the total abandonment of the less reasonable version) | |
| Less Reasonable Spelling | Accepted Variant |
| absinthe | absinth |
| adze | adz |
| aeon | eon |
| aesthetic, aesthete | esthetic, esthete |
| aging | ageing |
| although | altho |
| anaesthesia | anesthesia |
| axe | ax |
| barbeque (Food Friday) (This is actually the variant spelling, but is so common that many people don't realize it is not the preferred form.) | barbecue [Firewall...] |
| barque | bark |
| barre | bar |
| bhang | bang [Robert...] (arcane) |
| blonde | blond (There is actually a distinction between "blonde" and "blond", the form with the E being feminine, the form without, masculine. But if people do not draw that distinction, the shorter form is better. |
| bogeyman, bogyman, boogerman, boogeyman, boogieman | boogeyman [Shoe...] or boogyman |
| bologna (Food Friday) | baloney |
| bootie | bootee |
| brusque | brusk |
| bused, buses, busing | bussed, busses, bussing (tough call, since "buss" meaning "kiss" and "to kiss" is a word, but "busing" etc. look as tho they should rhyme with comparable forms of "fuse") (comments?) |
| caesura | cesura |
| cagey | cagy (will this be seen to have a hard-G? cf. well-known Hungarian name "Nagy" and variant "hoagy" (below)) (comments?) |
| carat | karat |
| catsup, catchup (Food Friday) | ketchup ("kechup" has, however, been offered (March 31, 2006) as a more thoro reform) |
| chalcedony, /-onic | calcedony, /-onic |
| chamois / chammy | shammy |
| charivari | shivaree |
| chutzpah, chutzpa, hutzpah | hutzpa |
| cigarette | cigaret |
| comptroller | controller |
| coney | cony |
| conveyor | conveyer [Firewall...] |
| crepe, crepe | crape |
| crumby (miserable) | crummy |
| cuing | cueing [yao...] |
| cutie | cutey [Firewall...] (but "cutey" and "cutie" are proposed as "cuty" in main list) (comments?) |
| daemon | demon |
| disc | disk |
| d.j., DJ, dj | deejay |
| doughnut (Food Friday) | donut |
| draught (Food Friday) | draft |
| drier | dryer [Firewall...] |
| duffel (bag) | duffle |
| email [Unicycle...] | |
| fakir | fakeer |
| fusee | fuzee |
| gases | gasses |
| gauge | gage |
| gee | jee [Cal...] |
| granddad/dy | grandad/dy [Firewall...] |
| grannie | granny [Firewall...] |
| grey/hound | gray/hound [GreenD...] |
| gunwale | gunnel |
| Hallowe'en | Halloween [Firewall...] |
| hashish | hasheesh |
| hiccough | hiccup or hickup [Fisherman...] (comments?) |
| hoagie (Food Friday) | hoagy |
| hot dog, hot-dog (Food Friday) | hotdog [Firewall...] |
| huskie | husky |
| impostor | imposter |
| jiujitsu, jiujutsu, jujutsu | jujitsu |
| junkie | junky |
| kebab, kebob | kabob |
| kidnaped, kidnaping | kidnapped, kidnapping [Firewall...] |
| leary | leery [fudge...] |
| lollipop (Food Friday) | lollypop [Unicycle...] |
| lower (verb, "to appear threatening") | lour [yaora...] |
| mah-jongg, mah-jong, mahjongg | mahjong [fudge...] |
| meanie | meany [Firewall...] |
| mediaeval | medieval |
| mic | mike [Firewall...] |
| midnight | midnite [GreenD...] |
| mileage | milage (cf. phraseology) |
| mollusc (Food Friday) | mollusk |
| monies | moneys [yao...] |
| monologue (see -OGUE GROUP, below) | monolog |
| moolah | moola |
| mullah | mulla |
| odalisque | odalisk |
| paean | pean (but looks like it should rhyme with "bean") |
| phantasy | fantasy ("phantasy" is a variant that should be banished) |
| phantom | fantom (an accepted variant that should be standard) |
| phial | vial (this is not exactly an alternate spelling, since the PH in "phial" is pronounced F; rather, this is an entire alternate word that should be driven out of the language) |
| pierogi | pirogi (that is still a bad spelling, but not as bad) |
| plough | plow |
| preterite | preterit |
| ramequin | ramekin |
| rase | raze [Firewall...] |
| rescission | recision |
| rhumba | rumba |
| rouble | ruble |
| savannah | savanna |
| shh | sh [Firewall...] |
| shish kebab (kabab, kabob, cabob, kebob) | shishkabob |
| sulphur | sulfur |
| swab | swob |
| swap | swop [Clap...] |
| synch | sync |
| template | templet |
| tepee | teepee [Firewall...] |
| theatre | theater |
| tonight | tonite [GreenD...] |
| trolley | trolly [Unicycle...] |
| tyke | tike |
| verandah | veranda |
| wagon | waggon [yaora...] (low priority) |
| whiskey (Food Friday or Wine Wensday) | whisky |
| yoghurt, yoghourt | yogurt [Fishin...] |
| -ACK GROUP | |
| back | bak (cf. yak) |
| black | blak/-en ~/-list ~/-hed (cf. flak) |
| (claque) | clak |
| crack/er (Food Friday) | crak/ker |
| flak jacket | flak jaket |
| flapjack (Food Friday) | flapjak |
| hack | hak |
| jack | jak |
| knack | nak |
| pack | pak |
| plaque | plak |
| sac / sack | sak |
| shack | shak |
| slack/s | slak/s |
| stack | stak |
| tack | tak |
| track | trak |
| whack | whak |
| wrack | rak [Cal...] |
| -AGE GROUP (just a few samples of a very large group, a subgroup of the Soft-G group, below) | |
| adage | adaj or adij |
| appendage | appendaj or -ij |
| percentage | percentaj or -ij |
| sewage | suwaj or -ij |
| steerage | steeraj or -ij |
| -ALK GROUP | |
| balk | bauk/baulk |
| chalk | chauk |
| talk | tauk |
| walk | wauk |
| -ALM- GROUP | |
| alms | omz (it is not a plural) |
| balm | bom/bolm |
| [palm (Food Friday) DONE, 3/7/08 | pom |
| psalm | som |
| -ANGLE GROUP | |
| Group 1: pronounced AACH | |
| angle | anggle |
| bangle | banggle |
| new-fangled | new-fanggled |
| gangling, gangly | ganggling, ganggly |
| jangle | janggle |
| mangle | manggle |
| wrangle | ranggle |
| strangle | stranggle |
| tangle | tanggle |
| triangle | trianggle |
| wangle | wanggle |
| -ATCH- GROUP 2 | |
| (Group 1: pronounced AACH, has already been offered.) | |
| Group 2: pronounced OCH | |
| coffee klatch (also spelled coffee klatsch, kaffeeklatsch) | coffee klach (but also pronounced klaach) |
| swatch | swoch |
| watch | woch |
| Exceptions: bach (cf. composer Bach), mach (speed of sound), Sasquatch (two pronunciations, -och and -ach). | |
| -EE/-EA GROUP (This group works as a simplification only if there are no grammatical endings added. If an ending is added, the dropped-E has to be restored.) | |
| Cree | Cre |
| fee | fe (cf. be, he, me, (re,) we; "Fe fi fo fum, I smell the blood of an Englishman") |
| flea | fle |
| gee | ge / je |
| glee | gle |
| lee / Lee / Leigh | le / Le |
| pee | pe |
| see | se |
| spree | spre |
| tee | te |
| tree | tre |
| -DG- / SOFT-G GROUP: There are a great many words in
which G represents not its own unique sound but the J-sound. This is often
but certainly not always the case before E, I, and Y ("gesture" but "get";
"gibberish" but "gibbon"; "gyroscope" but the first GY in "gynecology").
It seems advisable to me to offer J in such locations, and where grammatical
endings would not require a double-J, which some people will shy away from
because it is "funny-looking" and "un-English". Thus "sage" to "saje" would
be unobjectionable, because endings work fine: sajer, sajest, sajeness,
sajely. But "frij" for "fridge" would meet more resistance, because the
plural would have to be frijjes to show the -I- is short. -DG- is
the standard way English spells the J-sound after a short vowel: badge(r),
edge, bridge, dodge, grudge, acknowledg(e)ment, judg(e)ment. Somehow,
you can simply add endings to the J-sound when it is represented by -DGE,
dropping the E when adding -ING in accord with a well-understood rule
(badges, bridging), and that doesn't "look funny" to us, whereas
bajjes and brijjing would. Mind you, there are some
compound words in which -DG-, even -DGE-, does not represent the J-sound:
handgun, headgear. There is also at least one common
word, "margarine", in which the G represents the J sound before a vowel other
than E , I, or Y. Plainly, ordinary people would have no difficulty accepting
a J there: marjarin[e].
Since G is most often "soft" (J-sound) before E, I, and Y tho not in some common words (gear, gecko; give, giddy; gynecology; and their derivatives), traditional spelling employs U or H between a G that retains the G sound and a following E or I (guess, guest; gherkin, ghetto), and we end up with absurdities like "get" but "ghetto". There are also other difficulties, such as the -NGE- group (below), in which the final-E is also taken as a silent-E to signal that the vowel last written before it, is pronounced long, even tho it is two letters away. We learn to recognize "stranger" as now written as not parallel in sound to "hanger". But changing the G to J will leave some people seeing short-A: stranjer. I have offered -AINJ for such words, which would neatly solve that particular problem. At end, spelling reform cannot indulge irrational aversions, as to JJ or VV, just because such letter combinations are not found in many traditional English words. What "looks funny" is a function of what one is accustomed to seeing, and to new readers, things like -DG- or -DGE "look funny", but J or JJ does not. After all, J or, after a short vowel, JJ makes sense. DGE does not. The list below is only indicative, samples. There are a great many words in different forms (G, GG, DG) that fall into this category. |
|
| acknowledge/s, acknowledg(e)ment | aknollej/jes, aknollejment |
| age | aje |
| fe (cf. be, he, me, (re,) we; "Fe fi fo fum, I smell the blood of an Englishman") | |
| badge/r | baj/jer |
| dodge/ball | doj/ball, doj/jer, /jes, /jy |
| engage/ment | engaje/ment |
| enrage | enraje |
| exaggerate | exajjerate or egzajjerate (substitution of GZ for X is a new spelling that will be resisted; see #17 of the principles that control selection of words for this project) (comments?) |
| fridge | frij/jes |
| gauge | gaje |
| knowledge | nollej |
| rage | raje |
| sage | saje |
| sedge/s | sej/jes |
| veg(g)ie | vejjy |
| wage | waje [rhode...] |
| wedge, wedgie | wej/jes, /jy |
| -ED ENDING GROUP |
| -t for some -ed endings: burnt (use as model), tipt, quipt; flapt, tapt; sapt; rokt, sokt; flokt; mixt, fixt |
| -d for some -ed endings: lernd, queld, feld |
| -EEZE GROUP | |
| breeze | breez |
| freeze | freez |
| sneeze | sneez |
| squeeze | squeez |
| tweeze | tweez |
| wheeze | wheez |
| -ELL GROUP (but verbs would retake their second-L in some inflected forms: yelled, yelling) | |
| bell | bel |
| cell | cel |
| dell | del |
| fell | fel |
| gel (use as model) | jel |
| hell | hel |
| knell / Nel | nel / Nel |
| sell | sel |
| spell | spel [Cal...] |
| swell | swel |
| tell | tel |
| well | wel |
| yell | yel |
-EW GROUP: This is a low-priority area, words like "blew","few", "hew", "Jew", "mew", "curfew", etc. Reforming them to -U or -UE might not suffice nor "look right" to many people, in part because it will be unclear whether there is a Y sound in them or not, in part because U alone at the end of a word is uncommon, tho certainly not unheard of (ecru, emu, flu). Moreover, if we offer -YU or -YUE endings for them (fyu/e, hyu/e, myu/e), they will "look funny" and "un-English".
-EING GROUP: There are verbs like "bathe", "paste", "waste", "change",
and "plunge" whose pronunciation becomes unclear when -ing is added. "Pasting"
and "wasting" are not parallel to "fasting"; and "binging" and "plunging"
are not parallel to "banging" and "singing". Today, "singeing" and "dyeing"
are correct spellings for those verbs. There's no reason we can't write
"pasteing", "wasteing", "bingeing" (and "purgeing"), "changeing", "plungeing",
etc. Indeed, "bingeing" is a recognized (but unusual) variant, tho "purgeing"
is not!
| -ICK GROUP | |
| brick | brik |
| chick | chik |
| crick | crik |
| dick (detective) / Dick | dik / Dik |
| flick | flik |
| hick | hik |
| lick | lik |
| mick | mik |
| nick | nik |
| pick | pik |
| prick | prik |
| quick | quik |
| shtick / schtick | shtik (variant) |
| sick | sik |
| slick | slik |
| stick | stik |
| tick | tik |
| trick | trik |
| wick | wik |
| -IND GROUP (comments?) | |
| bind/er | biend/er, bynd/er, biynd/er |
| blind | bliend or blynd or bliynd |
| find | fiend or fynd or fiynd |
| hind | hiend or hynd or hiynd |
| kind | kiend or kynd or kiynd |
| mind | miend or mynd or miynd |
| wind | wiend or wynd or wiynd |
| -ILL GROUP | |
| bill | bil |
| chill (Food Friday) | chil |
| dill (Food Friday) | dil |
| fill (Food Friday) | fil |
| gill / Gil (a model) | gil |
| hill | hil |
| ill | il |
| Jill | Jil |
| kill | kil |
| Lil(lian) | Lil (a model) |
| mill | mil |
| nil / nill (rare word) | nil (a model) |
| pill | pil |
| quill | quil |
| rill | ril |
| sill | sil |
| spill | spil |
| still | stil |
| swill | swil |
| till | til |
| trill | tril |
| twill | twil |
| will | wil |
| -ILLION GROUP (comments?) | |
| billion | billyon |
| centillion | centillyon [caj...] |
| decillion | decillyon |
| gazillion | gazillyon |
| jillion | jillyon |
| million | millyon |
| nonillion | nonillyon |
| octillion | octillyon |
| quadrillion [offered as "quodrillyon" July 13, 2008] | quadrillyon |
| quintillion | quintillyon |
| septillion | septillyon |
| sextillion | sextillyon |
| trillion | trillyon |
| zillion | zillyon [offered March 17, 2008, with "zillyonair"] |
| -INGLE GROUP [Firewall...] (If the pattern is consistent, it's not very important to change it, tho this would be nice to do for clarity. The only problem arises when the -ingle is not final but midword (ringlet, ringleader, wingless). I know of no exceptions to the hard-G pronunciation when the sequence i-n-g-l-e is final.) | |
| bingle | binggle |
| commingle, comingle, co-mingle | comminggle or cominggle |
| cringle | cringgle |
| dingle/berry | dinggle/berry |
| immingle | iminggle or imminggle |
| ingle/nook, ingleside | inggle/nook, inggleside |
| intermingle | interminggle |
| jingle | jinggle |
| mingle | minggle |
| shingle/s | shinggle/s |
| single | singgle |
| surcingle | surcinggle |
| swingle | swinggle |
| tingle | tinggle |
| tringle | tringgle |
-INGO/-ANGO GROUP: binggo, dinggo, flaminggo, gringgo, linggo;
contanggo, fandanggo, manggo, quanggo, tanggo (contrast "presto chango").
(Low priority, since the pronunciation is almost always consistent.)
| -IVE GROUP (all of this group could be changed to drop the final-E; the selection below is only indicativ(e), not exhaustiv(e). | |
| abortive | abortiv |
| active | activ |
| descriptive | descriptiv [Fishin...] |
| destructive | destructiv |
| detective | detectiv |
| effective | effectiv |
| inactive | inactiv |
| perspective | perspectiv |
| punitive | punitiv |
| restrictive | restrictiv |
| -OCK GROUP | |
| block/buster | blok/buster |
| bock | bok |
| brock | brok |
| clock | clok |
| cock/tail, -roach (Food Friday or Wine Wensday) | cok/tail, -roach |
| crock | crok |
| deadlock | dedlok [GreenD...] |
| dock | dok |
| flock | flok |
| frock | frok |
| hock | hok |
| jock/-ey | jok/-ky |
| knock | nok |
| lock | lok |
| mock | mok (unless "mach" is revised to "mok") |
| pock/-marked | pok/-marked or /-t |
| rock | rok |
| shock | shok |
| sock | sok |
| stock | stok |
| wok (Food Friday) | wok (use as model) |
| -OGUE GROUP (Since many of these are widely accepted variants, it might be simplest to present them as a group on a single day. I doubt they are worth a day apiece.) | |
| analogue | analog |
| catalogue | catalog |
| dialogue | dialog |
| epilogue | epilog |
| ideologue | ideolog |
| monologue | monolog |
| prologue | prolog |
| prorogue | proroeg |
| synagogue | synagog |
| travelogue | travelog |
| -OLD / -OLT GROUP (comments?) | |
| behold/en | behoeld/en, behoald/en |
| bold (boldface, embolden, etc.) | boeld [Clap...], boald |
| bolt | boelt, boalt |
| cold | coeld [Clap...], coald |
| colt | coelt, coalt |
| fold/er (billfold, blindfold, centerfold, enfold, foldout, etc.) | foeld/er, foald/er |
| gold/en | goeld [Clap...], goald/en |
| hold | hoeld [Clap...], hoald |
| manifold | manifoeld, manifoald |
| marigold | marigoeld, marigoald |
| mold/ing | moeld/ing [Clap...], moald/ing |
| molt | moelt, moalt |
| old | oeld, oald |
| scold | scoeld, scoald |
| smolder | smoelder, smoalder |
| sold | soeld [Clap...], soald |
| told | toeld [Clap...], toald |
| volt | voelt, voalt |
| withhold | withhoeld, withhoald |
| -ORE GROUP | |
| bore | bor |
| core (Food Friday) | cor |
| gore | gor |
| ignore | ignor |
| lore | lor |
| pore / pour | por / paur (comments?) |
| sore | sor |
| spore | spor |
| store | stor |
-OS/-OES GROUP: There are many words ending in O that do not, or do not have to, take an -ES in the plural (see this helpful discussion: http://www.paulnoll.com/China/Teach/English-plurals.html). This is especially common with words taken from Spanish or Italian (taco, grotto), and since English is borrowing more and more words from Spanish, the plural of words ending in O are likely to become more and more inconsistent, especially if people cannot readily tell whether a word derives from Spanish or Italian - e.g., tornado, which does ultimately derive from Spanish, albeit twisted in form, but has been in English so long (since about 1560) that its plural is generally anglicized to -OES. SSWD can recommend that all plurals of words ending in O should take -OES.
-OUS GROUP: -OUS ENDINGS might all be changed to -US.
| -OVE- (SHORT-U SOUND) GROUP | |
| glove | gluv |
| hover | huvver (alternative pronunciation hov.er mililtates against this) |
| love/-r | luv/ver |
| shovel | shuvvel (offered February 13, 2006) |
| -OV(E)- (LONG-U SOUND) GROUP to -uve or -oove (comments?) ["Prove" group changed to "pruve", August 23, 2005, which see.] | |
| approve | apruve (used, August 23, 2005) |
| disprove | dispruve (used, August 23, 2005) |
| improve/ment | impruve/ment (used, August 23, 2005) |
| move | muve or moove |
| movie | muvie or muvy or moovy |
| prove | pruve (used, August 23, 2005) |
| reprove | repruve (used, August 23, 2005) |
-OW GROUP There are two common pronunciations for words with
-ow in them, one long-O (bow, barrow, blow/n, glow, grow/n, know/n,
low, mow, marrow, morrow, slow, sow, tow, tomorrow, etc.), the
other the OU-sound (bow, cow, endow, how, now, plow, powwow,
sow, vow, wow, howl, etc.). Which, if either, should be changed?
OW can be seen as a clear rendering of the long-O sound plus a W-glide, so
perhaps that group should not change. OW is not, however, a clear rendering
of the OU-sound, so perhaps all those should be replaced by OU or, if final,
OUW. This is a large class of words, and it may not be worth doing anything
with them unless people learning English perceive a real problem. I'm not
sure it's that troublesome. But if it is, only one subgroup need be reformed
to make clear that the other group is pronounced differently. Which, if either,
should it be? Comments?
| -OWER GROUP (comments?) | Compare "powwow"; contrast "borrower", "slower" |
| bower | bowwer / bouwer / bour |
| cower | cowwer / couwer / cour |
| dower/y | dowwer / douwer |
| firepower | firepowwer [Cal...] / firepouwer |
| flour / flower (Food Friday) | flowwer / flouwer |
| glower | glowwer / glouwer / glour |
| horsepower | horsepowwer [Cal...] / horsepouwer |
| hour | owwer / ouwer |
| lower (to glare, sullenly) | lowwer / louwer / lour |
| power | powwer / pouwer |
| shower | showwer / shouwer / shour [yaora...] |
| tower | towwer / touwer |
| waterpower | waterpowwer [Cal...] / waterpouwer (comments on which approach is better?) |
| -OWN GROUP | |
PRONOUNCED "OUN" |
|
| brown | broun |
| clown | cloun |
| crown | croun |
| down | doun (and its many derivatives, e.g., dounrite [Cal...], dounward, hoedoun, lowdoun) |
| drown | droun |
| gown | goun |
| frown | froun |
| renown | renoun |
| PRONOUNCED LONG-O: This is a very problematic group, since all but one are irregular pasts of verbs ending in -OW (blown, flown, grown, known, mown, thrown, sown, shown, unbeknown, unknown), so all these would have to be reformed, or in the alternative all words ending in -OW pronounced OU would have to be reformed (how, now, cow, endow, etc.). Plainly if one group is reformed, the other does not have to be, since it will be a default for its pronunciation. (Comments?) | |
| -UCK GROUP | |
| buck | buk |
| duck (Food Friday) | duk |
| huckleberry (Food Friday) | hukleberry |
| huckster | hukster |
| luck | luk |
| muck | muk |
| pluck | pluk |
| shuck | shuk |
| snuck | snuk [fishstick...] |
| struck | struk |
| suck | suk |
| truck | truk |
| tuck | tuk |
| yuck | yuk (variant) |
| -UFF GROUP | |
| bluff | bluf |
| buff | buf |
| cuff | cuf |
| duff | duf |
| gruff | gruf |
| guff | guf |
| huff | huf |
| muff | muf |
| puff | puf |
| stuff | stuf |
| -Y ENDING (PRONOUNCED AS LONG-I) GROUP: Most words of
more than one syllable ending in -Y take a long-E sound in their last syllable
(clipped-vowel speakers tend to pronounce it short-I). Words of one syllable
ending in -Y take the long-I sound. But there is a class of words of more
than one syllable in which the -Y takes its full long-I sound. Perhaps we
should eventually conform all these words, of one syllable or multiple syllables
without distinction, to a single spelling for the final vowel sound.
There are at least three ways to respell that ending: -IE (as in present pie, belie, and hogtie), -YE (as in rye and goodbye), and -IY, a new spelling suggested to me by a spelling reformer from Japan, on the model of -AY. One can see the same principle, a long vowel followed by a Y-glide, in some -EY words (such as abbey, barley, cockney, key, tourney, whiskey), tho other -EY words sound in long-A (they, hey, convey, obey), . The sample words below are respelled all three ways so you can consider how they would actually look. ("By" is not shown, because how to deal with it is a very complicated issue, inasmuch as it has three homophones, "bye", "buy", and "bi".) |
|
| ally | noun: allie or allye or alliy; verb: alie or alye or aliy |
| apply | aplie or aplye or apliy |
| cry | crie or crye or criy |
| decry | decrie or decrye or decriy |
| deny | denie or denye or deniy |
| dry | drie or drye or driy |
| fly | flie or flye or fliy |
| fry | frie or frye or friy |
| imply | implie or implye or impliy |
| multiply (verb) | multiplie or multiplye or multipliy |
| my | mie or mye or miy |
| ply | plie or plye or pliy |
| pry | prie or prye or priy |
| rely | relie or relye or reliy |
| reply | replie or replye or repliy |
| shy | shie or shye or shiy |
| sky | skie or skye or skiy |
| sly | slie or slye or sliy |
| spry | sprie or sprye or spriy |
| supply | suplie/supplie or suplye/supplye or supliy/suppliy |
| rely | relie or relye or reliy |
| reply | replie or replye or repliy |
| try | trie or trye or triy |
| why | whie or whye or whiy |
| wry (offered as "ry" on October 29, 2005) | rie or wrye or riy |
| -FY SUBGROUP | |
| amplify | amplifie or amplifye or amplifiy |
| electrify | electrifie or electrifye or electrifiy |
| humidify | humidifie or humidifye or humidifiy |
| qualify | qualifie or qualifye or qualifiy |
| simplify | simplifie or simplifye or simplifiy |
| testify (and many, many more) | testifie or testifye or testifiy |
Should we even attempt to reform this category of word? If so, does any of the three approaches above do the trick? -IE is already a common ending, pronounced long-E (or, among clipped-vowel speakers, short-I) showing, among other things, the diminutive: cookie, kiddie, doggie. It has other uses, e.g., rookie, newbie. Is changing -Y to -IE any clearer than leaving it -Y? And what about the present progressive ending -ING? Would we simply add it to the -IE (trieing, electrifieing), or change the IE to Y, which would return us to what we now have (trying, electrifying)? Is -YE too cumbersome to be accepted, or would the clarity gained make such a trivial lengthening welcome? In the progressive, the most common present practice is simply to drop a final-E and add -ING, as would give us again what we now have: crying, flying. But there are exceptions, in which a final-E is retained before the -ING is added: dyeing, eyeing, hogtieing. If we use -IY, the -ING could simply be added after the Y: deniying, amplifiying. But what do we do about third-person singular? Deniys, amplifiys? or denies, amplifies (which requires a rule to drop the Y and add -ES, akin to the present rule, drop the Y and add -IES). Perhaps we don't need to reform one-syllable words (cry, try, fly) if there are no exceptions to the long-I pronunciation. Are there any exceptions? If not, we can leave one-syllable words ending in -Y and reform only words of more than one syllable. (Comments?)
Click
here for today's
suggestion.
Click here
to see the index of all words used so far.
Click here
for the principles that govern the selection of words.
Click here for a list of words rejected for
this project because of those principles.
Please send comments and suggestions to Fanetiks@aol.com.