English spelling is broken. Let's fix it!

English spelling is broken ...

English spelling is broken. Examples like comb, bomb and tomb, or height and weight, abound. And no-one seems to know whether the down pipe from a gutter is a rone, a rhone, a roan or something else.

English spelling has been chopped and changed by countless scribes, printers, invaders and others since the Roman alphabet was first used to write Old English during the seventh century, and it does not match the way we speak today. The English Spelling Society exists to repair our broken spelling.

In this website you can discover the past, present and future of English Spelling:

English spelling is broken. Together, we can do something about that.

Society news

2020-09-08 As a result of articles published by the BBC, The Times and The Guardian, we have had a large number of applications to register with the IESC. This is excellent news of course — the more participants, the more meaningful the exercise. But our admin systems are struggling a bit to cope. When you apply, you should receive a holding response within 48 hours. We have had a few cases where our response email has bounced, so if you don't hear from us within this time period, please do get in touch and let us know, so we can fix it. Once we have processed your application, you will be added to the mailing list and will receive full details on how to vote when the time comes.

2020-07-10 Following access problems with the English Spelling Reform subreddit, the Society has created its own Reddit community: TheEnglishSpellingSoc. Links to the old subreddit have been changed to access the new.

2020-05-18 The IESC project is now hosting open discussion of the shortlisted proposals on the Society Blog – there are separate threads for each of the shortlisted schemes and also for discussion on the Congress generally. There is also a Reddit subthread for The English Spelling Society . It is not necessary to register in order to take part in these discussions, but unless you register as a participant (it's free), you will not be able to vote in the final selection later in 2020. [2020-07-12 Link to subreddit updated]

International news

2020-09-20 — The right diagnosis and treatment for dyslexia Behavioural optometrist Irfaan Adamally on oculomotor dysfunction, Dr Neville Brown on the success of Maple Hayes Hall school, and Prof Brian Butterworth on the even more severe consequences of dyscalculia. More ►

2020-09-17 — The battle over dyslexia It was once a widely accepted way of explaining why some children struggled to read and write. But in recent years, some experts have begun to question the existence of dyslexia itself. More ►

2020-09-17 — JK Rowling's new book comes under fire AGAIN as readers brand the author 'patronising and deeply snobbish' for writing a working class character's dialogue differently Character Janice speaks using working class dialect which is spelled differently. More ►

2020-09-14 — Old English alphabet has SIX ‘lost letters’ that have vanished from our language THE English alphabet used to have extra letters that have been lost as centuries went by. More ►

Education

Many news items are particularly relevant to educators at all levels from primary to tertiary. These stories will be coralled in this section.

[I could not resist commenting on the ICAS results item below, which reports: "There are five categories in which the students were able to compete this year: digital technology, english, spelling, science, and mathematics." One of these five is not like the others. —Editor]

2020-09-18 — Central West Leadership Academy ICAS results are in More ►

2020-09-17 — The Sydney school that bucked the trend and got boys to succeed in English While many students struggle with writing, boys are twice as likely as girls to be near the bottom of the class. But Balgowlah Boys High is bucking that trend. More ►

Beehive

Spelling bees are always popular news stories. While the Society does not belittle the hard work that students put in for these events, or deny that they teach useful skills, the fact remains that the mere existence of spelling bees is perhaps the best illustration of the irregularity of English spelling.

Imagine if we had numbering bees, where contestants, instead of spelling out the letters in a word, had to spell out the numerals in a number. "Contestant, spell eighty-five thousand, nine hundred and forty-three." The contestant pauses, and then speaks: "8-5-9-4-3."

The Society looks forward to a day when spelling bees would be just as ludicrous as numbering bees.

No bees today.