The Phoenix Network:
 
 
About  |  Advertise
Adult  |  Moonsigns  |  Band Guide  |  Blogs  |  In Pictures
 

Reserching the basicks

This didn't fit in our most recent books page, and it's a good gift idea for bibliophiles, linguophiles, and logophiles on your holiday list:

Self-described "crap speller" David Wolman sets out in a literary-historical-travelogue across the English-speaking world to discover who, exactly, made the rules that have tormented him since primary school, and why. In Righting the Mother Tongue, Wolman (whom I went to college with) is humorously both descriptivist and prescriptivist, not only saying what happened and how, but also expressing frustration at the confounding results of "orthographic renovation." (Spelling revisions often make things worse, even when in search of allegedly easier or more historically accurate spellings - as in the 15th century, when "words like sissors, coud, and ancor were turned into scissors, could, and anchor.") Including protestations from today's Simplified Spelling Society, and testing himself in a local spelling bee, Wolman doesn't fix the problem, but he clearly spells it out.

Righting the Mother Tongue: From Olde English to Email, the Tangled Story of English Spelling | by David Wolman | Smithsonian Books | 211 pages | $24.95

Filed Under:
  • Share:
  • Share this entry with Facebook
  • Share this entry with Digg
  • Share this entry with Delicious
  • Email this article to a friend
  • Print this article

Leave a Comment

Login | Not a member yet? Click here to Join
Follow the Portland Phoenix
twitter facebook myspace youtube rss
All Blogs
Filed Under:
Related Articles

0911_pleasure_Sts
Boston Phoenix
Pleasure principles
Published 12/4/2009 by CHARLES TAYLOR
In happiness begins responsibility

0911_theroad_listt
Boston Phoenix
Review: The Road
Published 11/27/2009 by PETER KEOUGH
No country for all men: John Hillcoat doesn't stray from Cormac McCarthy's Road

more by Jeff Inglis
Catching up with FairPoint’s decline | November 27, 2009
Ex-USM staffers claim age discrimination | November 20, 2009
Campaign crash | November 20, 2009
Is No On 1 loss due to Obama? | November 06, 2009
Recalling genocide | November 06, 2009

 See all articles by: Jeff Inglis

ADVERTISEMENT
Latest Comments
Boston Public Health Commission's Top 10 Bad Romance Songs of 2009: Is pop music unhealthy? - wow this is very RACIST

By Drake Montage on 12-02-2009 in On The Download

Senate Race Tightening... Or Not - My money is on Coakley dropping. She doesn't seem to be getting any traction and she seems to be hoping...

By tumble4ya on 12-02-2009 in Talking Politics

GodHatesFags.com Invades Greater Boston - This just another proof of religion promoting hate. Hate that gives excuse to some to commit horrible...

By Rachel Galindo on 12-02-2009 in Phlog

The Globe, Scott Brown, and abortion - Thanks for checking back in, Spilot. That wasn't my intention. The Globe description didn't seem to jibe...

By Adam Reilly on 12-02-2009 in Dont Quote Me

American Hi-Fi covers Miley Cyrus's "The Climb" - Watch The Twilight Saga New Moon Online for Free. Download The Twilight Saga: New Moon. The Twilight...

By abanicewafe on 12-02-2009 in On The Download

Latest Comments from About Town
Most Viewed
Say Anything at the House of Blues | October 30
REVIEW: Thao Nguyen and The Get Down Stay Down at Middle East
Ticket On-Sale Alert: Harry and the Potters, Mario, Passion Pit, The Lion King, more
VIDEO: Halloween Mash UP
Mp3 of the Week: American Hi-Fi (with bonus Stacy Jones Q&A)
CLICK TRACKS: Music News Roundup (Walken' on Gaga, Weezer in Snuggies, Bono straddles the Berlin Wall, and more)
Ugh, ugh, ugh: Drummer Gerhardt "Jerry" Fuchs (!!!/Turing Machine/Maserati/Juan Maclean) dead at 34
Most Viewed from About Town
Search Blogs
 
Links
Strange Maine - winner, The Best Blog, Portland Phoenix, 2008
Black Bird Legal Collective - A Portland-based legal-activist group
DowneastBlog - You tell us what they think
Local Foodie - Portland-based local-foods blog
Media Nation - A media-watch column by journalism professor and Phoenix contributor Dan Kennedy
Organizing Notes - Comments from Maine peace-and-justice activist Bruce Gagnon
Portland Greens - Updates from Portland's Green Party
Portland on Wikipedia - See what the crowdsourcing crowd is saying
Where There's Wil, There's Always A Way - winner, The Best Blog, Portland Phoenix, 2007
Portland Museum of Art blog -
Have Faith In Worthless Knowledge - The SPACE Gallery blog
Maine Prisoner Advocacy Coalition - Activists for prisoners' rights
About Town Archives
Wednesday, December 02, 2009  |  Sign In  |  Register
 
TODAY'S FEATURED ADVERTISERS
thePhoenix.com
Phoenix Media/Communications Group
Copyright © 2009 The Phoenix Media/Communications Group