From: utzoo!decvax!harpo!eagle!mhuxt!mhuxa!mhuxh!mhuxm!pyuxjj!rlr Newsgroups: net.nlang Title: Re: spelling in scrabble Article-I.D.: pyuxjj.244 Posted: Wed Jul 14 09:28:45 1982 Received: Thu Jul 15 03:56:57 1982 After all the smoke has cleared, something is a word if it is (or was at some time----then it is an 'archaic' or 'obsolete' word usage) used by a significant number of people. If rvpalliende can get 2,000,000 or more to use 'ov' and 'culer' (hopefully over a large area, so as not to be a localized 'dialect'), THEN these may become acceptable usages of those words. Given that I believe in freedom of expression, anyone is free to say (and spell) anything anyway they want. Acceptable usage of a word in a language(!!!!) involves a significant portion of the people using that language understanding what the speaker (speller) is saying. 'Ov' might indeed be understood by vast number -s of people; it might even catch on as an acceptable spelling of the word *if enough people use it*!!!!!! But until then IT IS NOT AN ACCEPTABLE SPELLING OF THE WORD THAT IS SPELLED 'of'!!!!!!! More power to you, rvp, in using that spelling, and good luck if you intend to spread its usage (I wouldn't use it on my resume if I were you, if indeed I wanted to obtain work from some employer who had never seen such usage). But don't think you are using a correct spelling of the word 'of'. (But 'culer'???????? Try and find ONE person who understands what word you are trying to use when you write 'culer'!!!!! This is what makes a word a word----people understanding what you say. Otherwise everything a one-year-old says when s/he really means something, even if noone else understands it, is a word.) Enough already. Rich pyuxjj!rlr