From: utzoo!decvax!harpo!npoiv!npois!houxz!houxi!houxb!samm Newsgroups: net.misc Title: Re: Laissez-faire spelling reform Article-I.D.: houxb.139 Posted: Mon Aug 9 15:54:43 1982 Received: Thu Aug 12 05:48:54 1982 References: pyuxcc.333 I hope that 'responces' was an intentional error (otherwise comments about glass houses would be in order). In any case, I'd like to air the following ideas: 1. Only the most finicky would get very excited about an occasional mistype or even spelling error: none of us (even 'furriners' like me) can claim to be perfect. (For instance, that should have read "not even 'furriners' ...", but I don't want to go edit this. 2. Some sort of Gresham's Law (I hope I have the lawmaker right) operates in language - bad usage is easier, and so tends to spread. 3. Most Americans write atrociously, and the problem can only be corrected by better education from 1st grade on up. Most adults, e.g., readers of netnews, would rather argue at length why it isn't necessary to write well than spend a few seconds with a reference book (dictionary or style manual). NOTE THAT I SAID MOST, NOT ALL, SO DON'T SEND ME PROOF OF YOUR LITERACY. Responses, if interesting, will be read. Chanchal Samanta BTL-NP ...harpo!houxb!samm