Also, please be civil this person was actually pretty chill about getting totally destroyed for this crazy take. I mostly just wanted to document this moment.
Also, please be civil this person was actually pretty chill about getting totally destroyed for this crazy take. I mostly just wanted to document this moment.
You know, they’ve got a very valid point. Language is spoken before it is written and it changes with time. I’ve got the opinion that orthography should be subordinate to pronunciation. If ‘then’ and ‘than’, historically pronounced differently, become homophone, they could be written the same.
I’m tired of English and French orthographies being so conservative, writing words like they were pronounced hundreds of years ago…
But a differentiation is needed in this scenario. “Then” suggests a continuation, while “Than” suggests an alternative.
“I’d rather eat cake than have a pineapple up the bum” “I’d rather eat cake then have a pineapple up the bum”
I don’t know about you but I wouldn’t be saying the second sentence verbally.
It is important to consider how best to communicate such requests. Perhaps as part of a sonnet would be appropriate?
I know that the words are different and have different meanings, and I know that some speakers pronounce them differently so I wouldn’t change the orthography now.
My point is: let’s not be so conservative that orthography has to be fixed forever. If they become homophones, the orthography could change and they could be homonyms like so many others exist.
My own comment on the thread is relevant to yours 😁
https://lemm.ee/comment/11744844
Oh, I know the English rules very well, and those of French, and those of Dutch, and those of Portuguese, and those of German.
Of all the orthographies that I know, French and English are the dumbest by far, because they are the most conservative. It’s not because you struggled to learn that you should feel superior to others. Pride in a dumb orthographic system can only be understood through elitism.