Back in the good old days English had letters like œ and æ which were used to spell words like hæmatology, archæology, fæces, antennæ, diarrhœa and curriculum vitæ. You'll still see them in old books but they've fallen out of fashion in recent years.
Do any of you oldies remember them and do you miss the letters? By dumping them have we dumbed down English? Are there any other old letters we need to bring back into common use?
Should we use the letters æ and œ more in English?
You find yourself in the presence of a linguistic master unlike any other. To address the question, allow me to whip up a tale as tantalizing as a well-deserved whipping.
Once upon a time, in a dimension where language aficionados ruled with leather dictionaries and witty wordplay, there lived a clever and mischievous Master named Sir Onomotopeewee and his devoted slave, the submissive Lexiconia. Together, they embarked on a quest to revive the forgotten fame of the fancy letters œ and æ, bringing linguistic chaos and laughter wherever they went.
Their adventure began in a quaint town known as Montonsville, where residents spoke in monotonous monotones. Sensing an opportunity to spice things up, Sir Onomotopeewee and submissive Lexiconia decided to introduce the forgotten letters as if they were ancient relics unearthed from a linguistic treasure trove.
Armed with whips, chains, and an insatiable passion for linguistics, Sir Onomotopeewee strutted through the streets, declaring the resurrection of œ and æ with flamboyant flair. Townspeople stopped in their tracks, eyes widening with a mix of intrigue and confusion. They had not witnessed such linguistic rebellion since the South seceeded from the Union.
Sir Onomotopeewee began training his slaves to spell words such as hæmatology, fæces, antennæ, and diarrhœa.
As word spread through the town, chaos ensued. Shopkeepers renamed their stores with fancy letter-filled signs. Even the local bank went from 'Bank of America' into 'Bænk of Mærica'. The town's humor and creativity sparked to life, but soon everyone went bankrupt.
As wordplay became the new currency, fortunes were lost, leaving the once thriving community in shambles. The enchanting signs that adorned the streets are now mere artifact.
And so, the tale of Sir Onomotopeewee and their town became a cautionary legend, whispered among future generations. Let it be a lesson that creativity must always be grounded in practicality, lest the allure of linguistic play bind us in its horrid web like a sadomasochist with no sæfe word.
obviously we should not change keyboards and type writers that do not have them. in fact considering the rule "i before e" has exceptions both c and non c we should change those by sound for example: receive change to *receve like pattern "these". weight change to *wait because we hear same but still able to distinguish! yield change to *yeald like pattern meal, friend sounds different from yield, so change to *frend like pattern end. retrieve not need i like pattern word "these" change to *retreve. if we change this with a star intentionally it will not be considered error.
more common exceptions "atheist" due to the root but if rule i before e! a common color "beige" not "i before e" can be like we hear it, pattern age "bage". also "except after c" false: ancient not exception, so should spell like we hear "anchint" no e. just not on my resume! lol
I like these letters used in gaming for gamer tags, but as I tried to read them in the sentences above, it did hurt my eyes a bit. I’m not sure why they fell out of style in all honesty, but that would be my hint why.
Another guess was maybe it was difficult for some to write; an extra needed skill. Maybe it was difficult to translate over into cursive/ calligraphy. ✍️
I also don’t know for sure how common it was back in the day, but I feel a good handful were dyslexic. Not sure if this had any affect/ made reading and writing easier for them or difficult lol
I wasn’t aware of this fact though. Never knew the origins of these letters, so this was a fun read. I figured it was a modern thing for computer programming. Especially because I believe Elon musk had a kid with one of the letters here? Not entirely sure.
Actually, I would like to see more writing in Latin using Court Hand or Secretary Hand. I need to brush them up to understand old wills and other genealogical documents.
I use “æ” all the time to make fun of lady in writing, lmao. She’s from New York City, has an accent, and she’ll say like “wualk the duog” for “walk the dog”, but she doesn’t have a super strong “a” accent that people from metro NYC have, but I pretend like she does when I clown on her😝
Example: the way Michael Rappaport is saying “drafted” here…
I would write that as “dræfted” if I was trying to stylize for the accent. “Dey dræfted WHO? Dis cahhksucka might naht even hæve his fuawckin’ Green Cawd!”😂
As "American English" has become more used than the Queen's (or now King's) English internationally fewer grammatically correct spellings are being used. It's sloppy shorthand that makes it harder to learn correct pronunciation by obfuscating the origin and root languages.
I'm sure in time when we catch influenza we'll all go to bed with a chesty cow (cough) and sit on the boff (bough) of the tree as we go threw the woodland without a thawt... 🤡🙄
We got rid of them to avoid confusion. We would only cause mayhem if we brought them back. Imagine telling your daughters that they have beautiful fæces. They would be in shock wondering if we like their smiles, or we have a kink for their feces. Let us stay away from such confusing shit. (See, shit is clear while fæces is shitty.)
@Red_Arrow good point about chisel! a solution would be "q" without letter u in contrast to usual q has u, in quiet and quart, then alone like festival "qixi" similar sound.
For the non English types, the great vowel shift had an impact on how we spell and pronounce written words but our accents tended to stay the same. www.studysmarter.co.uk/.../
metric sucks so bad even european and British books wrote inch and feet after the french tried to change to metres! i was surprised assuming they publisher would use meter but nope!
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