Quote:
Originally Posted by monster
say we agree. your point is that words that rhyme should have similar spellings, no?
And yet words which rhyme for Americans don't for Brits and/or Aussies (and all possible permutations of that concept). For example, some Brits would agree that thorough rhymes with colour/color. I'm pretty sure few americans would. So how should be "improve" those spellings?
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That depends on whether the spelling of the word is dysfunctional for everyone.
The number of words where the pronunciation differs in a non-systematic manner between British English and American English is not large, on the order of one percent or so. Many of these words already have reasonable spellings in one or the other of these accents, so for such words we can justify leaving them as they are.
Where change is demonstrably needed is in those words where the spelling matches nobody's pronunciation.
There is a reasonable point about a possible dilemma regarding the choice of pronunciation for these words, but I have already made a suggestion that can work: choose the pronunciation that is closest to the spelling. This approach will permit words to remain unaltered if their spellings are plausible in someone's national or regional pronunciation. DanaC discussed the word "almond", and how some people actually pronounce it as spelt in some parts of England. By the rule I outlined, no change is needed here.
Some words may need to have different spellings to go with the different pronunciations, but that is best done if there is a demonstrable difference in meaning. I have discussed "lieutenant" and how we would be better off if the British Navy pronunciation of that word had a separate spelling. I will take the opportunity here to correct an error I made earlier: it seems the army-navy distinction is a lot older than I guessed. There are 14th-century spellings like "leeftenaunt" known for this word. Americans may only use the old Army pronunciation of this word, but given what the Americans thought of the British Navy around the time of the American Revolution, this is not really that surprising.