Reformed Spelling.—The Signs of the Times
By Editor
believes in reform. Because of this it has in past years adopted some of the spellings advocated by advanced philologists and adopted by a number of what may be called standard publications. Many journals and publications have adopted the spelling of “vail” for “veil,” and “mama” for “mamma,” “mold” for “mould,” “program” for “programme,” “coquet” for “coquette,” “gazet” for “gazette,” etc. The National Educational Association advocates the adoption of the reform spelling in the following words: catalog, pedagog, demagog, prolog, decalog, altho, tho, thoro, thorofare, thru, thruout. “Pedagog,” “decalog,” etc., are perfectly consistent with “catalog,” now generally used. “Tho” and “altho” have for two years been used by this paper, the Independent, the Homiletic Review, the Missionary Review, and others. And now is it not consistent to drop from “thorough” the “ugh” when “thoro” truly spells the thought? “Thorofare” logically follows. The same is true of “through.” Why retain “ogh” when t-h-r-u spells the word so plainly? We know that certain humorists depend on bad spelling to make their humor effective, and such sometimes spell “through” t-h-r-u. But that is no reason why we should reject a good thing. The new spelling saves time. In the new way, the eleven words quoted above use fewer letters by twenty-eight than the old way, and the words are plainer. One frequently hears those of limited educational advantages confound “though,” and “through,” and “thorough;” why not make it easier by “tho,” and “thru,” and “thoro”? There are other spelling reforms as consistent as these, but we do not wish to bear too heavily upon the traditions of our fathers.