2 Miles Walker, The History of English Spelling 



Now we find among educated people a prevailing idea that 

 this irregular spelling is in some way justifiable. Many 

 think that the exact spelling of a word as we now have 

 it connects it in some mysterious way with its past, and that 

 to alter a single letter would be to commit an unforgivable 

 sin against the traditions of our race. To spell scythe without 

 a "c," for instance, is not only (in their opinion) to show 

 ourselves blind to the beauties of our language and the glories 

 of our past, but to put ourselves on the level with the most 

 vulgar hooligan. 



This belief in the sacredness of spelling is the outcome of 

 our education under the direction of masters and mistresses 1 

 of limited outlook. We can all remember the religious rite 

 known as a dictation lesson. A long file of boys or girls take 

 their places around the high priest, who reads from a book 

 passages specially chosen on account of the difficulty of the 

 spelling or the double meaning of the words. After the 

 oration comes the examination, and woeful disgrace to any 

 novice who shall have fallen into one of the pitfalls. It is 

 that feeling of disgrace which our teachers tried to make us 

 feel in those early days that haunts us through life and gives us 

 such a respect for the sacredness of spelling. In fact, the 

 subject of orthography is such a big one in our schools, and 

 such a difficult one, that many schoolmasters to-day consider 

 that if they have succeeded in teaching their scholars to spell 

 really well they have almost discharged their whole duty, 

 even if the other knowledge imparted is of the most 

 meagre character. We know people of so-called culture 

 whose fine knowledge of English spelling looms so large 

 in the make up of their education that they have little 

 else to differentiate them from persons of little education. It 

 is this aristocracy of English orthography that is so opposed 

 to any change. The thought is perhaps not expressed, but 

 it is nevertheless there in the background. " What ! take 

 away from me my spelling ? Why, what should I have left !" 

 And so it is necessary to find all sorts of justifications for the 

 spelling as it is, — anything to satisfy the conscience and keep 

 the old system alive. 



The main object of this paper is to strike at the root 

 of this belief in the sacredness of our present spelling. 

 I hope to demonstrate that the words that are difficult to 

 spell are wrong. Wrong, for the most part, for two reasons : 

 first, because in most of them the irregular spelling 



1. It is a good sign that many masters and mistresses are now in favour of 

 spelling reform. 



