Rhyme of the Day

I want to thank Gennady Stolyarov II.  He has written an eloquent and insightful review of my novel in his online journal, The Rational Argumentator. 

Be forewarned, there are some minor spoilers, and some unconventional spelling - he seems to be on a personal quest to reform English orthography by substituting "f" for "ph".  Oops... make that "orthografy".

There are certain things he does not like in my book, but his overall take is positive, and I really appreciate his understanding of the book's technical aspects.  The things he doesn't like turn on a variety of interesting issues, some ethical, some aesthetic.

Here's my favorite line from his review:

"The ending of the book is also satisfactory, as it leaves no conflict unresolved, and exhibits a sense of poetic justice that is regrettably absent from most contemporary literature."

Yep.  Loose ends tied.
And justice satisfied.

That's my idea of how a book should end.  And it will do for the Rhyme of the Day.

"Ghoti" was a joke of George Bernard Shaw's.

The great playwright did not care for the way English is "properly spelled" (orthography) and was on a campaign to reform it.

So what was "ghoti"?

Shaw claimed it was a legitimate spelling of FISH according to accepted aspects of English spelling. As follows:

GH sounded as F as in rouGH
O sounded as I as in wOmen
TI sounded as SH as in naTIon

so... GH-O-TI = F-I-SH

Cute. Clever. But... fishy.

Rhyme Time:

English spelling was designed 
To destroy the logical mind. 

Actually, English spelling often represents the way a word USED TO BE pronounced. For example, you know all those "silent E's" at the end of words like HORSE? Long ago they were not so silent.   Here's something on the source of WH, PH, and even PS.

Here's a very short article on the basic linguistics of English.  Take notes.  There will be a test tomorrow.