It is time to make the web the final arbiter of spelling. The Democratic Dictionary is one which trawls the net, looking for words and adding votes to each of the common (mis)spellings.
Pure Democrazy. By the wwweb. By the www. For those who use the web.-- neelandan, Mar 05 2005 Google Fight http://www.googlefight.com/# [nuclear hobo, Apr 13 2007] I did this the other day, using Google to see whether “butt naked” was preferred over the less visual but pedantically correct “buck naked.” Employing the same procedure, one could eliminate all of those British misspellings, like colour, prise, centre. (by 5 to 1, 36 to 1, and 5 to 1, the Brits lose.)-- ldischler, Mar 05 2005 Would things like "irregardless" be banished by this system?
I think I'd like ldischler's idiom version, though I'm afraid that "I could care less" would win out. I hear and see "all the sudden" a lot and I always thought it was "all of a sudden".
At least with this system I'd know whether I was right or the majority of the world was wrong.-- half, Mar 05 2005 regardless/irregardless = 156Regardless wins, irregardless.-- ldischler, Mar 05 2005 In America, still not respected by most linguists, a new language has arisen some time ago, with roots even further back: ebonics. Now that it has a name and with it some credit it becomes clear that in this language it is possible to express yourself just as with any other language, wether it has to do with your feelings or your thoughts, all things can be said just as profound.
People at airports, flightcontrolers, groundstewards, etc, and the pilots and captains speak english all over the world, even the french! But really they do not speak proper english, just a flawed version that gets the idea across the same.
Also I'm reminded of "pigeonspeak". And really, linguistics is never prescriptive but allways descriptive. Which means that if everybody says it wrong, this wrong becomes the new right, over time.
Also on the internet a new language is forming in much the same way this idea describes. I love language and its changes. With todays science being so overwhelmingly accurate some have said that the only subject for philosophy is language. Anyway, I bun this idea big time!
Perhaps our new language could be called Webspeak, or Intertalk?-- zeno, Mar 06 2005 When you say "pigeonspeak", do you mean pidgin? Or are you referring to our improper command of the avian vocabulary?-- GutPunchLullabies, Apr 13 2007 I'm terrified this might happen. [-] needs must.-- theleopard, Apr 13 2007 Some say meaning is use. That's heinous.
But this doesn't take into those who do not use the internet! (Many of which are more articulate and learned than the majority who do use the internet).
I don't want to live in a world of funettick spelling. Ugh.-- Night, Apr 13 2007 Webspeak 58,700. Intertalk 41,300 [link]
Whatever you do, don't try U.S. vs. Iraq.-- nuclear hobo, Apr 13 2007 Why limit this to something as trivial as spelling?
Think of the advancements that could be made in other fields by means of this approach: evolution is bunk, there's a dead alien in Area 52, and millions of Nigerian oil ministers are giving away huge sums of money.-- MaxwellBuchanan, Apr 14 2007 As one of those Brits with our misspellings, I object to any attempt to remove our Queen's english from the language. The idea of our english being correct comforts me in a Post-Empire world.-- Germanicus, Apr 15 2007 That from a fellow named Germanicus! Still, you might have had a point if the Brits hadn't frenchified their measurement systems.-- ldischler, Apr 15 2007 George Orwell-- pertinax, Apr 16 2007 Dont dictionaries already do this by observing actual usage and either adding, adjusting or deleting words on an annual basis to reflect the change in real world word usage.
As to mis-spelling words that is a different kettle of fish. If you spell a word incorrectly it is different than a new word evolving.
Perhaps the author of the idea would be so kind as to enlighten us to some words in which the correct spelling is in question as I am aware of very few of them.-- jhomrighaus, Apr 16 2007 "It is time to make the web the final arbiter of spelling. "
Oh no it f*cking isn't - any more than it's time to make the web the final arbiter of whether porn should be accessible to everyone.-- Murdoch, Apr 17 2007 // Oh no it f*cking isn't - any more than it's time to make the web the final arbiter of whether porn should be accessible to everyone.//
sp:pr0n-- gnomethang, Apr 17 2007 Eh?-- Murdoch, Apr 18 2007 No doubt such a function is a ratio between goodness of show and distractingness of stopper.
hmm, only 73 hits for "distractingness". But one is very funny and involves Scarlett Johanssen's lips, a photoshopped Klimpt painting, and a poem.-- bungston, Apr 18 2007 random, halfbakery