On
my soul, now, Andrew C.,
Better
known as “Carnagee”,
Yew
who would our spellin’ change
To
a simple way an’ strange,
I
jest want a word or tew
On
this subject here with yew.
I
jest wanter tell yew straight
Yew
are jest a bit tew late;
This
here spellin’, don’t yew know,
That’s
a troublin’ on yew so,
Won’t
be changed no more tur please
Colleges
nur Carnagees;
It’s
already changed, me lord,
An’
I don’t ask no reward;
I
hev changed it long ago,
To
the way she’d orter flow,
Ez
yew’ll see ef yew should read
This
here modest little screed.
All
the scholars, I expect,
Soon
will use this dialect.
March
16, ‘06
“The Simplified Spelling Board was an American organization created in 1906 to reform the spelling of the English language, making it simpler and easier to learn, and eliminating many of what were considered to be its inconsistencies. The board operated until 1920, the year after the death of its founding benefactor (Andrew Carnegie), who had come to criticize the progress and approach of the organization.”
“The Simplified Spelling Board was announced on March 11, 1906, with Andrew Carnegie funding the organization, to be headquartered in New York City. The New York Times noted that Carnegie was convinced that "English might be made the world language of the future" and an influence leading to universal peace, but that this role was obstructed by its "contradictory and difficult spelling".[1] Carnegie committed $15,000 (1906 dollars – over $350,000 in 2010 dollars) per year for five years to get the organization off the ground”
“The board's initial list of 300 words was published on April 1, 1906. Much of the list included words ending with -ed changed to end -t ("addressed", "caressed", "missed", "possessed" and "wished", becoming "addresst", "carest", "mist", "possest" and "wisht", respectively). Other changes included removal of silent letters ("catalogue" to "catalog"), changing -re endings to -er ("calibre" and "sabre" to "caliber" and "saber"), changing "ough" to "o" to represent the long vowel sound in the new words altho, tho and thoro, and changes to represent the "z" sound with that letter, where "s" had been used ("brasen" and "surprise" becoming "brazen" and "surprize").[9] Digraphs would also be eliminated, with the board promoting anemia, anesthesia, archeology, encyclopedia and orthopedic.”
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