Enough is Enuf, Our Failed Attempts to Make English Easier to Spell

History Unplugged Podcast

History Unplugged

Society & Culture, History

4.2 • 3.7K Ratings

🗓️ 18 March 2025

⏱️ 44 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

No language is as inconsistent in spelling and pronunciation as English. Kernel and colonel rhyme, but read changes based on past or present tense. Ough has many pronunciations: ‘aw’ (thought), ‘ow’ (drought), ‘uff’ (tough), ‘off’ (cough), ‘oo’ (through). In response to this orthographic minefield, legions of rebel wordsmiths have died on the hill of spelling reform, risking their reputations to bring English into the realm of the rational: Mark Twain, Ben Franklin, Eliza Burnz, C. S. Lewis, George Bernard Shaw, Charles Darwin, and the innumerable others on both sides of the Atlantic who, for a time in their life, became fanatically occupied with writing thru instead of through, tho for though, laf for laugh (and tried futilely to get everyone around them to do it too).

This began with the “simplified spelling movement” starting with medieval England and continuing to Revolutionary America, from the birth of standup comedy to contemporary pop music, and lasting influence can still be seen in words like color (without a U), plow (without -ugh), and the iconic ’90s ballad “Nothing Compares 2 U.”

To explore this history is today’s guest, Gabe Henry, author of “Enough is Enuf, Our Failed Attempts to Make English Easier to Spell.” We look at the past and present of the digital age, where the swift pace of online exchanges (from emojis to social media) now pushes us all 2ward simplification. Simplified spelling may, at last, be having its day.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Scott here with another episode of the History and Plug podcast.
0:08.0	English has some of the strangest spelling of any language. New and so don't write.
0:12.7	Tough, thought, cough, through, and though, look like they should rhyme, but thanks to the
0:17.1	highly irregular consonant cluster, O-U-G-H, that's not the case at all.
0:25.4	Native speakers take this for granted, but most languages simply don't work this way.
0:31.8	In many languages, one letter corresponds to one sound, and something like a spelling bee in a language such as Turkish would be complete nonsense.
0:34.9	Because just by hearing a word, you would know exactly how it's spelled.
0:38.0	Why is English this way, and why hasn't it changed?
0:43.4	It's not for a lack of trying. Everyone from Benjamin Franklin to Webster, the eponymous author of his dictionary, have tried to change and standardize English. But every time they failed,
0:47.9	because when they made up their own system of spelling, it looked like the production of a 10-year-old
0:51.9	who'd never been to school. In today's episode, we're going to look at the history of the simplified spelling movement,
0:57.1	chat its origins in medieval England, really took root in the 19th century,
1:01.0	and less than throughout the 20th century,
1:02.7	as everyone tried but failed to reform English fundamentally and make it easier to spell.
1:07.7	We're joined by Gabe Henry, author of Enough is Enough,
1:10.2	or failed attempts to make English easier to spell. We're joined by Gabe Henry, author of Enough is Enough, or failed attempts to make
1:11.1	English easier to spell, and we look at why these efforts failed with English, but how
1:14.5	with many other languages around the world, these efforts were wildly successful.
1:19.5	Hope you enjoyed this discussion.
1:23.5	And one more thing before we get started with this episode, a quick break for a word from our
1:27.2	sponsors.
1:28.5	Caring for someone with dementia is one of the toughest journeys, but you don't have to do it alone.
	...

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