Enough is Enuf: Why Isn’t English Easier To Spell? Smithsonian Associate Gabe Henry

The Not Old - Better Show

Paul Vogelzang

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5 • 1.8K Ratings

🗓️ 21 March 2025

⏱️ 31 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Enough is Enuf: Why Isn’t English Easier To Spell? Smithsonian Associate Gabe Henry

THE NOT OLD BETTER SHOW, SMITHSONIAN ASSOCIATES INTERVIEW SERIES

📚 Ever wondered why English spelling makes no sense? 🤯 Why does G in George sound different from G in gorge? And why are we still spelling enough like that?!

Author Gabe Henry joins The Not Old Better Show to unravel 500 years of failed spelling reform. From Twain to texting, is change finally here? 🔡✨ Listen now! 🎧👇

🔗 https://apple.co/3FAbebT

Welcome to The Not Old Better Show, Smithsonian Associates Interview Series. I’m your host, Paul Vogelzang, and today, we’re diving into the wonderfully chaotic, utterly confusing, and downright hilarious world of English spelling. Why does the G in George sound different from the G in gorge? Why does C begin both case and cease? And seriously—why is enough spelled like that?

Our guest today, Smithsonian Associate and author Gabe Henry, has spent over a decade unraveling the twisted history of English spelling reform. Smithsonian Associate Gabe Henry will be appearing at Smithsonian Associates coming up and the title of his presentation there is Enough is Enuf: Why Isn’t English Easier To Spell? Please check out our show notes today for more information about Smithsonian Associate Gabe Henry at Smithsonian Associates. But we have Gabe Henry today to tell us a little about it all including his new book, avialable at Apple books, Enough is Enuf: Our Failed Attempts to Make English Easier to Spell, takes us through 500 years of determined—yet doomed—efforts to straighten out our language. From Mark Twain and Ben Franklin to C.S. Lewis and George Bernard Shaw, some of history’s greatest minds have fought to make English more logical…and lost.

But here’s the twist—what spelling reformers couldn’t do, technology just might. Thanks to texting, social media, and emojis, English may finally be simplifying itself. So, are we witnessing a long-overdue spelling revolution? Or is this just another chapter in the ongoing saga of linguistic chaos?

Gabe Henry is here to make sense of it all, with plenty of humor along the way. So grab a cup of coffee—or should that be k-o-f-e?—and let’s get into it.

Please welcome to the show, Smithsonian Associate Gabe Henry.

Thanks to our wonderful guest, Smithsonian Associate Gabe Henry for his generous time. Smithsonian Associate Gabe Henry will be appearing at Smithsonian Associates coming up and the title of his presentation there is Enough is Enuf: Why Isn’t English Easier To Spell? Please check out our show notes today for more information about Smithsonian Associate Gabe Henry at Smithsonian Associates. My thanks to the Smithsonian team for all they do to support the show. My thanks to you, our wonderful Smithsonian Associates audience here on radio and podcast. Be well, be safe and Let’s Talk About Better. The Not Old Better Show. Thanks, everybody, and we’ll see you next week.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to the Not Old Better Show, Smithsonian Associates Interview Series on radio and podcast.
0:10.5	The show covering all things health, wellness, culture, and more.
0:14.3	The show for all of us who aren't old, we're better.
0:16.9	Each week, we'll interview superstars, experts, and ordinary people doing extraordinary things,
0:23.2	all related to this wonderful experience of getting better, not just older. Now, here's your host,
0:30.2	the award-winning Paul Vogelzang. Welcome to The Not Old Better Show, Smithsonian Associates
0:37.3	Interview Series. I'm Paul Volgelsang.
0:40.4	And today we're diving into the wonderfully chaotic, utterly confusing, downright, hilarious world of English spelling.
0:51.3	Why does the G in George sound different from the G in G in Gorge? Why does the C
0:58.5	begin both case and C, and seriously, why is enough spelled like that? Our guest today,
1:08.1	Smithsonian Associate and author Gabe Henry has spent over a decade unraveling
1:13.3	the twisted history of English spelling reform. Smithsonian Associate Gabe Henry will be appearing
1:20.2	at Smithsonian Associates. Coming up in the title of his presentation there is, enough is enough.
1:26.3	You've got to check on the spelling of that too, but enough is enough.
1:29.5	Why isn't English easier to spell? Please check out our show notes today for more information
1:34.9	about Smithsonian Associate Gabe Henry at Smithsonian Associates. But we have Gabe Henry today to tell us
1:40.9	a little bit about all of that, including his new book available at Apple Books.
1:45.6	Enough is enough, our failed attempts to make English easier to spell.
1:51.5	It takes us through 500 years of determined yet doomed efforts to straighten out our language from Mark Twain and Ben Franklin to C.S. Lewis and
2:04.5	George Bernard Shaw, some of history's greatest minds have thought to make English more logical.
2:11.3	And they've lost.
2:12.9	But here's the twist.
	...

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