Why it’s so hard to fix maddening spelling systems
Those who have mastered the old ones hold all the power
“KEEPING SCHOOLS closed has DEVESTATING effects” on children, America’s Republican Party tweeted from its official account, before hastily deleting the post amid mockery. It’s not just American conservatives who stumble with their spelling even when writing about education. Replying to a parliamentary query, the head of the schools inspectorate in Spain’s Balearic Islands misspelled “recoge” (“to collect”, among other things) as “recoje”.
This article appeared in the Culture section of the print edition under the headline “Tough stuff”
From the April 10th 2021 edition
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