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: &lsquo;aw&rsquo; (thought), &lsquo;ow&rsquo; (drought), &lsquo;uff&rsquo; (tough), &lsquo;off&rsquo; (cough), &lsquo;oo&rsquo; (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&nbsp;thru&nbsp;instead of&nbsp;through, tho&nbsp;for&nbsp;though, laf&nbsp;for&nbsp;laugh&nbsp;(and tried futilely to get everyone around them to do it too).&nbsp; This began with the &ldquo;simplified spelling movement&rdquo; 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&nbsp;color&nbsp;(without a&nbsp;U),&nbsp;plow&nbsp;(without&nbsp;-ugh), and the iconic &rsquo;90s ballad &ldquo;Nothing Compares 2 U.&rdquo; To explore this history is today&rsquo;s guest, Gabe Henry, author of &ldquo;Enough&nbsp;is Enuf, <a href="https://www.harpercollins.com/products/enough-is-enuf-gabe-henry?variant=43016542715938">Our Failed Attempts to Make English Easier to Spell</a>.&rdquo; &nbsp;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.See <a href="https://omnystudio.com/listener">omnystudio.com/listener</a> for privacy information.

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