Re: Jonathan Swift published a proposal to regulate English (22-2-1712)

ram@zedat.fu-berlin.de (Stefan Ram) wrote or quoted:

The spellings imposed on people in schools today have /three/

  The word written "Meßſtelle" 100 years ago, in the schools
  today is spelled "Messstelle" with three "s". The "ß" clearly
  marked the end of a syllable, and "ſ" the beginning of a new
  syllable, even though both share the same pronunciation.

  A "Messer" is a knife, and "Meß-" means "related to a measurement".
  A "Meßergebnis" is a "measurement result". Today, in the schools, it
  has to be written "Messergebnis". The ending of the syllable is not
  marked anymore and starting to read it, a knife might come to mind.

  (Also note the /s/ sound at the ending of "Meßergebnis" which follows
  a short /i/ sound and is spelled "s".)