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

Aidan Kehoe <kehoea@parhasard.net> wrote or quoted:

And you don’t mention the upside of the reform, which was
more internal consistency regarding whether a double or a
single consonant should be written after a short vowel (where
diphthongs are regarded as long vowels).

  Yes, its appears to be an upside until you take note of the fact
  that native pupils did nearly not make any errors with the old
  system but make many errors with the new, as Marx has observed.

  This is the difference between thinking in a model and measuring:

  People found out that in vitro vitamin E is an antioxidant,
  so they recommended it as a supplement. It's "logical"
  that it should be helpful. What happened next? Quote:

|Cancer: The Popular Vitamin Linked To 91% Higher Risk Of Disease

  . This is the difference between thinking in a model and
  measuring what happens. Now most people have stopped taking
  high doses of vitamin E.

  They still require that you use the new spelling rules in
  schools, though; they are just so "logical" it can't be that
  there are more errors now!