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

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

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:

  Another example are low-calorie sweeteners. It is "logical"
  that they will reduce diabetes and weight gain as they do
  not contain the calories of sugar. But measuring:

|Low calorie sweeteners are supposed to help people lose
|weight, but they are actually contributing to type 2 diabetes
|and weight gain, a review of different studies reveals.
...
|Although it is not clear why, artificially sweetened
|beverages have been shown to increase the risk of
|cardiovascular disease, stroke, dementia, and death.

  But the spelling rules used in school are not even simpler
  in "theory", as I will explain now:

  The decision diagram for an /s/ sound at the end of a syllable
  to be used in schools today looks like this:

  1.) Does the word end in "-s"? ("Aas", "Bus", ...)
  2.) If not: Does the word end in "-ß"? ("Fraß")
  3.) If neither 1 nor 2, then it must end in "-ss" ("muss").

  For the decision "1.)", there is no rule. One needs to memorize
  the spellings of the words. For the decision "2.)", the length
  of the preceding vowel can be used. If it's long, then one
  writes "ß". This might seem to be easy, until one compares it
  with the decision process in the traditional spelling, which is:

  1.) Does the word end in "-s"? ("As", "Bus", ...)
  2.) If not, then it must end in "-ß".

  For "1.)" the above applies. But instead of the decision "2.)"
  based on the vowel length, the traditional spelling requires no
  decision at all, because in the traditional spelling a German
  word never ends in "-ss"!