"Mark Twain. A simplified alphabet (англ.)" - читать интересную книгу автора

and lasting, and real reform for him but to take away his whiskey entirely,
and fill up his jug with Pitman's wholesome and undiseased alphabet.

One great drawback to Simplified Spelling is, that in print a
simplified word looks so like the very nation! and when you bunch a whole
squadron of the Simplified together the spectacle is very nearly
unendurable.

The da ma ov koars kum when the publik ma be expektd to get rekonsyled
to the bezair asspekt of the Simplified Kombynashuns, but--if I may be
allowed the expression--is it worth the wasted time? [Figure 7]

To see our letters put together in ways to which we are not accustomed
offends the eye, and also takes the EXPRESSION out of the words.

La on, Makduf, and damd be he hoo furst krys hold, enuf!

It doesn't thrill you as it used to do. The simplifications have sucked
the thrill all out of it.

But a written character with which we are NOT ACQUAINTED does not
offend us--Greek, Hebrew, Russian, Arabic, and the others--they have an
interesting look, and we see beauty in them, too. And this is true of
hieroglyphics, as well. There is something pleasant and engaging about the
mathematical signs when we do not understand them. The mystery hidden in
these things has a fascination for us: we can't come across a printed page
of shorthand without being impressed by it and wishing we could read it.

Very well, what I am offering for acceptance and adopting is not
shorthand, but longhand, written with the SHORTHAND ALPHABET UNREACHED. You
can write three times as many words in a minute with it as you can write
with our alphabet. And so, in a way, it IS properly a shorthand. It has a
pleasant look, too; a beguiling look, an inviting look. I will write
something in it, in my rude and untaught way: [Figure 8]

Even when _I_ do it it comes out prettier than it does in Simplified
Spelling. Yes, and in the Simplified it costs one hundred and twenty-three
pen-strokes to write it, whereas in the phonographic it costs only
twenty-nine.

[Figure 9] is probably [Figure 10].

Let us hope so, anyway.

See also
http://www.pnx.com/gator/spel-links.htm
http://marktwain.miningco.com/arts/marktwain/library/speeches/bl_spelling.htm
Last-modified: Wed, 14 Jun 2000 09:48:02 GMT

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