Re: Amerikan Speeling

From: Jeff Richard <richaje_at_xjZQS4lvTU3u4RrfTWje2bquva90K-FhYxgH9OJ8i5xOW2rS58w3vCgA8lm0cNTe9q1x>
Date: Thu, 07 Apr 2005 00:25:48 -0000

> American Spelling? A mere shibboleth of linguistic nationalism,
and an
> early (successful) example of the American soviet's social
engineering in
> action. That smug little plagiarist and failed lawyer Noah Webster
didn't
> base his American Dictionary on real people, real speech or
spelling as it
> was wrote of course, (at least the bits he didn't steal) but on a
a deep,
> deep need to be different from the Brits.

An understandable need - Webster published his first dictionary in 1805, during the period when many leaders (ironically, not including George Washington) were seeking to accentuate cultural differences between the newly independent United States and the British (a political trend which ultimately led to the pointless War of 1812).

> So every time I see 'color', 'lite', 'armor' or gasp, 'organize' I
think of
> Stalin. (And reach for my Oxford).

Soory, Webster predates the OED. You *should* be reaching for your Johnson.

>It defined 'Democrat' as a "a person who attempts an undue
> opposition or influence over government by means of private clubs,
secret
> intrigues, or by public popular meetings which are extraneous to
the
> Constitution". A Republican, by contrast, was a "[friend] of our
> representative Governments."

Unlikely. Webster was initally an active Federalist and much later a supporter of Democrat Andrew Jackson. Presumably as a former Federalist he was not a fan of the Democratic-Republicans of Thomas Jefferson. He died more than a decade before the Republican party came into existence.

Jeff            

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