[photo credit: Pasadena Library]
On September 17, the Pasadena Public Library will host Henry for a virtual discussion about “Enough is Enuf: Our Failed Attempts to Make English Eezier to Spell.”
The numbers reveal English’s spelling nightmare: “English comprises 44 sounds but only 26 letters, and each sound has, on average, four different spellings,” Henry explains.
This mathematical impossibility stems from English’s violent origins.
“For hundreds of years, England was pummeled by invaders. Over and over again, the Romans who spoke Latin, the Vikings who spoke Norse, the Germans, the French, and then over the centuries, all these languages merged and mingled into this messy hodgepodge that we all lovingly call English,” Henry said in a television interview.
Published by HarperCollins/Dey Street Books on April 15, Henry’s book chronicles centuries of failed spelling reform attempts.
“The great irony that for hundreds of years, these spelling reformers were pushing their simplifications upon the public, right? Trying to implement them from the top down, get them into schools, but to very little success, almost no success. But now, when left alone, the language seems to be naturally simplifying to meet the needs of our faster paced, more modern society,” Henry observed.
Henry, author of three books and contributor to TIME, New York Magazine, and The New Yorker, brings both scholarly insight and humor to this linguistic puzzle.
Author Talk: Gabe Henry: “Our Failed Attempts to Make English Eezier to Spell” will run on Wednesday, September 17, at 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Virtual event hosted by the Pasadena Public Library. For more call (626) 744-4066 or visit https://www.cityofpasadena.net/library/?trumbaEmbed=view%3Devent%26eventid%3D185309148. Tickets: Free.
