[Ads-l] The Standard Phonographic Dictionary

[Ben Zimmer]

On Mon, Jul 20, 2015 at 7:57 PM, Wilson Gray wrote:
>
> An early attempt at a Truespel-like system? Also, the meaning of
> "phonographic," here, is somewhat different from the contemporary meanings.
>
> https://goo.gl/wqHtiH

We can thank Isaac Pitman for that style of "phonography" -- i.e.,
phonetic spelling. It figures in the story of how spelling reformers
(before GB Shaw was even born) came up with the joke that "ghoti"
spells "fish." Here's my 2010 On Language column on the topic:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/27/magazine/27FOB-onlanguage-t.html

And earlier on Language Log:

http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=81

--bgz

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org