- Location
- Mid-Atlantic
On investigation, I was misremembering about Kadesh.
That said, there would almost inevitably be some casualties during eight years aboard a large ship, if not necessarily anything like the intense personal impact of losing Captain Ajam.
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Secondly, if you're going to advance the argument that silent letters will be "rationalized" out of words (a prediction people have been making since 1800 or so), you might as well portray everyone's written documents in actual, outright chatspeak, with the letter 'u' replacing 'you,' 'b4' for 'before,' and so on. The fact that you have not done so indicates that you are aware that deliberate misspellings tend to be grating on the reader- which is very much the case here with the use of 'thru.'
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Secondly, while English language spelling changed noticeably from 1700 to 1850 or so, it has changed little or not at all since that time. Spelling was fluid prior to the 19th century because of mass illiteracy, not just because of the passage of time.
When the majority of people do not know how to read and write, and spoken English is by far the main form of communication compared to written, it is predictable that most people will spell words however they please. The "standard" for spelling and grammar will be relatively low and forgiving.
Standardized spelling became far, far more common in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, because that was when literacy rates began to approach 100% and written communication became a major form of contact between ordinary people. In a society where the written word is highly important, spelling is ALSO highly important, because undisciplined spelling and grammar are more likely to result in ambiguous messages.
Since there is no evidence for mass illiteracy in the Federation, there is no reason to assume spelling will be more mutable in the 21st, 22nd, or 23rd centuries than it was in the 20th.
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Fourth and finally, if anything I suspect that technology like the infamous 'universal translator' would actually make spelling reforms LESS likely. Because they greatly reduce the burden of learning how to spell or pronounce a language correctly.
Honestly, I don't think it makes more sense to predict that English will have "reformed spelling" to remove silent letters from words in the 24th century, any more than it makes sense to predict that all humans will speak Esperanto.
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That said, there would almost inevitably be some casualties during eight years aboard a large ship, if not necessarily anything like the intense personal impact of losing Captain Ajam.
Sebsmith, for one, you are creating documents for consumption by turn-of-the-millenium readers, even if they are purportedly from the future from a Watsonian perspective. Spelling them the way you think people in the 24th century will spell English is not necessarily a good move.
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Secondly, if you're going to advance the argument that silent letters will be "rationalized" out of words (a prediction people have been making since 1800 or so), you might as well portray everyone's written documents in actual, outright chatspeak, with the letter 'u' replacing 'you,' 'b4' for 'before,' and so on. The fact that you have not done so indicates that you are aware that deliberate misspellings tend to be grating on the reader- which is very much the case here with the use of 'thru.'
...
Secondly, while English language spelling changed noticeably from 1700 to 1850 or so, it has changed little or not at all since that time. Spelling was fluid prior to the 19th century because of mass illiteracy, not just because of the passage of time.
When the majority of people do not know how to read and write, and spoken English is by far the main form of communication compared to written, it is predictable that most people will spell words however they please. The "standard" for spelling and grammar will be relatively low and forgiving.
Standardized spelling became far, far more common in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, because that was when literacy rates began to approach 100% and written communication became a major form of contact between ordinary people. In a society where the written word is highly important, spelling is ALSO highly important, because undisciplined spelling and grammar are more likely to result in ambiguous messages.
Since there is no evidence for mass illiteracy in the Federation, there is no reason to assume spelling will be more mutable in the 21st, 22nd, or 23rd centuries than it was in the 20th.
...
Fourth and finally, if anything I suspect that technology like the infamous 'universal translator' would actually make spelling reforms LESS likely. Because they greatly reduce the burden of learning how to spell or pronounce a language correctly.
Honestly, I don't think it makes more sense to predict that English will have "reformed spelling" to remove silent letters from words in the 24th century, any more than it makes sense to predict that all humans will speak Esperanto.
...
I agree that they are low on our list (assuming these Bajorans have the same government as canon). However, I do think we may still have a very realistic chance of either preventing or shortening the Occupation.I wouldn't count on it.
The Bajoran caste system is likely to prevent them from ever being an affiliate, and they will always be more important to the Cardassians then they are to us. Worse, the unlikely event of getting them to join as an affiliate would probably start a war with the Cardassians. Thus, I have to put them below the Seyek and other close neighbors on lists of non-affiliates to push.
