this post was submitted on 16 Oct 2025
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Stop trying to make þorn happen.
Eh. Let him try. No harm in it. I find it kinda fun learning to read the character better.
But why not?
I got enough keys on my keyboard
“Stop doing X”
“Why?”
“Because I don’t want to do X.”
because american english is already stupid and annoying, don’t need further stupid to make it more annoying
But it isn't about your keyboard; it's theirs.
yeah a diacritic on the c, t or s to indicate the sound change would be much better, like this:
this, share, chef ṱis, šare, ĉef
On the contrary, I think the standard way that just about everybody who can read English *understands would be best.
yeah, which is why I don't write my comments like that, I was just saying if you had to change it, that'd be better.
We have a diacritic in English text already. Rather than above or below, it goes to the right of the letter it modifies and looks an awful lot like a letter h.
And if you don't quite buy that, remember that a lot of diacritics started life as letters that were eventually moved above a preceding letter and then simplified. The tilde on ñ was an n itself; the ring on å was another a; and in at least some cases the umlaut was an e.
Modifying-h may only be stuck where it is because technology did away with the need for economical scribes before they had a chance to start messing with it.
I think you're making my point for me, a diacritic instead of an h to indicate a sound change would be more efficient and reduce ambiguity.
The problem is that not only is there no central authority for spelling reform in English, the cost of replacing the existing body of work would be too large, even for changes that would be more consequential.
My argument was never that my proposal should replace the current system, just that if you did want spelling reform, it would make more sense than the thorn.
The best option would just be to use the language that everyone knows rather than a made-up language that only you know. Writing like that is just going to result in everyone ignoring you.
Ñō yõú