Word for the wise ©
With N, we have passed the mid-way point in the alphabet in our Word for the wise © series. It's downhill (!) from here.
nite is proof that the goal of phonetic English spelling did not go to the grave with the great American lexicographer Noah Webster. It was Webster who began hacking away at the silent consonants of English and this work has given us "thruway" instead of "throughway" and "lite" instead of "light". Through (thru?) its association with "niteclubs" and "nitelife", the word "nite" suggests excitement after dark. Boring old "night" cannot compete with that. Other innovations include "donut", "pak" and "kreem". Is this illiteralism? Is this a recipe for orthographical mayhem? Dr Johnson noted that English spelling was "unsettled and fortuitous" and so it continues to be. Note that "fortuitous" means accidental or by chance and should not be confused with "fortunate". A fortuitous occurrence may or may not be a fortunate one.
Next week, we are at "O". The candidates include "oligarchy" and "ordinary".
