08-22-2008, 12:15 PM
Some ten years ago, there was a spelling reform in Germany, and the ß was -if I understand it correctly- sort of abandoned. If I have understood it correctly, many people felt that this reform was not an improvement, and the character is still in use.
If I write a text, I do not want the reader to be distracted, so I spell words in such a fashion that they do not irritate people. What will cause less distraction: Strasse or Straße? (Etc.)
(The problem of a spelling law that is not generally accepted, BTW, is not unique; the spelling reform of the Dutch language in 1994 resulted in a terrible dictionary that proved that the Dutch and Flemish governments could not explain their own rules. Which is especially problematic for ancient historians, as the word oudhistoricus was not included in the list, so that people started to write it as oud-historicus, which means "former historian". Another blunder was that supernatural beings like God and Christ had to be written with a capital, and the list said Messiah - which is offensive to Jews, who do not believe that the messiah is the Second Person of the Holy Trinity - the Talmud is quite explicit that Bar Kochba as a human being. I should add that the Dutch gov't can not even explain its own fiscal laws.)
If I write a text, I do not want the reader to be distracted, so I spell words in such a fashion that they do not irritate people. What will cause less distraction: Strasse or Straße? (Etc.)
(The problem of a spelling law that is not generally accepted, BTW, is not unique; the spelling reform of the Dutch language in 1994 resulted in a terrible dictionary that proved that the Dutch and Flemish governments could not explain their own rules. Which is especially problematic for ancient historians, as the word oudhistoricus was not included in the list, so that people started to write it as oud-historicus, which means "former historian". Another blunder was that supernatural beings like God and Christ had to be written with a capital, and the list said Messiah - which is offensive to Jews, who do not believe that the messiah is the Second Person of the Holy Trinity - the Talmud is quite explicit that Bar Kochba as a human being. I should add that the Dutch gov't can not even explain its own fiscal laws.)
