Word: alphabetics
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...huge joke," he once complained. "It's the most serious proposal of my life." His will proved that he meant what he said: aside from some personal bequests, the bulk of his estate was to go into a charitable trust to finance the design of a new phonetic alphabet for the English-speaking people. But just in case the courts might throw out such a trust, Shaw named three alternate beneficiaries who would divide his money between them: the British Museum, the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and the National Gallery of Ireland in Dublin...
...week in royalties, has paid the death duty, upped the estate's value to $2,000,000. By last month so much money was involved that Britain's Public Trustee Office decided to test the will in court. Was the rewriting of the alphabet really a legitimate charity? The attorney general said yes; the British Museum, Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and National Gallery of Ireland said...
...arguing the case, the attorney general did his best for Shaw's frustrated crusade. To G.B.S. "Dr. Johnson's Alphabet" of 26 letters was as obsolete as Roman numerals. What was needed, he insisted, was an alphabet large enough to cover all the language's 40-odd basic sounds. Such absurdities as having f, ff, gh and ph represent one single sound would be eliminated. Phone could be spelt with three letters, Shaw with only two. "The saving," said Shaw, "would pay for half a dozen wars, if we could find nothing better to spend...
...illness, made himself a master novelist. It is all true. Jean- Aubry, who spent 20 years writing this book, fills in the blank spaces in the legend and makes the incredible seem necessary and inevitable. Although stiffly translated from the French, the book succeeds in spelling out the alphabet of an artist's language from his first to last sentence...
Students with names starting with A through I may register between 1 and 3 p.m., while those in the last half of the alphabet will have their turn from 3 to 4 p.m. There will be joint registration for latecomers between 4 and 5 p.m. Only "Acts of God" will excuse students from paying the $10 fine for late registration, according to Registrar Sargent Kennedy...