Word: ghoti
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...four most commonly used words in English (the, of, and, to) economically get by with just one symbol each ( ? , f , , -I,). Logically, too, the new alphabet does away with Shaw's own favorite example of the phonetic madness of the present alphabet, the fact that phonetically "ghoti" spells "fish."* In Shaw-Read, "fish" is clearly J , i and "ghoti" is forever ? o -I « . All this is not likely to compensate new readers for the strange look of the new letters. Because Shaw insisted on discarding all familiar alphabetical symbols, the new alphabet writing, massed on a page, resembles...
...Standard felt constrained to point out that "spelling reform is supported by many of the leading intelligence of the country." One of these, of course, was G. B. Shaw, who long ago had pointed out that under the present system the word "fish" might just as well be spelled GHOTI; GH as in enough, O as in women, TI as in nation. GH-O-TI = fish...
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