Soop vs. Soup - Merriam-Webster Ask the Editor

[SgtAnWulf]

Tung was too "radical" lol ... I'v alreddy started using it and I'v started dropping the silent 'e' when the inside vowel is short ... hav, giv, indefinit, productiv, asf. Wimmen is good ... and soop is better than soup ... the 'ou' should be for the 'ow' sound as in house. That means yu, grupe, asf. Oh yea ... altho, tho, and thru are in my wordstock and I'v added enuff as well!

[thatusernameisunavai]

WIMMENS!!!

[GoldenChildBH]

Me and Webster are on the same page lol. Wimmen. Tung. So much easier. This was interesting.

[matprithellodave]

@GoldenChildBH * Webster and I are on the same page. hahaha

[kwaters22]

Wimmen - Respect. that one should have been passed.

[Netugi]

@kwaters22 Yes.

[odderanswer]

Or was it all just a publicity stunt to sell his books?

[connyluckirby9]

I would like to have our language be phonetic.

[DariusTheGladiator]

try to say this: W Szczebrzeszynie chrząszcz brzmi w trzcinie

I Szczebrzeszyn z tego słynie, że wy cepy w amjeryce tylko w głowach macie bicie.

Polish ROX biczys!

[mxwp]

you forgot to mention dewey (or dui, as how he spelled it)

[xiho]

Pozdrowienia z kraju przodków panie Sokołowski :)

[loginlover]

this is interesting, now I can argue that me writing in shorthand is actually an exercise of historical value by way of Noah Merriam-Webster

[Kitt0000]

How is it justified that chopin is said as show-pan.

[sk8rked]

Grey & Gray

[yarahahrwe]

we change 'colour' to 'color' right away yet to this day use imperial units. weak.

[imjodanc]

tis inglish luks like yuar traing to wrait inglish wit spanish fonetics.

[muglecruzle]

i like me some wimmin :]

[SpectreFTL]

Webster -- the REAL origins of "wimmenz"

[HighWarlordJC]

Thank you editor-at-large, and an even bigger thank you to Webster RIP bro.

[ChaoYun]

Is it me or does this guy draw a strong resemblance to John Malkovich?

[DL305]

where are all the wimmenz

[RMcDChannel]

Unless the whole language is phonetic (or even the majority) I don't see much point in changing words to be phonetic.

[zeppelin0110]

I disagree with the changes. I think that fracturing the English language in small ways like that is counter-productive.

On the other hand, I'd be in favor of a much more comprehensive simplification of the language. Anything else is just creating needless confusion across different English-speaking nations.

[DelvarWorld]

Webster was awesome, I had no idea! British English is such an awful language, I'm happy that he spoke out against it.

[VoidOnTuesday]

I grew up in the USA and I've always spelled colour and blonde the way they were supposed to be spelled.

[tigmic]

Noah Webster: the man who invented text-speak

[dunnowhathuh]

I can understand Webster's passion at the time but it sort of annoys me that nowadays some Americans expect the rest of the world to use American english. Some aren't even aware another version of english exists. In a practical sense, everything should be standardised to reduce confusion though I don't think Webster ever expected the world to be so integrated as it is today.

[ilobdell]

Totally going to start spelling like that.

[captseaton]

WEER ALL THE WITE WIMMEN AT?!?!?

[MrTobyck]

his voice is much like Mac OS X's "Alex"

[Yorunai]

And that's why I use British English spelling.

[parradise1]

neato.

[Kravennn]

STOP LOOKING AT ME

[milkshaker74]

The big question is why do Americans say ERB when it's spelled and Pronounced by the rest of Western civilisation as HERB?

[semajfish27]

isn't center and centre 2 completely different things anyway? just sayin' ;)

[StrawB0ss]

history is fun but i subscribed to learn new words. the videos about rarely used words like "penultimate" are my favorites.

[PJtheFey]

... also... Is it me or did he pioneer "leet" speak? "Dood R U for reel? I want sum soop!"

[mistaspot1]

@PJtheFey It may seem like that, but the Norman conquest of England really messed up the English language. He was just trying to fix it.

[PJtheFey]

The colloquial term "According to Webster..." suddenly carries a lot more authority.

[joshuasegall]

Fascinating. I always assumed the spelling differences were just some kind of natural drift, not a conscious effort, by Webster no less! I love these videos. They really bring the English language to life and I learn something new each time. 

[yasmondi]

it was him then wow

[mostlyharmless11]

The internet seems to be changing and vernacularizing language more than a lot of things in the past

[tubadame]

RADICAL SPELLING CHANGES, DUDE!

[JonKyu]

Even though I'm not well at English. I really do enjoy these videos. ;-)

[sdabrucelee]

EDITOR-AT-LARGE

I want to be something-at-large.

[HighWarlordJC]

@sdabrucelee Gain a few pounds. You'll always be at-large.

[terryfromde]

@sdabrucelee don't show up for court and you will be "at large"

[B00Cwis]

Now I feel glad he didn't change all of those, but if he DID then I guess it wouldn't be odd in the first place...

[tubester4567]

Very interesting, I asked about this in a previous video. I'm glad they didnt change the language too much in the end. If every English speaking country had their own spelling it would be confusing in the internet age.

[tjagad15h]

@tubester4567 We already have a lot of changes to spellings coming from text messages and emails. Shortening of english words has been happening for a long time now.

[tubester4567]

@tjagad15h Ok....but i think this is more about American English spelling, not about shortening words. Like Realise/Realize, Centre/Center, Mum/Mom etc.