Re: [Groff] Spelling [was Possible Bug in s.tmac]

[Clarke Echols]

Pity the poor bloke who has to learn English, whether American or
British English.  Consider the simple letters "ough", then add and
delete a few other letters before and after then try to attach any
reasonable logic to the pronunciation for someone who speaks
any other language from childhood:

         tough
         trough
         through
         though

Danish is very difficult for an American to master (I did),
but it's nothing in comparison with English pronunciations.
Of course that shouldn't be surprising because English is
little more than a hodge-podge of words from the languages of
the conquerors over centuries -- German, French, Latin, et al.
It's redeeming virtue is its unparalleled flexibility for adding
new words such as transistor, softkey, and other technical
terms.

Clarke

Keith Marshall wrote:
> 
> Wow!!!
> 
> I certainly sparked off a fair bit of discussion over this one -- especially
> since I, myself, didn't consider it to be especially important.
> 
> I was just surprised at the prevalence of American English spelling in groff
> documentation, considering that James Clark was born in London (England),
> and is a graduate of Oxford University (one of England's finest, and most
> famous).  However, IMO consistency should be considered more important, at
> least within each individual document, than any dogmatic argument over which
> form is 'correct'.
> 
> Best regards,
> Keith.
> 
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