Mature Life Features

. . . decaffieneated coffee,

how come you can’t get

deiced ice-cream?

= = = = =

‘Tis Good for the

Sole — er, Soul

Get ready to read this aloud to a crowd.

Start simply by pronouncing the word ghoti. Go ahead, say it.

You pronounced the gh as it tough – f – right?

Then the o like in women — i.

And the ti like in national – sh.

You got it right: fish

That’s the peril of this language. Drop a letter and what’s yours is ours. It’s rough, because you add a couple of letters and you’re through.

A simple alphabet change and you cough up your dough.

Are you saying these words out loud?

It was our Spanish teacher who pointed out Sir Winston Churchill’s admonition about paying attention to the pitfalls and peculiarities of the language.

“There certainly is a difference,” he pointed out, “between looking at a young woman sternly and looking at her stern.”