John, Would you go for "aker" or "eker" rather than "acre"; or deprecate all but "hectare" which does have good "-re" phonetics as it stsands?
Gene. ---- Original message ---- >Date: Mon, 31 Jan 2011 09:29:47 -0800 (PST) >From: "John M. Steele" <[email protected]> >Subject: [USMA:49715] Re: [SI] A mole hill into Himalaya >To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[email protected]> > > Ha ha. You hit on my exact problem with -er vs -re > endings in British English. I could never keep > track of which to expect. American English is > generally -er, with -re used only in cases like > acre, where an -er ending would make a soft c. > > American English still has abundant opportunity for > simplified, more phonetic spelling, but in my view, > it has made some progress over British English. I > prefer to go forward, not backward. However, I > respect the right of the British to spell as they > wish, and most times, I can understand the word. It > is obviously a YMMV situation. > > --- On Mon, 1/31/11, [email protected] > <[email protected]> wrote: > > From: [email protected] <[email protected]> > Subject: [USMA:49713] Re: [SI] A mole hill into > Himalaya > To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[email protected]> > Date: Monday, January 31, 2011, 11:54 AM > > John, >... > To continue your play on a mole hill, my fathre > taught physics, chemistry, and biology (at the > high school level), my mothre taught English > (American standard), and my brothre taught > mathematics (at the college level). I nevre had a > sistre, but I do have a daughtre, and a > granddaughtre. > > Gene. .
