Spelling Anomalies

The imbroglio arising from the vice president’s difficulty with the spelling of the word potato is simply another example of the media blindly trashing a man of vision. English spelling is full of anomalies. Many words end in a “silent e”: Quayle, for example. Then there is the Mexican cactus “peyote,” in which the final “e” is pronounced. And what about coyote , which is pronounced both with and without the final “e” depending on which cowboy movie you are watching.

The “silent e” rule, codified, is that there are words which when spelled aloud have an “e” at the end, but when spoken seem not to. Quayle has, in effect, promulgated a newly discovered rule, that of the “invisible e,” in which a word is pronounced as though there might be an “e” at the end, but is written with the final “e” invisible. Potato is such a word. There really is an “e” at the end, but only Dan Quayle can see it. Just like the economic recovery.

MARK A. SCHIFFMAN

Rancho Mirage