Re: Peach Joyce

[stewarte@ucscc.UCSC.EDU (The Man Who Invented Himself)]

Was I only dreaming, or did Doug Alan <nessus@athena.mit.edu> actually say:

>Regarding "correct" spelling, there was not even such a thing as
>correct spelling in English until the invention of the printing press.

In fact, I believe that non-standard spelling lasted much longer than
that.  It wasn't until Samuel Johnson put together the first English
dictionary that there was a real move towards standard spelling, and
that was in the mid-1700s (exact dates anybody?).  Many educated folk
of the 18th century, including Thomas Jefferson, continued to spell 
idiosyncratically (and I'm sure that they spelled idiosyncratically 
idiosyncratically!).  

I could go on, but I've gotta run.  Be thankful.
-- 
"Neal Armstrong and Steppin Fetchit did 
 lots of walking in their time."
				-- Scruffy the Cat
/*  uunet!sco!stewarte  -or-  stewarte@sco.COM  -or-  Stewart Evans  */