Not the hotel indigo kinda phonetic alphabet.

Many years ago I read an article (Louisville Courier-Journal?) about phonetic alphabets and became enamored with the idea. I tried doing a search on the web, but I can't find anything that looks like what I remember. I think there were about fourty or so symbols, one for each English sound. It's not that I'm a particularly horrible speller, though there are a few words I habitually misspell. I just think it would be easier for people in general if such a thing were the standard. One sound, one letter. You see a word and you know how to pronounce it (barring emphasis). You hear a word and you know how to spell it.

Ignoring the obvious fact that this would almost certainly not work in the US (or anywhere else), is there anything that would be lost by its adoption? Is there really anything to be gained? Maybe it's English grammar and not spelling that's the sticking point for people who have problems with it.


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