Spelling is ruining the English language

[DanaC]

The name 'Liv' is in common currency. In a title like the one you just mentioned, 'Live' is spelt with a capital letter. In the title you suggest the article would read:

"Zendikar (codenamed Liv) is a Magic: The Gathering expansion set, set to be released on October 2, 2009."


Tell me again, why 'Liv' in that context couldn't refer to a female character called 'Liv'?

In what way have I demonstrated that I don't know how to spell proper nouns? Because I used a nick-name? They are commonly used in fiction, so why not gaming? You offered an example of how spelling reform might disambiguate but in fact it offers alternative areas of confusion. It's no more a stretch than your original example.

For all I know the character's in-game name might be Liv Tyler. *smiles* unlikely yes. But there's no reason why a character wouldn't be called Liv. Any more than there's a reason there wouldn't be a 'Liz' or a 'Bob' or a 'Chuck'.

[Kingswood]

Originally Posted by DanaC

The name 'Liv' is in common currency. In a title like the one you just mentioned, 'Live' is spelt with a capital letter. In the title you suggest the article would read:

"Zendikar (codenamed Liv) is a Magic: The Gathering expansion set, set to be released on October 2, 2009."

Tell me again, why 'Liv' in that context couldn't refer to a female character called 'Liv'?

If the available context was good enough for Shawnee123 to avoid "eating a smilie", it is good enough for you.

Originally Posted by DanaC

In what way have I demonstrated that I don't know how to spell proper nouns? Because I used a nick-name? They are commonly used in fiction, so why not gaming? You offered an example of how spelling reform might disambiguate but in fact it offers alternative areas of confusion. It's no more a stretch than your original example.

Proper nouns always begin with capital letters, and can be easily disambiguated from similarly-spelt words by that alone. How can you tell the difference between bob and Bob? Do you confuse bob and Bob?

This name "Liv" is not as common as you suppose, and it is certainly less common than either pronunciation of the word "live". It would reduce confusion; and how much confusion can there be with two words pronounced the same? There would be no more confusion with liv and Liv than there currently is with bob and Bob, or rob and Rob: one is a verb, the other is a shortened version of a name. The rules for disambiguation would therefore be very similar as well.

Why do you consider it OK for two common words with different pronunciations to have the same spelling, but if we respell them and there's a slight chance one of the respellings can be confused with a relatively rare proper noun that always begins with a capital letter and that (presumably) shares the same pronunciation, somehow that's worse?