

Absurd, herd, bird, but why word?
Tangiora - Have you ever wondered why WORD is spelt with an O and not an I as in BIRD? This mystery will be revealed next by the Spelling Queen from Carnarvon. Good morning Paquita, our Spelling Queen. You are going to tell us about the word word. Why can’t we write WIRD? Spell it like BIRD. Paquita - It’s all about the letter I. Have you ever wondered why that little word I has a capital letter, even in the middle of a sentence, and yet ME does not? Tangiora – I expect


Chain Reaction - Collateral Damage
Tangiora - Last time I spoke with the Spelling Queen we heard how running writing made the letter U very hard to read, especially after W in words like WON and WONDER and WONDERFUL. So U was replaced by O. In your book The Inside Story on English Spelling you say that this had a flow on effect Paquita. Can you explain this collateral damage to spelling? Paquita – Hi Tangiora. Yes there was a flow on effect to words like WASH and WANDER which did collateral damage. Last tim