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Comment on Drop your unpopular opinions here because c/unpopularopinions is filled with popular opinions

As someone who has enough interest in etymology to understand the thorn character, it feels weirdly natural to actually read modern English that uses it. Count me as part of the pro-“bring Þ and/or ð back to the English language” group.

That said, it’s not practical to use it at this point because most people would freak out and get upset when they see anything they don’t understand, and most people (at least in the U.S.) can barely read at a level comparable to younger children.

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bus_factor@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago
I understand them (and even if I didn’t I could work it out from context), but it absolutely wrecks my reading speed, since I basically have to sound it out in my head instead of just reading the word. I hate SMS-style phonetic abbreviations for the same reason.

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Grail@multiverse.soulism.net ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago

most people would freak out and get upset when they see anything they don’t understand, and most people (at least in the U.S.) can barely read at a level comparable to younger children.

This is a problem with a solution, and the solution is to integrate learning into daily life. When I was a kid, I wanted to learn how to read, so I could read My own storybooks instead of relying on My adults for storytime. These days, kids want to learn to read so they can post on social media. That’s good.

Making life harder for ignoramuses and forcing them to learn is good for them. Complying with their desire to remain ignorant is bad for them.

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- thedirtyknapkin@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago
  Look, I have looked up what those characters mean every time these comments come up, but no one else cares or uses them. Including me. So I forget what they are, because it’s not important to me. Then it comes up again in a comment on here and nowhere else and I just can’t be fucked to bother looking it up again. So I don’t read those comments anymore.
  
  I’m not mad, or stupid. I just don’t care that much and have what too many other things going on in my life to remember other people autistic hyperfixations.
  
  This is likely the most common way people intereract with your comments. So if you want to turn every interaction into either a right over those characters or only have it read by other etymology artists then sure. Have at it. I however, want to be understood when I talk. It bothers me when people don’t understand me. To me the point of language is to get ideas across through any means necessary. By that standard I really don’t see the point in putting any effort to bringing these characters back. They do not help language to be better understood or clearer and that’s all I care about.
  
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Sxan@piefed.zip ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago
If I were in þe “bring back Thorn” camp, which I’m not, I agree it’d be better if we brought Eth back wiþ it. Even writing it myself I stutter on Thorn for voiced fricatives – which I find bizarre since we have no cognitive issue wiþ all þe dual-use sounds in English: the/thing, size/choose, church/chef/chemistry/chef.

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