To spell phonetically means to write words as they sound. Phonetic spelling has many advantages.

• Anyone who understands the basic of English can do it. One doesn’t have to spend years learning the ‘correct’ spellings of thousands of words.
• Anyone can read it, no matter how complex the words.
• There is latitude for both the reader and writer. For instance one person may use ‘o’ in a word, while another might use ‘u.’ Both will be easily read and understood.
• Phonetic spelling can also give a sense of the way the speaker sounds. For instance, I’m inclined to write ‘yor’ to mean ‘your’ (or ‘you’re’) while you might write ‘yur.’ That’s because I tend to emphasize the ‘o’ in your more than most people.

There are some downsides to phonetic spelling.

• Until you get used to it, you’ll find reading is slower. You are used to immediately understanding whole words as they have always been written, while phonetically, you need to sound them out until you get used to phonetic spelling. For instance, you know ‘bicycle’ immediately, but you might stumble over ‘biisikl’ until you get used to it.
• You’ll find many people are stuck in their ways and just don’t want be forced to learn something new.

There are many versions of phonetic spelling, Dictionary phonetics might look like this: ‘DICT-shun-arey.’ Ben Franklin famously proposed another version in which some letters were dropped but several new letters were added. This is not practical for modern use because the new letters are not readily available on most computers and mobile devices.

The version I like, as shown in the example below, uses doubled vowels to represent the long vowel sounds, such as eezee – meaning ‘easy.’

If you’d rather read the text below in its original form, here you go: The Criticizm To Praise Ratio.

It haz ben studeed and dokumented that we heer thirtee-tu itmz ov kritisism foor each itm ov praise! It starts wen wee r babeez, ”Ooooh, yor diiperz stink!” or ”Kan’t u keep out ov trubl for evn wun minit?” Shur, wee maa not hav noown wut thu wordz ment, but evn az babeez, wee felt thu eemoshunz beehiind thooz wurdz. Wee gru up with much moor negatie input than positiv. It is noo surpriiz that wee du thu saam thing tu our frendz, asoosiatz, and children.

Wut if it wer reversd? Wut if u started ofering jenuiin praz to aneewun and evreewun, evree tiim u see sumthing praazworthee?

At first, peepl wud probablee think u flipd. But that wud alsoo enjoee thu kompliments. Eventuulee, thaa maa katch on, or maabee thaa’d just start foloowing yor egzampl, beekas peepl du tend tu emulaat wut surooundz them.

Thu big pictuur reezults r obvius. Eventulee wee’d hav a wurld in which evreewun heerz how wel thaa du thingz, how niis thaa luk, how thaar prezens iz so enjoeeabl, and soo on. And, theez peepl wud hav moor konfidens in themselvz.

Wud thaa? Ov koors. If frum a yung aag, uu wer told that u r gud, and that u kan akomplish wut u liik, u’d maak the efort. U’d noo that u kan maak a diferens, that u kan hav wut u want, that u deeserv a gud lif, that it iz worth yoor tiim tu praktis yoor skilz. In such a world, if it eksistd, u’d haav a much moor suksesful and hapier liif. So woud evreewun, and at noo kost, othr than thu energee to oopn yor mouth and saa kiind things tu evrywun, and hold yor tung wen whut u hav to saa iz not soo pozitiv.

Such iz not thu wurld wee liv in now. But u kan chaanj it yoorself. Not al bii yoorself, but u kan start it in yor spheer ov influens, and peepl wil katch on. U kan influens yor frendz, yor familee. Thaa wil influens thaar frendz and asosiatz. Perhapz suner than u think, evereewun wil start duing it. Wee see it hapen with slang. Remember when “baad” ment baad? That tranzishun hapend faarlee kwiklee. And soo kaan this, becuz this, to, iz simplee a mater ov spokn wordz.

U maa gaan from this sunr than u’d think. Beefoor thu hool wurld changz tu this nu thirtee-tu-tu-wun praaz tu kritisism racheeoo, it wil help u in yor liif. Az an eksampl, if u start praazing yoor maat much moor than u skoold, wut wil hapn? Wil yor maat bekum laks? Perhaps dinr wil bee laat, thu libraree buks wil bee oovrdu, thu kitee pan woon’t get changd wen it shud? Maaybee, a littl bit, at first. Kaan u stand it? Moor impoortant, kaan u keep kwiiet, and let it hapn, wiil u go on praktising yor 32-to-1 gaam?

I think soo, espesalee wen u noo that sun yor maat wil start kopeeing u, konshuuslee or not. Then, u’l start feeling gud, wen yor lovd wun telz u that yor haar luks niis, or that u r such a graat kuk, rathr than teling u that thu lawn needz moowing reely bad. Imajin a peesful hoom liif, waar u no yor maat liikz th waa u luk, thu waa u kuk, waar u feel no preshr tu moo thu lawn riit noow. Wii, u’d probablee want tu moow that lawn, just beecaz u’ll get praaz for it.

Let’s luk at thu bigr pictur. It iz a smalr world than u think. Within sevn levlz of akuaantans, almost evreewun noz evreewun els. This meenz that u maa hav a frend, whu haz a frend, whu haz a frend, and soo oon, whu nooz Dolee Parton, Arnold Schwarzenegr, Justin Beebr, Miiley Syrus, Oopra Winfree, and soo oon. Soo, you kan influens thees peepl, and al peepl. Praktis 32-to-1, and suun yor frendz wil bee doing it, and thar frendz wil bee doing it, and eeventulee politishanz wil bee doing it, and wee’ll hav noo moor warz.

For best resultz, maak shur yor praaz iz alwaas sinseer. Kontriivd iz embaarasing for givr and reseevr.

Sum peepl hav a hard tiim reseeving komplimentz, after al tha don’t get them veree often. Tharfor, at first, keep yor komplimentz smal and simpl, using oonly a few kaarfulee choozn wordz.

Peepl r moor komfortabl with komplimentz about things thaa r not noon for. Thu profeshonal muuzisan wud rathr heer that u reespect her pooliticl veewz, than that shee plaaz her instrument wel.

Anuthr waa tu komfortablee praaz peepl iz tu ofr komplimentz which tha doon’t hav tu wurk tu aknoowlej. If u praaz sumwun noeesilee in a gruup ov peepl, thu reesipeeent then feelz hee haz tu ofr sum sort of thanks, or deenii it, ekwalee looudlee. On thu othr hand, if u slip praaz intu the midl ov a paragraf, then thu recipeeent kan hav thu kompliment without obligashun. Heer’z an eksampl:

“Jon, Salee’s a graat kuk, luk wut shee did with this pootaatoo salad! Salee, iz thaar anee moor in thu kitchen?”

Reelaaed praaz i thu best ov al, worth ten tiimz az much az direct praaz. For instans, if u root a song that I liikd, but Fred toold u that he enjooeed it wen I plaad it for him, u’d bee moor pleezd than if I simplee told u I liikd thu song, riit?

Reelaad praaz kan bee amplifiid evn furthr, if it koms from sumwun notd in thu feeld. If I shoowd yur song to a faamus songriitr, who then told u it wus reelee ekselent, that wud bee eevn betr than if plaan old Fred sed soo.

Asking sumewun for thaar opinion or ekspeereencz iz alwaayz a graat waa to let them noo u reespect thar thouts. And agen, if dun in thu prezens of othrz, thu eefekt iz magnifiid.

Bee on thu lukout for bakhanded kompliments. Thaar iz a strong temptashun to saa sumthing liik, ”I reelee admiir yur intelijens. That’s wii it surpriizes me that u hav so litl undrstanding ov our budjet.” This iz not a kompliment. Wee noo that but wee r soo uusd tu korekting, ofring kriteek, that if wee don’t paa atenshunn, thees things slip out.

A gud test iz tu see if u plan tu gaan aneething wen u praaz sumwun. If u deesiid that u hav nothing tu gaan, u arn’t triiing tu get sumwun tu fiks yur flat tiir, tu chaanj intu a betr luking outfit or tu cleon up thaar room, then yur kompliment iz probablee a gud wun.

Gosip kurentlee followz thu saam thirtee-tu-tu-wun raasheeoo. Gosip hurts thu peepl whu du it, almost moor than thu peepl about whom thaa tak. Thu reezun iz that sumwun whoo gosips kan’t bee trustd. Thaarfor, az thaar repuutaashunn bildz, thaa r trustd with les and les infoormaashun. Reelee seveer gosips hav feew kwalitee frendz, beecuz tha hav a hard tiim fiinding peepl desperat enuf tu risk spending tiim with them.

My rekomendaashun with gosip, then, iz tu reevers its raasheeoo also. Thirtee-tu tiimz moor ofn than u negativlee gosip, luk for gud thingz u kan tel otherz about yor frendz, familee and asosiats.

“I wil speek il ov no man, and speek al thu gud I noo ov evreebudee.” – Benjamin Franklin. If it wurkd for him, it oot tu wurk for us.

“I hav eeet tu fiind thu man, howevr eksalted his stashun, whoo did not du betr wurk and put forth thu greatr efoort undr a spirit on aprovl than undr a spirit ov kritisism.” – Charls Schwab, whu wus paia a mileeon dolars per yeer for his manajment skils.