English in the United States

One of English's greatest strengths is how it (we) adopts words from other languages so well. Maybe this is more of a cultural and geographical acceptance than something intrinsic to US English, but...

One of its greatest weaknesses, perhaps stemming from this strength, is that our US English also seems to have tons of rules, too many of them contradictory with regard to the facets of English, like grammar and spelling; thus we have so many "exceptions to the rule". "Confusing" is another word folks would use when describing its flaws.

I have long been a non-violent proponent of revising US English spelling, grammar, and even semantics (sentence structure) to help us communicate. Not in the vain vein of forcing new rules down people's throats, but with the mindset of taking reality into account* and making communication easier and more accurate, even more fun.

* By "taking reality into account" I mean understanding that many spelling rules are complex, easy to goof up, and do not serve the ultimate purpose of easy/effective communication. Also implied by "taking reality into account" I mean the fact that many people don't like to write, or even talk, since they think they will make vocabulary, spelling, and grammar mistakes.

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In related news I am HUGELY in favor of revamping how legal mumbo jumbo is written and presented. I think this would be a good opportunity to consider the legal jargon and pages upon pages of legal morass handed down to, and laid upon us, every day.

I know of at least one organization that purports to do that. It's in Brittian and called "Plain English". Plain English promotes easily readable language. I do not know much about them, except they've helped a number of organizations change the wording of various documents, often reducing the number of words, but always working to make the meaning clear.