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kittinSol -> RE: transcending racial prejudice (11/10/2008 8:03:36 AM)
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"Most originally non-English words have become “naturalized” into the English language; a similar process occurs in all other languages. This process is carried out mostly unconsciously by all normal users. Since modern dictionaries are mostly descriptive and no longer prescribe outdated forms, they increasingly drop the accents and other diacritics (for example "à propos", which lost both the accent and space to become apropos). Many if not most of the words listed below with accents and other diacritics are actually in the process of losing their accents but can be found in print in both their accented and unaccented versions. Other words are still most often found with their accents, often to help indicate pronunciation (e.g. frappé, naïve, soufflé), or to help distinguish them from an unaccented English word (e.g. exposé, résumé, rosé). Sometimes diacritics are even added to imported words that originally didn't have any, often to distinguish them from common English words or to assist in proper pronunciation; maté from Spanish mate and animé are examples of these. In some cases, the only correct English spelling (as given by the OED and other dictionaries) requires the diacritic (e.g., soupçon, façade). In linguistics, prescription is the laying down or prescribing of normative rules for the use of a language, or the making of recommendations for effective language usage."
http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/English-words-with-diacritics
This should be informative enough for everyone: it's not because you've been writing a word incorrectly all your life that it makes you right. Geesh!
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