On Language: Ghoti

The true origins of ghoti go back to 1855, before Shaw was even born. In December of that year, the publisher Charles Ollier sent a letter to his good friend Leigh Hunt, a noted poet and literary critic. “My son William has hit upon a new method of spelling ‘Fish,’ ” Ollier wrote. You guessed it: good old ghoti. Little is known about William Ollier, who was 31 at the time his father wrote the letter. According to Charles E. Robinson, a professor of English at the University of Delaware who came across the ghoti letter during research on the Ollier family about 30 years ago, William was a journalist whose correspondence reveals a fascination with English etymology.


@FiorenzaMella