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I found this photograph the other day and thought my students might like it - especially the ones that think that English spelling is difficult. Can you spot the mistake?

I remember finding this sign one day when I was out for a walk with my dad (that’s him in the photograph). Perhaps whoever wrote ‘Fishing compitishin’ is an active campaigner for English spelling reform. Such campaigners generally argue for improved phonemic representation of written English. In other words, they feel that English words should be written how they sound (competition → compitishin). This is a subject that learners of English usually find quite interesting.

When children with English as a mother tongue start to write at school, the natural tendency is to write in this way. You can see what I mean from the the composition below (I was seven years old when I wrote it).

Translation:

When I went to the dentist I went to get fluoride and it was horrible pink stuff and I didn’t like it and I got my teeth polished.