Power To The Peepl

Reaction continues to pour in on yesterday's spelling bee post (OK, we got one note, which was attached to a rock and thrown through our window). Toward the end of the post we noted that there are actually people who protest in front of the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C.; folks who want to simplify the more complctd complicattd conplicated difficult word spellings in the English language. But there was one thing we missed. To wit:

I don't think you noticed that the person organizing the whole Simplified Spelling Society picket, Elizabeth Kuizenga, is Rebecca Romijn's *mother*. I heard Rebecca mention this during a Daily Show interview a while back, so it is for real.

And indeed, the mother of our favorite shape-shifting mutant from the X-Men is a member of the SSS and protests the Bee every year. Here is the group's Web site, and to prove they're serious, they even have a constitution, which we scrutinized carefully, noting that every single word has the common spelling. What's up with that? Among points in the Simplified Spelling Society Constitution are:

• A member may be expelled from the Society for reasons other than that of non-payment of subscription by a majority vote of those present and voting at a General Meeting, providing always that due notification of the resolution to expel has been given in the agenda of the meeting.

What could possibly get you thrown out of the Simplified Spelling Society? We prefer to think that the only way out is the route taken by Eugene Pontecorvo in .

• The Society may elect up to five Vice-Presidents. These appointments will be honorary and for life, and will be made to recognise special services to the cause of spelling reform.

Yes, they get to serve for life. But the confirmation hearings are a bitch.

Said Romijn in the article in The Hollywood Reporter: "They do this for fun, but it's also their quest. They're trying to update the spelling of the English language to make it easier for other people who are trying to learn how to spell or learn English. And also so kids don't have to learn all the stupid rules they have for spelling and all the exceptions to all the rules."

We probably shouldn't have to point out that Romijn was raised in, and her mother is from, Berkeley, Calif.

When Words Collide [Deadspin] Simplified Spelling Society