She cud have stayed at home. But she thawt she shud go. Retired English teacher Masha Bell, from Dorset, will travel to Washington DC to picket the American National Spelling Bee this week. Bell is fighting for words such as "could", "cough" and "should" to be spelt the way they sound - that is, "cud", "coff" and "shud". She intends to stand outside with placards reading "enuf is enuf" and "we are thru with through". "Because of the way we spell, millions of English speakers have trouble learning to read, let alone spell," Bell argues. Enuf sed.


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The Simplified Spelling Society were in the news again in the last week of May as they congregated at the Scripps' Spelling Bee competition to protest the problems inherent in the English spelling system.

The Times covered the picket and their piece on line was one of the most forwarded of the day.
Masha Bell from Dorset caught the attention of the media and made an appearance on GMTV, live from Washington.
Masha and the other picketers, from around the globe also caught the attention of CNN and ABC.

Print media in America is obsessed yearly with the competition, but this year the focus wasn't solely on the competitors; column inches were also devoted to the Simplified Spelling Society and American Literacy Council picket outside the competition.

The LA Times, San Francisco Times and The Guardian (UK) covered the event.

Allan Campbell was feted in his home country of New Zealand too, on line at 'Stuff'.

In the UK, local based radio stations in Birmingham and the Solent covered Masha Bell's trip, Masha also appeared on BBC Radio Five Live.