In a lengthy letter to the London Times, George Bernard Shaw told the world what was wrong with the atom bomb. It was misspelled.
G.B.S. was harping on a favorite string. He had promised to will $80,000 to anyone with a plan to make English "economic." But lately he had been appalled anew at the discovery that he could write "bomb" only 18 times a minute and "bom" 23 times. Stormed Shaw: "The extra sign is entirely senseless, it not only wastes the writer's time, but suggests an absurd mispronunciation, as if the word 'gun' were to be spelt 'gung.' "
"Phoneticians have...
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