I can help you with that . . . .

Several years ago I visited a cemetery in one of the mountain counties. There, carved on a nearby gravestone, was the epitaph, "She's with the angles". My thoughts were certainly not befitting of the occasion: congruent, acute or obtuse? Or is she a circle that somehow went to the wrong place?

I was reminded of this when I went to a school system office this week. I have been doing contract work for a nearby school system for the last three years, and they recently had to cancel my contract due to lack of funds. I went to the district office to fill out some paperwork, and they had one of those security systems where you sign in via computer. They take a most unflattering picture of you, determine where you are going, scan your driver's license, and then issue you a badge. When I got to the point of telling the computer my destination, I saw that one of my choices was the Cirriculum Department. I almost lost it. I wanted to tell them, "You know, you might want to keep me on. I can help you with that."

So, just in case anyone from that school system is reading, here's the rule: when c is followed by e, i, or y, it generally says /s/: circus, century, cyanide. When g is followed by e, i, or y, it usually says /j/: gentle, gist, gym. It's called the soft sound. When they are followed by a consonant or a, o, u, the c and g will have the hard sound: /k/ and /g/. There are a few exceptions, but it's a pretty safe rule in general.

And maybe, just maybe, systematic, phonetic spelling instruction needs to be part of your curriculum.