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No. 796: What bad linguistic design looks like

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What bad linguistic design looks like

First | Previous | 2018-10-26 | Next | Latest

Permanent URL: https://mezzacotta.net/owls/?comic=796

Strip by: David Morgan-Mar

{Delkin is an elf, trying to read from a scroll covered in Tengwar writing}
Delkin: Is that a [Tengwar letter tinco] or a [Tengwar letter súlë] or a [Tengwar letter calma] or a [Tengwar letter harma] or a [Tengwar letter parma] or a [Tengwar letter formen] or a [Tengwar letter quessë] or a [Tengwar letter hwesta] or a ...?
{all these Tengwar letters are made of a small loop and a long stem, differentiated by the stem either ascending or descending, on the left or right, and the loop being open or closed}
Caption: The ancient elven scholars clearly didn't give a flying fig about the dyslexic elves in their community.

The author writes:

Remedial reading lessons for elves can last hundreds of years.