Pete,
Interesting idea, but I think you might be a bit late. When's the last time you looked at the dashboard in your car--I mean, really looked at it! Please, go out to your garage and look at your dashboard and tell me, do you see words like, "headlights," "wipers," etc.? No, you see something they call icons. For the past, say, fifteen years, there have been no English words on the dashboard of your car, only barely decipherable icons. Same with signs along side the road. No words, just pictures in circles with bold diagonal lines drawn across them, mostly, and somtimes there are just pictures in circles sans bold diagonal lines. I do kinda like California's flower picture that designates scenic routes, though.
Okay, go back inside and look at your computer desktop screen. Now, go look at your VCR, your TV set, your microwave, and any other household gizmo less than fifteen years old. Do you see English words on your computer screen or newer household appliances? No, you don't! All you see is icons. Icons!!!
See what I mean? We've long ago stopped using simple, basic words for simple basic things. It's insidious, I tell you. It's everywhere. We don't need English teachers anymore. We need cryptologists!
Though you proffer a bold idea, it is but an extension of what groundwork is already there. Don't you agree?
Holly |
