Judge, 1929-04-13 · page 20 of 36
Judge — April 13, 1929 — page 20: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a humorous article by Dr. Seuss advocating for simplified spelling reform. The narrative follows a young man whose repeated mispronunciations of words containing "ough" (tough, plough, dough, bough, trough) create comic misunderstandings that derail his life. The satire mocks both the complexity of English spelling and the protagonist's obtuseness. Each section shows him fired from different positions due to homophone confusion—mistaking "ough" pronunciations causes him to insult a clergyman, nearly drown a farmer's ox, and offend a farmer's wife. The cartoons illustrate these absurd scenarios. The piece supports spelling reform by exaggerating how irrational English pronunciation rules create genuine problems, making simplified spelling seem reasonable. It's lighthearted advocacy disguised as comic narrative—typical of early 20th-century Judge magazine's approach to contemporary issues.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
JUDGE ->—————_- — - — - - — Ough! Ough! Or Why I Believe in Simplified Spelling By Dr. Seuss “The Tough Coughs as he Ploughs the Dough” It was f student of divinity, that T fi of the vongh words.” Strolli | | the country with my fellow stud | | 4 tough, ° ploug } whieh quite nearsighted) I mistook when I first Rouma t met the evils words were remarke ‘that all ough same, T easu tuff cuffs as he pluffs the duff!” “He is eursing in Roun I was expelled from the school. “Mr. Hough, Your Bough is in the | Trough” The ministry being closed to me, I then job as a chore boy on the farm a Mr. Hough, who happened to spend most of his time on the hough tree overh I was waterin » morning when LT notic that Mr. Houg’ t had forced the bough down into the “Mr. Hoot” Troo “Your Boo is in the eT was speaking lightly of his wife, ) fired me on the “Enough! Enough! I’m Through!” So I drifted into the curse of the oughs und prize ring. But her ler twice ld stand it comicbooks.com