[PASSED] Preventing the Illicit Trade of Cultural Artefacts

[Kenmoria]

OOC:
Voted against because artefact and not artifact.

Artefact looks like the e should be silent, and maybe people actually pronounce it that way in Britain but in the US the i is pronounced.

Also, Magic the Gathering uses the Artifact spelling. Just an additional reason to use it.

(OOC: Really? Artefact is a legitimate, British spelling, and using it does not pose a reason to vote against the proposal. Many words are not spelt as they are said, oesophagus comes to mind, but they shouldn't be spelled differently because of this. English is fundamentally a confusing language. However, Magic the Gathering is an excellent card game.)

[Excidium Planetis]

(OOC: Really? Artefact is a legitimate, British spelling, and using it does not pose a reason to vote against the proposal. Many words are not spelt as they are said, oesophagus comes to mind, but they shouldn't be spelled differently because of this. English is fundamentally a confusing language. However, Magic the Gathering is an excellent card game.)

It may be legitimate, but was it really the best choice of spelling here? Artifact is the more commonly used spelling and more accurately portrays its pronounciation so far as I am aware.

And indeed, words should be spelled differently because they are not spelled as they sound. In fact, this has happened many times throughout the history of the English language. I would list examples but they are quite numerous. Language evolves over time, and new spellings of old words gradually replace older spellings that are not as intuitive. The same should be done here.

[Jebslund]

(OOC: Really? Artefact is a legitimate, British spelling, and using it does not pose a reason to vote against the proposal. Many words are not spelt as they are said, oesophagus comes to mind, but they shouldn't be spelled differently because of this. English is fundamentally a confusing language. However, Magic the Gathering is an excellent card game.)

It may be legitimate, but was it really the best choice of spelling here? Artifact is the more commonly used spelling and more accurately portrays its pronounciation so far as I am aware.

And indeed, words should be spelled differently because they are not spelled as they sound. In fact, this has happened many times throughout the history of the English language. I would list examples but they are quite numerous. Language evolves over time, and new spellings of old words gradually replace older spellings that are not as intuitive. The same should be done here.

[OOC: Art-eh-fact. The 'e' is not and does not look like it should be silent, as it's not at the end of a word and not in a combination that would normally be silent mid-word. Like many American spellings, the "artifact" spelling came about due to pronunciation differences between the Oxford and American dialects of English. As to the best choice of spelling, considering this is an Australian site and they likely spell things closer to the Queen's spelling than the President's...]

[Jabberwocky]

Despite my preference for "artifact," the definition is clear either way. Spelling and syntax matter, but in this case there is no divergence of meaning. To quibble about that which is meaningless is itself pointless. I vote AYE.