The use of the heavy umlaut in pop culture — as in Mötley Crüe — is an old story, but what about the recent rise of spellings like coördination?
I had seen this a few times and sort of let it slide, thinking it some sort of pomo PC spelling of coordination (or co-ordination, which is it?)… and then just now ran across this: preëmployment, reading John McPhee’s Uncommon Carriers. Dear god, prëemployment, in a story about truckers? I mean, I suppose I can appreciate the linguistic irony here, but are what’s next, metaäproximate, antiïntegrate, and quinquüpdate?
Wiktionary suggests that “the dieresis is becoming increasingly rare in US English typography, so the spelling coordinate predominates,” but my anecdotal evidence is to the contrary. Are the editors on high (e.g. FSG, NYT, etc.) really suggesting that we add a letter to the alphabet? Do any civilians really know how to produce diæresis(es? and don’t even get me started on this one) without resorting to charmap?
A quick search turns up this (rather dated) reference:
dieresis or diæresis A diacritical mark (¨) optionally used in English, oftentimes replaced by a hyphen. In English, the dieresis is used on a second identical vowel to indicate a change in pronunciation of that vowel or indicate it is pronounced in a separate syllable. It is sometimes referred to as an « umlaut » when used with a single character or in a « diphthong. » Examples: reëlecting, reëncoding, coöperation, coördination.
On the other hand, it has always seemed that plain old coordination lacks something to signify the pause between co and ordination, and co-ordination sure looks awkward, so why the heck not? English is already a total mess, and umlauts are über cool.
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