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Friday Fun Thread for January 16, 2026

Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

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Is that a problem? It seems to work quite well for them, especially with the help of modern tools like smartphones to look up obscure characters. English speakers can also recognize words without knowing how to spell them, that's the whole point of spelling bees.

Spelling bee is for children, whereas character amnesia is still common enough in top 5% of Chinese adults. One of my Chinese friends says he often uses IME that is closely linked to strokes so he wouldn't forget how to draw them.

Really, the only reason they keep it is to pretend that languages more diverged than Italian and Spanish are one language.