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Back in the '90s I published educational software to help kids learn to read. We specialized in making public domain texts accessible by adding the ability to hear the words by clicking them as needed, with texts ranging from "See Spot Run" level material up to things like The Wizard of Oz. During this time I collected as many books in words of one syllable as I could. Robinson Crusoe was a bit much, but we definitely published Aesop's Fables.

> kayktn

I cannot figure out how to pronounce this in one syllable. It looks like it should be pronounced "caked in".

I also don't get "byerkstz", I see it as "byer-kistz"

without the z it’s entirely within the realm of English sounds.

Practice slow and I think it works.

But is it a single syllable?

I see it more as a modifier on the T sound at that point. Instead of letting your tongue go at the end of the T, you hold it in place because of the N.

Sounds Dutch not English.

> More than a century ago, “words of one syllable” was a trend in publishing:

In a similar but much-more-approachable vein, XKCD's focus on simple words for Up Goer Five [0] which also spawned a book Thing Explainer [1].

[0] https://xkcd.com/1133/

[1] https://blog.xkcd.com/2015/05/13/new-book-thing-explainer/

Not related to Glish at all, but this sentence stroke me:

> South Korea has said it will resume propaganda broadcasts against North Korea for the first time in six years in response to Pyongyang's campaign of sending rubbish-filled balloons across the border

Isn't that the opposite that's happening? Rubbish-filled balloons being sent by NK as a response to propaganda leaflets sent from SK?

I just copied that sentence at random to get some text to feed into Glish. Here’s the original story:

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1rr92dwqnyo