Give your TTS a workout!

A few years ago when Kurzweil first brought out Jennifer, I had the opportunity to run her through the paces using a poem titled "English is Tough Stuff". Since then I have used this poem as a benchmark for every TTS, Screenreader, and DAISY production program that crosses my desk. I also used it when interviewing work-study students for books-on-tape reader jobs. This page, courtesy of the simplified spelling society, is chock full of poems showing the absurdities of English spelling and guaranteed to get Microsoft Mary to slap you upside yo head!