Re: Speling and Gramaring Future English

On Mon, 29 Aug 2005 18:30:30 GMT, "R. L." <see-sig@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote in rec.arts.sf.composition:

> On Mon, 29 Aug 2005 14:13:09 GMT, spam@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Jonathan L
> Cunningham) wrote:

>>On Sun, 28 Aug 2005 11:22:56 +0100, Helen Hall
>><mhall@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

[...]

>>>"Waggon/wagon" is the other one I've had trouble with, but
>>>now try to only use "wagon".

> Waggon sounds like a pronunciation out of Mossflower. :-)

<Waggon> is actually the obvious spelling of the usual
pronunciation, which is probably why it was the normal spelling
in the 18th century. If <wagon> were pronounced as spelled, the
result would be \WAY-g@n\.

>>"Wagon" is spelled "c-a-r-t" :-). Wow! I just looked them up in
>>the free dictionary, which seems to think carts are two-wheeled
>>and that wagons are four-wheeled. Eh?? And that both are open. What
>>then were those things we see all those pioneers settling the
>>West in, in Westerns, then? Weren't those covered?

>>Who writes these dictionaries anyway?

> The word 'free' might be a hint.

It isn't. The definition at <www.thefreedictionary.com> is taken
from the 4th edn. (2000) of the American Heritage Dictionary,
which is one of the two or three most reputable U.S.
dictionaries. It just happens to have been made available gratis
by the publisher; you can find it at <www.bartleby.com/61/>.

> Wikipedia seems to work by, whoever wants to spend the most
> time keying in his view of things, as corrections, over and
> over.... Or studying the FAQ or volunteering as an
> administrator or something.

> Not how I'd expect an expert in the actual subject, to spend
> his time.

Wikipedia is actually quite good for the areas that I've had
occasion to use. It isn't an expert source, but neither is any
other general encyclopedia.

Brian
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Homonyms. (was: ``Ken and I being on the radio together)
    ... dictionaries generally give them separate entries because they have ... Same pronunciation, spelling and part of speech. ...
    (sci.lang)
  • Re: The Postman never slices twice
    ... earliest dictionaries was, in addition to defining words (especially ... in whole or part to standardize spelling. ... spelling to pronunciation; the worse simply give long lists of words, ... Standardized spelling has never been strictly necessary, ...
    (alt.talk.royalty)
  • Re: REPOST: Office X 10.1.5 No Spelling Functionality
    ... Australian English spelling dictionary -rwxrwxrwx ... Start Apple's Disk Utility and choose Repair Permissions. ... > You can see that making adjustments to and using dictionaries in the ...
    (microsoft.public.mac.office.word)
  • Re: Whats the point of convertables [sic]?
    ... Find one that included a spelling ... mistakes in a discussion on literacy? ... the topic at hand is the meaning of the word ... know this because we have dictionaries and are able to look ...
    (uk.rec.driving)
  • Re: Whats the point of convertables [sic]?
    ... Find one that included a spelling ... the topic at hand is the meaning of the word ... If they can't spell, then their writing falls below the ... know this because we have dictionaries and are able to look ...
    (uk.rec.driving)