Re: Propper Englesh

Rosemary <mentally_subnormal@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

real-address-in-sig@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Rowland McDonnell) wrote:

Rosemary <mentally_subnormal@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Rowland McDonnell wrote:
Rosemary wrote:

<snip>

My dad was tested to have near-enough perfect vision by at least one
optician when he was in his 20s - well, aside from the colour
blindness, that is. The optics were nigh on perfect, it's just that
he's got dodgy retinas.

"Just"? My short sight and astigmatism are easily fixed, with a bit of
bent glass.

The fix is imperfect and awkward in all sorts of ways.

You can't do that with colour blindness.

But that doesn't get in the way of doing much.

[snip]

All I got was the straight spelling rule: `i before e except after c'
which, it was alleged, applied to all instances of ie and ei. And
like I said, I spotted that the claim was nonsense at the time.

That's stupid teachers for you. Who tells kids a rule which will help
them spell words, without giving them the second half of the rule?

I heard it from more than one teacher. I think either they didn't know
themselves, or they assumed that I'd been told the second part and just
needed a reminder of the first part.

That was one of the many occasions on which I learnt not to pay too
much attention to the claims of alleged experts. I've never been
inclined to pay much attention to alleged authority.

Anyway, weird's simple. It's we as in... well, we, and ird as in
jird, or third.

No, it's write the word, notice I've got it wrong (again) and try to
remember that it's an exception next time *before* I type the keys or
scribble the letters.

:-) But it's not an exception. Weird, their, weir, heir - none of them
have a plain ee sound in the middle, like receipt or priest, so they
don't follow the rule.

Yes, but you see, I've had something over 35 years of looking at the
spelling of such words from the point of view of `does it follow i
before e except after c rule, or not?' - and what I was doing in the
above paragraph was telling you what process I use here&now for working
out the spelling.

Given that I've got that method to work pretty reliably, there's no
particular urge to update the spelling rulebook, y'know?

Just telling someone "i before e except after c"
is like saying Richard Of York Grew Brassicas helps you remember the
colours of the rainbow.

At least with the partial mnemonic, you've got *some* correct info.

BTW I really like typing "colours". It has a nice shape on the keyboard.

Yes, I can see that. I need a new keyboard. This one's worn out.

Rowland.

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