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Post by Deleted on Sept 25, 2009 5:18:59 GMT
Have you always been a good speller, or is it a challenge? I was always a nearly perfect speller (now I slip up from time to time, mostly because of juggling languages with similar words), and I just couldn't stand it when people misspelled common words. In recent years, I have learned to moderate my feelings, because I have come across more and more interesting people who just can't spell. And then of course there are the young people who write in text shorthand, so that you don't know if they really know how to spell or not. Nevertheless, I have always had a soft spot in my heart for those who have never had access to good education, especially when it doesn't stop them from expressing themselves.
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Post by hwinpp on Sept 25, 2009 6:06:04 GMT
Is that clipping a joke?
She can't live off 1287 GBP a week?
Re spelling I do the best I can ;D
I only correct others if there's something seriously wrong... e.g. a guy posts a question on where he can teach English and there are serious mistakes in the post itself.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 25, 2009 10:55:23 GMT
I always fancied myself to be an excellent speller but ,in the last ten years or so ,something happened to my brain in this department. Simple words that I never had a problem with ,I had (have) to look up,it became maddening. I mentioned it to MR. C. and he said the same thing happened to him. I do try ,but, sometimes ,especially while posting ,I don't always do a complete proof read,usually because I'm in a hurry,sometimes plain sloth.Same with punctuation.
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Post by imec on Sept 25, 2009 14:38:21 GMT
Here is an excerpt from one of a series of columns in yesterday's National Post (on of 2 Canadian national daily newspapers) which suggests spelling may not matter that much. The columns were run in recognition of "National Punctuation Day"... Several years ago an email claiming a study at Cambridge University had shown that the order of letters in words was completely irrelevant to understanding went viral. The text of the letter appeared in many iterations, but the basic formula was this: "Aorcidncg to reaersch at Cairgdmbe Uiinrvsety, it deson't matter in what oerdr the letetrs in a word are. The olny imaorptnt thing is that the first and last letetr be in the right pclae." The articles may be found here (and they're well worth reading if you enjoy the study of lingusitics, grammar etc.) www.nationalpost.com/search_results.html?q=national+punctuation+day
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Post by lagatta on Sept 26, 2009 0:48:32 GMT
Eat shoots and leave! or Eat, shoot and leave!
As per the book on punctuation, "Eats shoots and leaves". by Lynn Truss.
Or: punctuate this sentence: a woman without her man is nothing.
Usually I am a good speller (ain't got the choice) but there are a lot of banal words I have to check now as they are so similar in related languages.
kerouac's example sounds like someone writing in "dialect", posing as the proverbial welfare mum with 8 kids. The errors are too consistent.
imec, I've bookmarked that Post series of columns. Eyes too wonky from computer-slaving from 6am EST to now to read anything seriously.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 26, 2009 11:00:12 GMT
I get stuck on the spelling of certain words over and over again,an example being the word, occasion.(did it again!) For some reason I always want to put in 2 s's.
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Post by bjd on Sept 26, 2009 12:40:40 GMT
I have always been a good speller but I sometimes get confused when French and English words are nearly the same expect for one vowel.
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Post by bixaorellana on Sept 26, 2009 15:40:00 GMT
I do a version of that, Bjd. My touch-typing brain is severely English, so I'll type in for the Spanish word en and & instead of y.
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Post by bjd on Sept 26, 2009 16:39:45 GMT
I just realized that I made a mistake in the post just above Bixa's! That should be "except" -- I can still spell but obviously I'm becoming dyslexic.
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Post by bixaorellana on Sept 26, 2009 17:27:16 GMT
I have spell check activated, and keep this: www.merriam-webster.com/ in the toolbar at the top of my screen. Of course neither of those things protects me from lapses of attention, dyslexic moments, typos, etc. Even when I think I've proofread, some mistakes appear by magic as my reply flashes away in the moment after pressing Post Reply.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 26, 2009 19:17:21 GMT
I just realized that I made a mistake in the post just above Bixa's! That should be "except" -- I can still spell but obviously I'm becoming dyslexic. I thought you did that on purpose bjd!
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Post by lagatta on Sept 26, 2009 21:21:02 GMT
bixa, as for "in", it is also used in Italian, and I'd be much more likely to confuse Italian and Spanish than English and Spanish! (though when there is an article it becomes "nel, nella, nello, negli"... "en" is also used in French though the prepositions are different even in closely related languages.
Grr: words like agression vs aggression. Hard to remember which is which.
I haven't found a spellcheck that really corresponds to Canadian usage in English.
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Post by bixaorellana on Sept 26, 2009 22:10:06 GMT
I think if you set your language preference to Canadian English on your computer, it will make spellcheck correspond to it.
Open your Control Panel. Choose Regional & Language. Click on the Languages tab, then on Details. In the Details box, look to see what language is displayed under "Default Input Language". If it's not "English - Canada", erase it and click on the Add button. A new window will open with a drop-down menu. Choose English - Canada, then click OK. Go back and make sure that English - Canada is displayed under "Default Input Language".
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Post by lagatta on Sept 26, 2009 22:37:23 GMT
Yes, but my language preference on the computer is French. Don't know if it is possible to have more than one.
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Post by bixaorellana on Sept 26, 2009 22:50:06 GMT
Yes, you can! You use "Add" for that. I only have English (US) and Spanish (Mexico) on my computer, but I don't think there is any limit to what you can add. There are also options for how you want to access the different languages.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 27, 2009 1:46:11 GMT
You can have more than one language.
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Post by bixaorellana on Sept 27, 2009 2:31:17 GMT
I believe she wants to add other languages.
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Post by auntieannie on Oct 3, 2009 17:45:54 GMT
I have always been good at spelling. I remember having conversations with people who weren't as lucky and who were campaining for a simplification of french spelling. We had to agree to disagree as there was no common ground possible.
It grates me so much when I make a typo in english as many people automatically assume it is because I don't know how it is spelt. ( ha! according to my online dictionary, it is spelt "spelt" - or "spelled" in British English and "spelled" in US English.
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Post by bixaorellana on Feb 5, 2016 15:34:09 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Feb 5, 2016 16:05:34 GMT
About the sort of story that I would expect from our 'friends' in Blighty. The only 'fury' is from the usual suspects who refuse any sort of change at all. Well, they don't have to change. Older people can continue to spell as they always have and it is only younger generations that will adopt the new spelling. That's how it has always been.
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Post by bixaorellana on Feb 5, 2016 16:23:00 GMT
Well, considering that the UK still ridiculously uses French spellings for words such as centre, and flings in the letter u where it's neither wanted nor needed, maybe they shouldn't be reporting on French spelling. Be that as it may, it's admirable that the various publishers of school books in France made a joint decision to make the change together.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 5, 2016 16:29:40 GMT
When you say 'the UK' you know that you actually mean the vast majority of the English (as a national language) speaking world?
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Post by bixaorellana on Feb 5, 2016 16:42:27 GMT
Yes, I do know and all my Canadian friends know my feelings on that subject. Re: the vast majority ~ if they'd only listen to me, they could be right instead of wrong.
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Post by lagatta on Feb 20, 2016 21:13:52 GMT
The US is the odd man out in those cases.
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Post by chexbres on Feb 20, 2016 21:33:07 GMT
You have to realize that smartphone shorthand, twitterspeak and hashtag overkill will soon lead to the death of written language - at least for people who can afford to own a smartphone.
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Post by lagatta on Feb 21, 2016 5:57:49 GMT
At least I'll qualify for a bit of a pension by then.
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Post by kerouac2 on May 31, 2017 16:38:58 GMT
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Post by cheerypeabrain on May 31, 2017 18:52:19 GMT
My spelling isn't good, I think my punctuation and grammar leave a lot to be desired as well When I was growing up I missed heaps of school for various reasons....consequently my grasp of grammar is atrocious for which I ajolopise. At 11 I was moved from the bottom form to the top one, the other children in that group had already covered a lot of the writing techniques that the factory fodder in the bottom form weren't expected to need. I've muddled through ever since. Laziness and the fact that I got away with it through university (scientists...rubbish at composition) resulted in me just giving up. It's one reason I hesitated about posting on a sophisticated forum like this one. Too late now
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Post by bixaorellana on May 31, 2017 20:21:43 GMT
a sophisticated forum like this one My spelling has always been pretty good, but I think that was partly the luck of the draw & partly because I learned to read through the phonics method. I just barely know my multiplication tables, although that's a fairly easy thing to hide. I don't know why, but I find Kerouac's state spelling map hilarious. I mean, there is "supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" (<-- I googled that) twice, and two instances of "hallelujah", but apparently all the states can either spell "congratulations" or just think they can. It's good this thread was revived, as I have something I need to bitch about. That is: where has -ed gone? A person is a world renown ed actress, not a world renown one. It you order the collected works of an author, it might come as a box ed set. A "box set" is a set of boxes. Sheesh!
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Post by lagatta on May 31, 2017 21:34:09 GMT
Oxford Dictionaries has a very useful site, and they also have a US dictionary: en.oxforddictionaries.com/ Is there such a thing as a South Asian English dictionary? That region probably has the largest increase in people fluent in English, and for whom it is their main language of communication outside the home.
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