Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: leeneia Date: 28 Mar 23 - 03:16 PM It has to do with having to stop and think how to spell "license." Something I have to do rather often. "Feisty" was used upthread. I'm not at my most awake right now, but I can't think of another word in which ei is pronounced as long i, unless it's clearly German, as in beerstein. Maybe it's just me. |
Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: Doug Chadwick Date: 28 Mar 23 - 12:59 PM Poetic licence would suggest that the writer had knowingly stretched the point. More likely is that the point was missed altogether. Erm, ... what has all this got do do with spelling? DC |
Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: Steve Shaw Date: 28 Mar 23 - 12:40 PM Ye gods, Doug. I did mention poetic licence! |
Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: Manitas_at_home Date: 28 Mar 23 - 12:22 PM The letters have been published online here https://www.mayo-ireland.ie/en/towns-villages/kilkelly/history/kilkelly-ireland-song-feb-1893.html I'm sorry that I can't seem to operate the link maker from my phone. The final letter does not use the word 'feisty' although it may have been used by another writer. |
Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: Doug Chadwick Date: 28 Mar 23 - 11:47 AM ...which implies that it was said in a letter. Not really, just that the songwriter didn't spot the anachronism. Even Shakespeare managed to have striking clocks in Julius Caesar's Rome even thougn they weren't invented until the 14th century. DC |
Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: Steve Shaw Date: 28 Mar 23 - 10:12 AM In the last verse: "He was a strong and a feisty old man, Considering his life was so hard. And it's funny the way he kept talking about you, He called for you in the end. Oh, why don't you think about coming to visit, We'd all love to see you again." ...which implies that it was said in a letter. Plenty of room for poetic licence, of course! |
Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: Manitas_at_home Date: 28 Mar 23 - 06:13 AM Was 'feisty' used in the actual letters or just the song? |
Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: Mr Red Date: 28 Mar 23 - 02:26 AM eventually (contractually) In UK means it will happen In Europe means depending on events But we can agree on the spelling. |
Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: Steve Shaw Date: 27 Mar 23 - 08:42 PM Interesting thing about "feisty" is that it was used in the song Kilkelly which told the tale of letters exchanged between members of a family separated by the Atlantic Ocean between the years 1860 and 1892. Yet the word was not recorded as having been in use until at least 1896... |
Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: leeneia Date: 27 Mar 23 - 02:55 PM I just found another hard-to-spell word: minutiae. And I just learned a new slang term: inside baseball. Something inside baseball is something detailed and minute, of interest only to experts. |
Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: leeneia Date: 27 Mar 23 - 02:42 PM Dave, thanks for the info about Haworth. Here's another class of spelling problem that I have: words with -gue at the end versus -que. But it's a finger problem more than a sound problem. I mean that my fingers wand to type -gue because it's easier to reach. Then my ears tell me that "picturesque" (for example) needs the q. ========== As for weight and beige, the complete rule says I before e except after c or as sounded like a as in "Neighbor" and "weigh." Then you've got to remember that "weird" is weird. Various sources claim that "feisty" is descended from "fart," but I don't believe that. |
Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: Steve Shaw Date: 27 Mar 23 - 01:50 PM There's a place in Orkney called Twatt. Clearly, someone found it a word that was hard to spell. |
Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: Georgiansilver Date: 27 Mar 23 - 12:45 PM The place with the longest name in the uk (Wales) is not easy to spell or pronounce. .......Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch |
Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: Dave the Gnome Date: 27 Mar 23 - 11:26 AM I do find that some worms are hard to smell |
Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: G-Force Date: 27 Mar 23 - 11:24 AM Contractual. So many people put an r after the a. (I used to work in contracts, so it's a particular bugbear of mine.) |
Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: Steve Shaw Date: 27 Mar 23 - 11:15 AM Never said it wasn't a word, Doug. Just one of those horrors I never want to hear, along with prior to, at the end of the day and going forward. I've recently added "double down" to my list. And daft sentences with Full. Stops. Between. All. The. Words. |
Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: Doug Chadwick Date: 27 Mar 23 - 11:00 AM Irregardless is a word whether you like it or not. As is "albeit" DC |
Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: Steve Shaw Date: 27 Mar 23 - 10:53 AM We see what you did there... |
Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: MaJoC the Filk Date: 27 Mar 23 - 10:08 AM So is the somewhat less jarring Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, but I had to grep the net for the correct spelling .... only to find a slightly different speling with a reference from 1931. Fun Facts Dept: the last hand-compiler of a particular dictionary was interviewed on the Today Programme, and admitted he'd put the above word in "just for fun". |
Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: Steve Shaw Date: 27 Mar 23 - 07:20 AM Irregardless is a word whether you like it or not. |
Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: MaJoC the Filk Date: 27 Mar 23 - 06:36 AM One problem with spelcheks that permit additional dictionary entries is that users can put "irregardless" in them without due care and attention. |
Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: Dave the Gnome Date: 27 Mar 23 - 05:26 AM I think that was addressed Date: 25 Mar 23 - 06:36 AM Mr R. |
Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: Mr Red Date: 27 Mar 23 - 05:24 AM I thought that spell checkers had an 'add' function so that you could include your preferred spelling. they often do, I use FireFox English English and the ise's of this demesne still get undelined, and life is too short to do anything but ignore that one. One of the problems of adding words to your spell check lexicon (sic) is the words we KNOW are right, it ain't necessarily so and worse - anyone else using your PC is now lumbered unless they KNOW! |
Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: Mr Red Date: 27 Mar 23 - 05:17 AM I before e, except after c, and when the sound is ee. except when it isn't. language moves- estate agents, yoof, marketing men, pop singers - all morph words to sound cool, or hot or wicked or (?), call it fashion and be accurate, and that is only in English English. And without an exhaustive survey I would still bet there are plenty of foreign words we have appropriated that don't follow over-used rule-based clichés. |
Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: Dave the Gnome Date: 27 Mar 23 - 02:38 AM I live near Haworth and visit there at least weekly. I can assure you that none of the Bronte signs, shops, place names or souvenirs contain the diaeresis! |
Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: leeneia Date: 27 Mar 23 - 12:21 AM That's a good one, Georgiansilver. I've decided not to bother about umlauts in German words. An umlaut simply indicates a variation in the vowel, and heavens, if we all started trying to replicate every variation in vowels, we'd never get done. "Maybe your Spellchecker wants the diaeresis". You mean maybe my spellchecker wants the Pepto-bismol. Seriously, I never heard the word diaeresis before. It's "a mark (¨) placed over a vowel to indicate that it is sounded in a separate syllable, as in naïve, Brontë." I've seen naive written that way, but I think we stopped doing that years ago because the character isn't on the QWERTY keyboard. |
Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: Rapparee Date: 26 Mar 23 - 09:58 PM I use a sellcheater. I meant I use the spellcheater on my PC. Your know, the think everyone say’s makeshift mistaked. It works fabulous thinks.. |
Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: Bill D Date: 25 Mar 23 - 02:42 PM Stanron.. as I posted above, my spell checker does allow adding a preferred spelling.. and some have databases to download that give a choice of languages and/or dialects. |
Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: Donuel Date: 25 Mar 23 - 01:54 PM dehiscent, desiccant, decimate, one of these words is not like the others... |
Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: Doug Chadwick Date: 25 Mar 23 - 01:51 PM We need the accents on résumé in order to avoid confusion, but I'm not sure about smorgasbord or francais or facade... I agree about résumé, smorgasbord and facade but francais without the ç just looks wrong to me. DC |
Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: Steve Shaw Date: 25 Mar 23 - 12:55 PM If you're typing proper names or place names it's respectful to keep the word exactly as the source dictates, but I'm in favour of dropping a lot of accents on borrowed foreign words. "Cliche" is now an English word when used in English, so why not ditch the accent? Same with cafe. I'm a volunteer at Bude Memory Café, and they use the accent all the time, so I follow suit. Penguin Cafe Orchestra don't use the accent, so me neither if I mention them. In our recent banter about déjà vu, I kept the accents on, partly because it looks a bit awkward without and partly because the spell-checker puts them in. Makes me look clever, too. ;-) We need the accents on résumé in order to avoid confusion, but I'm not sure about smorgasbord or francais or facade... |
Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: MaJoC the Filk Date: 25 Mar 23 - 12:07 PM I eventually found "desiccant" is right, but it still looks wrong to me. My naïve keyboard lacks an i-umlaut, so I have to usually settle for being naiive, and to MICROS~1 with spelchek. |
Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: Donuel Date: 25 Mar 23 - 10:28 AM Proper nmaes are most varient. |
Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: Dave the Gnome Date: 25 Mar 23 - 10:15 AM Well, we both went to RC schools, Steve, so maybe even dafter than most :-D |
Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: Stanron Date: 25 Mar 23 - 10:13 AM Are you homophonicphobic? |
Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: Steve Shaw Date: 25 Mar 23 - 09:17 AM :-) We were told some daft things at school, weren't we? |
Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: Georgiansilver Date: 25 Mar 23 - 07:58 AM I before E except after C except when your foreign neighbour Keith received eight counterfeit beige sleighs from feisty caffeinated weightlifters…. Weird eh?? |
Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: Mrrzy Date: 25 Mar 23 - 07:28 AM Tattie, those are different words, not the same word spelled differently. |
Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: Steve Shaw Date: 25 Mar 23 - 06:38 AM And it's fine to start a sentence with a conjunction. But that's not what my teachers used to say. |
Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: Steve Shaw Date: 25 Mar 23 - 06:36 AM I know, Ebbie. I was parroting what we had to chant at school 60 years ago. It's one of those "rules" that has so many exceptions that it's next to useless, a bit like being told to never split infinitives... |
Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: Backwoodsman Date: 25 Mar 23 - 04:28 AM ”It also objects to naive every time. There's nothing wrong with naive, is there?” Maybe your Spellchecker wants the diaeresis - naïve? |
Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: Dave the Gnome Date: 25 Mar 23 - 03:30 AM And concierge! Cue doesn't have a q in either. And queue can also be spelled que or just q. |
Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: Ebbie Date: 25 Mar 23 - 02:57 AM Steve Shaw 24 Mar 23 - 06:15 PM I before e, except after c, and when the sound is ee. ************************ Nah. Consider height, weight, foreign.... |
Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: Stanron Date: 24 Mar 23 - 09:41 PM I thought that spell checkers had an 'add' function so that you could include your preferred spelling. |
Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: Steve Shaw Date: 24 Mar 23 - 09:10 PM -ise vs -ize is a bit of a nightmare... What's accepted and what grates is troublesome. "BBQ" is universally fine. Any spelling other than "barbecue" for the full-blown word is just ignorant. Odd, but that's English for you. A dictionary worth its salt will never tell you what's right or wrong. Dictionaries are there to reflect usage, no more. |
Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: Tattie Bogle Date: 24 Mar 23 - 08:54 PM Hmmm, not by everyone, SRS, especially on this side of the pond. What is more annoying is when there are words that are spelled differently according to the context, and people use the wrong spelling: There, their and they’re Here and hear Compliment and complement To, two and too And also when spellcheck wants you to use American spelling when you’re not American! accommodation v accomodation recognise v recognize colour v color favourite v favorite And I could go on, but it might be unnecessary….another hard one! |
Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: Stilly River Sage Date: 24 Mar 23 - 07:39 PM Barbecue or barbeque are both considered correct. Also BBQ. |
Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: Steve Shaw Date: 24 Mar 23 - 07:28 PM God yes, there's a bloke on the harmonica forum who's been calling himself "Barbeque Bob" for decades (sorry if you're reading this, Bob - you know I love you, baby!) |
Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: Joe_F Date: 24 Mar 23 - 06:17 PM Perhaps the word most commonly misspelled *in print* is "barbecue". Evidently it is incredible that there is no Q in it. It ought to be "barbequeue", of course. |
Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: Steve Shaw Date: 24 Mar 23 - 06:15 PM I before e, except after c, and when the sound is ee. |