Thread: Spelling

Originally posted by LoadedDisco
I think I should just go back to school and take some spelling classes ops:

Nah! Read a lot, and if you aren't sure of a word, check it on-line or in a dictionary. That's what I do. It doesn't matter what you read. Having said that, magazines may (I'm not sure) have a more limited vocabulary than books owing to their reader base. That's not elitist, that's sensible for them. A magazine that is hard to read will turn off many readers.

I've no idea how many words I can spell (nor do I know the extent of my vocabulary) but I am lucky in that I can usually tell a word looks right or wrong even if I don't really know how to spell it. That may be due to "rules" I learnt at school, it may be the result of lots of reading.

Who knows?

Slunnie, do you have any experience on this?

Here's a useful web-based dictionary: http://www.askoxford.com/?view=uk

Unfortunately, one has to pay for access to The Macquarie Dictionary website - it should be govt. funded.

Ron

Oh, thinking of little rules we all learn, e.g., I before E except after C - to which there are a number of exceptions, here's one for remembering the spelling of stationary and stationery.

Which is which?

Stationery is stuff you buy from W.C Penfolds - pens, pencils, office supplies, paper, etc.

How to remember? A pen has an E and it is stationEry.

Cars have an A and they are often stationAry.

Do you know which are which in caves: stalactites and stalagmites?

Easy, the TITES come down and the MITES go up.

Ron

Ron

To a great extent I agree with Ron.

We have a rich language and there are rules and correct spelling and grammar are prescribed. This is only recent though try reading Shakespeare or even worse Chaucer. (It's all English)

We should be thankful that we don't speak French or Polish or have to spell those languages and deal with their rules such as genders.

The French particularly are concerned about the debasement of thier language due to foreign influences. We have had the benefit of many languages coming together to make ours.

At the end of the day we should understand the rules and then break them if it makes for better communication.

Originally posted by p38arover
Oh, thinking of little rules we all learn, e.g., I before E except after C - to which there are a number of exceptions, here's one for remembering the spelling of stationary and stationery.

Which is which?

Stationery is stuff you buy from W.C Penfolds - pens, pencils, office supplies, paper, etc.

How to remember? A pen has an E and it is stationEry.

Cars have an A and they are often stationAry.

Do you know which are which in caves: stalactites and stalagmites?



Easy, the TITES come down and the MITES go up.

Ron

Ron

Words in context give meaning:

"The paper is stationary" suggests says that the wind isn't blowing it off the table.

"The paper is stationery" is tautological because what else could it be?

No excuse for sloppiness though.

As for tights coming down.... I'll leave that to people's imagination.

And as for spreading Vegemight on grilled bread ....I'll toast to that :wink:

Good fun though

:wink:

I recall reading something a year or so ago that described the projected reading ages of Sydney newspapers.

I think The Financial Review won because of all the jargon.

SMH -14.
Telegraph -8yo.

Don't think Fin Review broke 20.

Don't go scaring 'em with those big words, yah'hear?


Cheers
Simon

8) with apologies,
but i have just read this whole thread,

f aaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk

i've gotta' get a life.















but i do agree the spelling and grammar is appalling amongst our younger community.
not that i am any good at it, but it is pretty easy to spell correctly.

Originally posted by harry
8) but i do agree the spelling and grammar is appalling amongst our younger community.
not that i am any good at it, but it is pretty easy to spell correctly.

Not just the young folk either. Too many rely on spell check, and unfortunately Mr Gates stuffs that up for us as well. Too many TV ads with crap spelling and weird trade names are also sending the wrong message to our young ones.

I write cheques, the Yanks write checks, tires and tyres, colour and color etc.

Phoenetic spelling! What a crock!

Trev.

I am trying to do my bit to keep our language intact.

When I write tender documents and stuff or review product specs, I always insist that all correspondence or contract deliverables or manuals etc are in Englich, either UK or Aus, based on either the Maquarie or Oxford dictionaries.
I am under pressure from my bosses now that we have a FTA with the Yanks. Apparently their bastardisation of the Queens english is becoming acceptable

Ralph