homepage
  roll on christmas  
click here to find out more about ship of fools click here to sign up for the ship of fools newsletter click here to support ship of fools
community the mystery worshipper gadgets for god caption competition foolishness features ship stuff
discussion boards live chat cafe avatars frequently-asked questions the ten commandments gallery private boards register for the boards
 
Ship of Fools


Post new thread  Post a reply
My profile login | | Directory | Search | FAQs | Board home
   - Printer-friendly view Next oldest thread   Next newest thread
» Ship of Fools   » Community discussion   » Heaven   » Kan yu speell? (Page 3)

 - Email this page to a friend or enemy.  
Pages in this thread: 1  2  3  4 
 
Source: (consider it) Thread: Kan yu speell?
Karl: Liberal Backslider
Shipmate
# 76

 - Posted      Profile for Karl: Liberal Backslider   Author's homepage   Email Karl: Liberal Backslider   Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
Not sure how else you'd say khaki. And Tuesday is Chewsday to me.

--------------------
Might as well ask the bloody cat.

Posts: 17938 | From: Chesterfield | Registered: May 2001  |  IP: Logged
Gill H

Shipmate
# 68

 - Posted      Profile for Gill H     Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
In the US it is often pronounced kakky, as in ‘Check out my new kakky pants’ which reduces passing Brits to hysterical laughter.

--------------------
*sigh* We can’t all be Alan Cresswell.

- Lyda Rose

Posts: 9313 | From: London | Registered: May 2001  |  IP: Logged
Golden Key
Shipmate
# 1468

 - Posted      Profile for Golden Key   Author's homepage     Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
Boogie--

quote:
Originally posted by Boogie:
But, of course, Ikea isn’t an English word and us English do so like to pronounce things in our own sweet way [Smile]

Like various forms of "contribute". The US puts the primary stress on the second syllable. You folks evidently put it on the first syllable.
[Ultra confused]

Ye olde "two nations separated by a common language".
[Biased]

--------------------
Blessed Gator, pray for us!
--"Oh bat bladders, do you have to bring common sense into this?" (Dragon, "Jane & the Dragon")
--"Oh, Peace Train, save this country!" (Yusuf/Cat Stevens, "Peace Train")

Posts: 18601 | From: Chilling out in an undisclosed, sincere pumpkin patch. | Registered: Oct 2001  |  IP: Logged
Golden Key
Shipmate
# 1468

 - Posted      Profile for Golden Key   Author's homepage     Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
quote:
Originally posted by L'organist:
My friend's surname is Fetherstonhaugh - which of course you all know is pronounced Fanshaw.

There was an episode of "Nanny & The Professor" where the British nanny explained this kind of thing. She had a relative named Chomandley Featherstoneshaw.*

It was pronounced "Chumley Fenshaw".

*Spelling approximate.

--------------------
Blessed Gator, pray for us!
--"Oh bat bladders, do you have to bring common sense into this?" (Dragon, "Jane & the Dragon")
--"Oh, Peace Train, save this country!" (Yusuf/Cat Stevens, "Peace Train")

Posts: 18601 | From: Chilling out in an undisclosed, sincere pumpkin patch. | Registered: Oct 2001  |  IP: Logged
Gill H

Shipmate
# 68

 - Posted      Profile for Gill H     Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
As we learned in the fascinating BBC series on IKEA last night, it isn’t a real word. It’s based on the founder’s initials IK. So I guess you can pronounce it any way you wish.

I usually go for Ai-kee-a based on the Mitch Benn ‘Viking metal’ song.

IKEA - Mitch Benn

--------------------
*sigh* We can’t all be Alan Cresswell.

- Lyda Rose

Posts: 9313 | From: London | Registered: May 2001  |  IP: Logged
Enoch
Shipmate
# 14322

 - Posted      Profile for Enoch   Email Enoch   Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
quote:
Originally posted by Golden Key:
There was an episode of "Nanny & The Professor" where the British nanny explained this kind of thing. She had a relative named Chomandley Featherstoneshaw.*

It was pronounced "Chumley Fenshaw".

*Spelling approximate.

It's more usually spelt 'Cholmondley'. People have been known to joke about a fictitious person, who inherited the name, but alas only spelt 'Chumley'. And Featherstonehaugh is usually pronounced 'Fanshaw', not 'Fenshaw'.

My family also joked about another fictitious person who pronounced their name as 'Mrs Siddy-Bowtahm', with the stress on the last syllable.

Yes, as a warning to USians, 'Check out my new kakky pants’ would imply to British ears, a different shade of brown and a very embarrassing accident, one to which most people would not want to draw attention.

--------------------
Brexit wrexit - Sir Graham Watson

Posts: 7610 | From: Bristol UK(was European Green Capital 2015, now Ljubljana) | Registered: Nov 2008  |  IP: Logged
John3000
Apprentice
# 18786

 - Posted      Profile for John3000   Email John3000   Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
I enjoyed the picture of the boldly titled "Remember that you are butt dust" service booklet doing the rounds on twitter this morning.
Posts: 29 | From: England | Registered: May 2017  |  IP: Logged
balaam

Making an ass of myself
# 4543

 - Posted      Profile for balaam   Author's homepage   Email balaam   Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
I can't compete with kakky pants or butt dust.

I use one of the hidden functions of Google regularly. The define: function.

I have already used it in my blog this morning over the s or c in practi*e. It works by typing "define:word into Google, which then comes out with the definition.

Of course (not of coarse) I needed the word practise. I never fail to get that one wrong.

--------------------
Last ever sig ...

blog

Posts: 9049 | From: Hen Ogledd | Registered: May 2003  |  IP: Logged
Leorning Cniht
Shipmate
# 17564

 - Posted      Profile for Leorning Cniht   Email Leorning Cniht   Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
This weekend an American friend was running round in a panic asking "Have you seen Erin? We need Erin!", and I'm looking at her in a confused fashion and thinking "we don't have an Erin in our church. Is this a new person I don't know?"

Turns out she was looking for Aaron.

Posts: 5026 | From: USA | Registered: Feb 2013  |  IP: Logged
L'organist
Shipmate
# 17338

 - Posted      Profile for L'organist   Author's homepage   Email L'organist   Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
IKEA (I-kay-yah) comes from:
Ingvar
Kamprad [who grew up in]
Elmtaryd [farm in]
Agunnaryd

--------------------
Rara temporum felicitate ubi sentire quae velis et quae sentias dicere licet

Posts: 4950 | From: somewhere in England... | Registered: Sep 2012  |  IP: Logged
Martha
Shipmate
# 185

 - Posted      Profile for Martha   Email Martha   Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
I am usually a good speller but I always have to pause when spelling "broccoli" and think 1 C, 2 L's? Or 2 C's, 1 L?

I know brocolli is wrong when I've written it, but I still want to write it every time.

And it took a dictionary to convince me I was wrong about dessicate.

Posts: 388 | From: in the kitchen | Registered: May 2001  |  IP: Logged
Tree Bee

Ship's tiller girl
# 4033

 - Posted      Profile for Tree Bee   Email Tree Bee   Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
Agree about broccoli. Have convinced myself it doesn’t really matter how I spell it on my shopping list.
I get in a speeling tangle over exercise, exited and excited. [Hot and Hormonal]

--------------------
"Any fool can make something complicated. It takes a genius to make it simple."
— Woody Guthrie
http://saysaysay54.wordpress.com

Posts: 5257 | From: me to you. | Registered: Feb 2003  |  IP: Logged
balaam

Making an ass of myself
# 4543

 - Posted      Profile for balaam   Author's homepage   Email balaam   Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
quote:
Originally posted by Tree Bee:
I get in a speeling tangle over exercise, exited and excited. [Hot and Hormonal]

C after the X every time for me too. [Roll Eyes]

--------------------
Last ever sig ...

blog

Posts: 9049 | From: Hen Ogledd | Registered: May 2003  |  IP: Logged
Pigwidgeon

Ship's Owl
# 10192

 - Posted      Profile for Pigwidgeon   Author's homepage     Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
quote:
Originally posted by balaam:
quote:
Originally posted by Tree Bee:
I get in a speeling tangle over exercise, exited and excited. [Hot and Hormonal]

C after the X every time for me too. [Roll Eyes]
The word "sheriff" -- I can never remember if it's two Rs or two Fs.

--------------------
"...that is generally a matter for Pigwidgeon, several other consenting adults, a bottle of cheap Gin and the odd giraffe."
~Tortuf

Posts: 9835 | From: Hogwarts | Registered: Aug 2005  |  IP: Logged
aliehs
Shipmate
# 18878

 - Posted      Profile for aliehs   Author's homepage   Email aliehs   Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
QUOTE FROM A CORRESPONDENT ON MESSENGER:


"STUFF THE INTERNMENT" and "SCREEN MUNCH".

She is an American.
What she meant was :
"Use the internet" and "Take a photo of the screen."

Quite like the idea of stuffing the Interment. And screen munch has a certain ring to it!

--------------------
Now I see through a glass darkly. Maybe I should clean my specs.
sld2A

Posts: 160 | From: Australia | Registered: Dec 2017  |  IP: Logged
Gill H

Shipmate
# 68

 - Posted      Profile for Gill H     Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
Screen Munch sounds like one of those 'Here's some crazy stuff we found on TV' programmes.

--------------------
*sigh* We can’t all be Alan Cresswell.

- Lyda Rose

Posts: 9313 | From: London | Registered: May 2001  |  IP: Logged
L'organist
Shipmate
# 17338

 - Posted      Profile for L'organist   Author's homepage   Email L'organist   Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
posted by Martha
quote:
I know brocolli is wrong when I've written it, but I still want to write it every time.
You probably don't need to write it at all.

What most in the UK call brocolli is actually calabrese whereas real broccoli looks like this.

--------------------
Rara temporum felicitate ubi sentire quae velis et quae sentias dicere licet

Posts: 4950 | From: somewhere in England... | Registered: Sep 2012  |  IP: Logged
bib
Shipmate
# 13074

 - Posted      Profile for bib     Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
I have always understood that the calabrese is broccoli whereas the other specimens are known as broccolini. Well, that is how we refer to them where I live. I like broccoli but dislike broccolini.

--------------------
"My Lord, my Life, my Way, my End, accept the praise I bring"

Posts: 1307 | From: Australia | Registered: Oct 2007  |  IP: Logged
Baptist Trainfan
Shipmate
# 15128

 - Posted      Profile for Baptist Trainfan   Email Baptist Trainfan   Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
Never heard of broccolini - it sounds like a nasty infection in one's lungs.
Posts: 9750 | From: The other side of the Severn | Registered: Sep 2009  |  IP: Logged
no prophet's flag is set so...

Proceed to see sea
# 15560

 - Posted      Profile for no prophet's flag is set so...   Author's homepage   Email no prophet's flag is set so...   Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
They're all cruciform vegetables, List here. Variations on one basic plant, where leaves and stems etc are emphasized in the species. Cruciform means cross-shaped and refers to the flowers. I have never seen a broc flower myself.
Posts: 11498 | From: Treaty 6 territory in the nonexistant Province of Buffalo, Canada ↄ⃝' | Registered: Mar 2010  |  IP: Logged
churchgeek

Have candles, will pray
# 5557

 - Posted      Profile for churchgeek   Author's homepage   Email churchgeek   Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
quote:
Originally posted by Piglet:
quote:
Originally posted by Schroedinger's cat:
... I think "hte" should be in the dictionary - I can spell it, I just can't type it.

Along with tge, which is how it almost always comes out when I'm using the Tablet, causing swearing.
Clearly you'll need to give up that word for Lent. I don't mean the swear words so much as the one that causes them.

--------------------
I reserve the right to change my mind.

My article on the Virgin of Vladimir

Posts: 7773 | From: Detroit | Registered: Feb 2004  |  IP: Logged
churchgeek

Have candles, will pray
# 5557

 - Posted      Profile for churchgeek   Author's homepage   Email churchgeek   Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
The only way I can keep my deserts and desserts straight is that you might want to go for seconds if you have dessert!

--------------------
I reserve the right to change my mind.

My article on the Virgin of Vladimir

Posts: 7773 | From: Detroit | Registered: Feb 2004  |  IP: Logged
churchgeek

Have candles, will pray
# 5557

 - Posted      Profile for churchgeek   Author's homepage   Email churchgeek   Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
quote:
Originally posted by no prophet's flag is set so...:
They're all cruciform vegetables, List here. Variations on one basic plant, where leaves and stems etc are emphasized in the species. Cruciform means cross-shaped and refers to the flowers. I have never seen a broc flower myself.

Whew, I'm not the only one to write "cruciform" instead of "cruciferous" when referring to these vegetables! I did that once on a post somewhere. No one noticed, but I was embarrassed. Am I wrong to think "cruciform" is incorrect for the vegetable, then?

I mean, obviously I speak about churches more frequently than about vegetables! [Razz]

--------------------
I reserve the right to change my mind.

My article on the Virgin of Vladimir

Posts: 7773 | From: Detroit | Registered: Feb 2004  |  IP: Logged
no prophet's flag is set so...

Proceed to see sea
# 15560

 - Posted      Profile for no prophet's flag is set so...   Author's homepage   Email no prophet's flag is set so...   Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
That's a good question!

Re the other ones, hte etc. "doe snot" No idea if this is a problem for deer.

Posts: 11498 | From: Treaty 6 territory in the nonexistant Province of Buffalo, Canada ↄ⃝' | Registered: Mar 2010  |  IP: Logged
Pigwidgeon

Ship's Owl
# 10192

 - Posted      Profile for Pigwidgeon   Author's homepage     Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
quote:
Originally posted by churchgeek:
The only way I can keep my deserts and desserts straight is that you might want to go for seconds if you have dessert!

Someone once suggested that desserts are "So Sweet."

--------------------
"...that is generally a matter for Pigwidgeon, several other consenting adults, a bottle of cheap Gin and the odd giraffe."
~Tortuf

Posts: 9835 | From: Hogwarts | Registered: Aug 2005  |  IP: Logged
Hedgehog

Ship's Shortstop
# 14125

 - Posted      Profile for Hedgehog   Email Hedgehog   Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
I'm not sure if this has been mentioned before, but I often want to spell "speech" as "speach" because, you know, it is "speak" not "speek."

--------------------
"We must regain the conviction that we need one another, that we have a shared responsibility for others and the world, and that being good and decent are worth it."--Pope Francis, Laudato Si'

Posts: 2740 | From: Delaware, USA | Registered: Sep 2008  |  IP: Logged
cliffdweller
Shipmate
# 13338

 - Posted      Profile for cliffdweller     Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
quote:
Originally posted by Leorning Cniht:
This weekend an American friend was running round in a panic asking "Have you seen Erin? We need Erin!", and I'm looking at her in a confused fashion and thinking "we don't have an Erin in our church. Is this a new person I don't know?"

Turns out she was looking for Aaron.

OK, I'm American. How do you pronounce them differently?

--------------------
"Here is the world. Beautiful and terrible things will happen. Don't be afraid." -Frederick Buechner

Posts: 11242 | From: a small canyon overlooking the city | Registered: Jan 2008  |  IP: Logged
cliffdweller
Shipmate
# 13338

 - Posted      Profile for cliffdweller     Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
For some reason the most common misspelling I find in my students' papers is "defiantly" when they mean "definitely". So I'll get things like, "I am defiantly confused about this" or "I am defiantly unsure about faith". I always picture them standing firmly, feet planted, fists upraised as they shout "I DON'T KNOW, DAMN IT!"

--------------------
"Here is the world. Beautiful and terrible things will happen. Don't be afraid." -Frederick Buechner

Posts: 11242 | From: a small canyon overlooking the city | Registered: Jan 2008  |  IP: Logged
Gill H

Shipmate
# 68

 - Posted      Profile for Gill H     Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
quote:
Originally posted by cliffdweller:
quote:
Originally posted by Leorning Cniht:
This weekend an American friend was running round in a panic asking "Have you seen Erin? We need Erin!", and I'm looking at her in a confused fashion and thinking "we don't have an Erin in our church. Is this a new person I don't know?"

Turns out she was looking for Aaron.

OK, I'm American. How do you pronounce them differently?
Erin = Erin
Aaron = air-on

--------------------
*sigh* We can’t all be Alan Cresswell.

- Lyda Rose

Posts: 9313 | From: London | Registered: May 2001  |  IP: Logged
Gracious rebel

Rainbow warrior
# 3523

 - Posted      Profile for Gracious rebel     Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
Another frequently heard pronunciation of Aaron in the UK is the same as the Scottish island of Arran.

--------------------
Fancy a break beside the sea in Suffolk? Visit my website

Posts: 4413 | From: Suffolk UK | Registered: Nov 2002  |  IP: Logged
cliffdweller
Shipmate
# 13338

 - Posted      Profile for cliffdweller     Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
quote:
Originally posted by Gill H:
quote:
Originally posted by cliffdweller:
quote:
Originally posted by Leorning Cniht:
This weekend an American friend was running round in a panic asking "Have you seen Erin? We need Erin!", and I'm looking at her in a confused fashion and thinking "we don't have an Erin in our church. Is this a new person I don't know?"

Turns out she was looking for Aaron.

OK, I'm American. How do you pronounce them differently?
Erin = Erin
Aaron = air-on

Not helpful. "Air-on" is how we would pronounce "Erin".

--------------------
"Here is the world. Beautiful and terrible things will happen. Don't be afraid." -Frederick Buechner

Posts: 11242 | From: a small canyon overlooking the city | Registered: Jan 2008  |  IP: Logged
Leorning Cniht
Shipmate
# 17564

 - Posted      Profile for Leorning Cniht   Email Leorning Cniht   Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
quote:
Originally posted by cliffdweller:
OK, I'm American. How do you pronounce them differently?

In my south of England accent, Aaron is "air-on", and Erin is a short E followed by "rin". Erin's vowels are the same as in denim.

If I can get the IPA right, I say Aaron as something like /ˈɛːɹ.ən/ or maybe /ˈɛəɹ.ən/and Erin as /ˈɛ.ɹɪn/. My American friend was saying /ˈɛɹ.ən/.

Posts: 5026 | From: USA | Registered: Feb 2013  |  IP: Logged
Golden Key
Shipmate
# 1468

 - Posted      Profile for Golden Key   Author's homepage     Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
In my US experience:

Erin = AIR-in or AIR-un

Aaron =AIR-un (or sometimes AIR-in)

IME, they're pronounced *more or less* the same, unless the wearer of the name pronounces it according to another language. (E.g., Irish, Hebrew.)

--------------------
Blessed Gator, pray for us!
--"Oh bat bladders, do you have to bring common sense into this?" (Dragon, "Jane & the Dragon")
--"Oh, Peace Train, save this country!" (Yusuf/Cat Stevens, "Peace Train")

Posts: 18601 | From: Chilling out in an undisclosed, sincere pumpkin patch. | Registered: Oct 2001  |  IP: Logged
Gill H

Shipmate
# 68

 - Posted      Profile for Gill H     Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
LC said it perfectly. Erin would be the same vowels as denim.

--------------------
*sigh* We can’t all be Alan Cresswell.

- Lyda Rose

Posts: 9313 | From: London | Registered: May 2001  |  IP: Logged
aliehs
Shipmate
# 18878

 - Posted      Profile for aliehs   Author's homepage   Email aliehs   Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
I agree with the foregoing [or forgoing?] no, the aforesaid comments:

In Aust: Erin is pronounced E as in egg, and rin as in ring but with out the g.

Aaron is pronounced either Air-on or occasionally A as in apple, and Ron as in "Oh Ron" from The Glums -a serial within the old radio series "Take it from Here" with June Whitfield, Jimmy Edwards and Dick Bentley. Alright, so I am old!

The question in my mind is how the young people are ever going to learn spelling when their own names are such a muddle.

I can think of at least 5 versions of Michael, including Miceal, Mykel, Mikel, Michel, Micheal, etc.
And as for the made up names. One day I am sure I will encounter Zaphod, but possibly not Beetlebrox. What happened to the days when priests refused to baptise children with outlandish names? I suppose that these children aren't christened any way.

I really do know one little boy called Tex Huckleberry. Poor thing. And another called Kale like the vegetable.

--------------------
Now I see through a glass darkly. Maybe I should clean my specs.
sld2A

Posts: 160 | From: Australia | Registered: Dec 2017  |  IP: Logged
la vie en rouge
Parisienne
# 10688

 - Posted      Profile for la vie en rouge     Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
In France the authorities are allowed to refuse to register a name if they think it's likely to cause suffering to the person.

I’m guessing it needs to be something quite bad for them to refuse, because there are still plenty of people called ridiculous things.

--------------------
Rent my holiday home in the South of France

Posts: 3696 | Registered: Nov 2005  |  IP: Logged
Sioni Sais
Shipmate
# 5713

 - Posted      Profile for Sioni Sais   Email Sioni Sais   Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
quote:
Originally posted by Golden Key:
In my US experience:

Erin = AIR-in or AIR-un

Aaron =AIR-un (or sometimes AIR-in)

IME, they're pronounced *more or less* the same, unless the wearer of the name pronounces it according to another language. (E.g., Irish, Hebrew.)

I think that's the root of the problem. Names are taken from a variety of cultures which have different rules for language and pronunciation. Comparing "John" around the British Isles gives quite a variety: John, Sean, Sion and Ian: I'm sure there are others (and I haven't interfered with spelling yet) and that is all before one crosses the channel!

--------------------
"He isn't Doctor Who, he's The Doctor"

(Paul Sinha, BBC)

Posts: 24276 | From: Newport, Wales | Registered: Apr 2004  |  IP: Logged
wild haggis
Shipmate
# 15555

 - Posted      Profile for wild haggis         Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
Is it any wonder that we dyslexics have problems with English!

I never got more than 0/10 (usually -6 to -10!) in dictation at school. I was marked down from an A to a B in my Higher (A Level) English because of spelling! I'm not thick, in spite of being labelled as such, because I couldn't spell.

Good spelling is not a mark of intelligence - just of memorisation. Bad spelling didn't stop me ending up with a post-grad masters from one of the top unis in Britain. So spelling isn't everything.

In its historic development, English is a mixture of all sorts of languages. No wonder it is so difficult to spell.

I'm learning Welsh. Once you have grasped the phonics, different from English sound values, the words say as they are written (unlike English). Easy. It's the grammar and mutations that cause problems!!

Teachers of young children will tell you of the difficulties in teaching their pupils to read in English - especially children who have very logical brains. One phoneme will say one sound in one word but a completely different sound in another. As to diphthongs! I won't go there!

There are so many exceptions to the rules in English. You need to have both phonics and "look and say"/"red words"/exceptions that you just have to memorise.
Just think about: there/their/they're
Eek........................
40 years of teaching primary kids has turned my hair bright red!!!

No wonder foreigners find English so difficult.

Some languages, have a totally logical system of phonetics and one sound will have the same value in every word - unless it is a "loan word" from another language. So easy. Not so English.

--------------------
wild haggis

Posts: 166 | From: Cardiff | Registered: Mar 2010  |  IP: Logged
Enoch
Shipmate
# 14322

 - Posted      Profile for Enoch   Email Enoch   Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
I'd say that usual UK usage is,

Erin = girl's name that is also a poetic name for 'Ireland', as in 'Isle of Erin'. Pronounced as Gill H, Leorning Cniht and Alieh have described.

Aaron = boy's name, brother of Moses, again pronounced as Gill H, Leorning Cniht and Alieh have described except that for clarity's sake, I'd say that the 'o' is usually a schwa, ǝ.

Arron = boy's name, sometimes spelt Aron, meaning and derivation unclear. It may be a corruption of Aaron or may be a misspelling of either the Scottish island (spelt Arran) or the Irish ones (Aran). Pronounced with a short 'a' and rhymes with Darren. The second syllable I think is universally ǝ, as it is in Darren.

--------------------
Brexit wrexit - Sir Graham Watson

Posts: 7610 | From: Bristol UK(was European Green Capital 2015, now Ljubljana) | Registered: Nov 2008  |  IP: Logged
Enoch
Shipmate
# 14322

 - Posted      Profile for Enoch   Email Enoch   Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
Wild Haggis, you posted while I was writing my post.

I agree with you that English spelling is a mess, and I'm not dyslexic. However, I think there may be a reason, apart from habit, why it may have remained that way.

I get the impression that compared with some other languages, English is quite strongly stressed. In unstressed syllables, the vowel almost disappears. Quite often, that also changes the pronunciation of the consonants round it. This means that quite a lot of words which are entirely regularly formed out of other words by having prefixes or endings put on them, might not look all that similar to the root word if they were spelt phonetically.

After all, Welsh does spell the mutations correctly, but everyone I've ever known who has learnt Welsh has complained that they are really difficult.

Although English speakers think English doesn't inflect all that much, it does go in quite a lot for adding prefixes like 'un', 'non', 'anti' and suffixes like 'ly', 'ify' 'ation', and 'ition'. It also strings them together like 'ification', and 'ingly'.

I suspect that phonetic spelling might make writing easier, but would make reading harder. It would perhaps be easier physically to read the words aloud from the page, but it could make it quite difficult to understand them at the same time, or to read them silently. It might make it very hard to guess what an unfamiliar long word meant.

--------------------
Brexit wrexit - Sir Graham Watson

Posts: 7610 | From: Bristol UK(was European Green Capital 2015, now Ljubljana) | Registered: Nov 2008  |  IP: Logged
cliffdweller
Shipmate
# 13338

 - Posted      Profile for cliffdweller     Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
Among the papers I was grading today was one that was rife with spelling errors-- most of them homophones or near homophones-- to the tune of 7-8 per paragraph. I finally figured out the student must have written it on s tablet with autocorrect. Most hilarious was "chaotic church" for Catholic Church

--------------------
"Here is the world. Beautiful and terrible things will happen. Don't be afraid." -Frederick Buechner

Posts: 11242 | From: a small canyon overlooking the city | Registered: Jan 2008  |  IP: Logged
aliehs
Shipmate
# 18878

 - Posted      Profile for aliehs   Author's homepage   Email aliehs   Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
"chaotic church" ? As opposed to "messy church" ? which I see is on at my local Parish this Sunday at 9.30a.m.It's a family affair.


8 a.m. Eucharist here I come

--------------------
Now I see through a glass darkly. Maybe I should clean my specs.
sld2A

Posts: 160 | From: Australia | Registered: Dec 2017  |  IP: Logged
wild haggis
Shipmate
# 15555

 - Posted      Profile for wild haggis         Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
Thank you Enoch. I agree with you. English does inflect.

Welsh mutations: some are phonetically logical but it's remembering to put them in orally! (Reminds me must go and do my daily Welsh diary to help me learn................!)

Spelling who needs it with texting nowadays anyway!!! So says my dyslexic son.

--------------------
wild haggis

Posts: 166 | From: Cardiff | Registered: Mar 2010  |  IP: Logged
wild haggis
Shipmate
# 15555

 - Posted      Profile for wild haggis         Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
Bye the bye.
Enoch and anyone else in the area - did you feel the earthquack this afternoon?

Gosh talk about spelling - totally unintentionally (honest) I have written earth quack!!!!!
There you go spelling!

--------------------
wild haggis

Posts: 166 | From: Cardiff | Registered: Mar 2010  |  IP: Logged
Honest Ron Bacardi
Shipmate
# 38

 - Posted      Profile for Honest Ron Bacardi   Email Honest Ron Bacardi   Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
Around Elizabethan times, English really was pronounced much closer to the way it is spelled, even though orthography hadn't really settled down at that point. The real problem for our age is the shift in pronunciation.

I guess there is no guarantee it won't go on changing, which raises the interesting point that even if we made it to be spelled phonetically accurate now, this discussion would nprobably have to take place all over again in 450 years time.

--------------------
Anglo-Cthulhic

Posts: 4857 | From: the corridors of Pah! | Registered: May 2001  |  IP: Logged
jacobsen

seeker
# 14998

 - Posted      Profile for jacobsen   Email jacobsen   Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
HRB, that is a cheeringly optimistic comment from one who lives in a universe which includes the Trump family. [Ultra confused]

--------------------
But God, holding a candle, looks for all who wander, all who search. - Shifra Alon
Beauty fades, dumb is forever-Judge Judy
The man who made time, made plenty.

Posts: 8040 | From: Æbleskiver country | Registered: Aug 2009  |  IP: Logged
aliehs
Shipmate
# 18878

 - Posted      Profile for aliehs   Author's homepage   Email aliehs   Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
I think HRB must be right; that the language is constantly evolving. Our Australian Macquarie Dictionary lists the newest 100 words that now qualify for inclusion year by year, and a similar list of words whose usage has dwindled to nothingness. Most of the new terms appear to be tech related or derive from definitions as one man's stickers youth culture.
Already there are problems; but was ever thus.

--------------------
Now I see through a glass darkly. Maybe I should clean my specs.
sld2A

Posts: 160 | From: Australia | Registered: Dec 2017  |  IP: Logged
Enoch
Shipmate
# 14322

 - Posted      Profile for Enoch   Email Enoch   Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
quote:
Originally posted by wild haggis:
Bye the bye.
Enoch and anyone else in the area - did you feel the earthquack this afternoon?

Gosh talk about spelling - totally unintentionally (honest) I have written earth quack!!!!!
There you go spelling!

I missed it as I was outside in the street at the time. People indoors felt it quite pronouncedly. One friend said it was more of a shake than the Lincolnshire one a few years ago was here. My son felt it markedly in Cardiff and was worried that it was a terrorism incident of some sort, but he was in a fairly confined space, and realised people round about outside hadn't noticed anything.

--------------------
Brexit wrexit - Sir Graham Watson

Posts: 7610 | From: Bristol UK(was European Green Capital 2015, now Ljubljana) | Registered: Nov 2008  |  IP: Logged
Karl: Liberal Backslider
Shipmate
# 76

 - Posted      Profile for Karl: Liberal Backslider   Author's homepage   Email Karl: Liberal Backslider   Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
Spelling was already non-phonetic in Shakespeare's time; a modern English speaker would have little difficulty with Elizabethan English. Now Chaucer - we even mispronounce his name because of language change; the first syllable should rhyme with Modern Eng. Cow. On the tangent the mutations are a non-issue to me compared with unpredictable gender, plurals and verb stem vs. the verb-noun (dweud/dywed-, rhedeg/rhed- cael/caf-/caw-) etc. My mind likes predictability and consistency.

[ 18. February 2018, 08:53: Message edited by: Karl: Liberal Backslider ]

--------------------
Might as well ask the bloody cat.

Posts: 17938 | From: Chesterfield | Registered: May 2001  |  IP: Logged
geroff
Shipmate
# 3882

 - Posted      Profile for geroff   Email geroff   Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
A bit of a tangent perhaps, but in the early days of spellcheckers I had a secretary, who was terrible at spelling, that used to add her spellings to the dictionary. Another colleague used to have to correct the dictionary every evening after she had gone home! (This is at a date when there was just one computer in our architects office, so probably 1988, Word Perfect?)

--------------------
"The first principle in science is to invent something nice to look at and then decide what it can do." Rowland Emett 1906-1990

Posts: 1172 | From: Montgomeryshire, Wales | Registered: Jan 2003  |  IP: Logged



Pages in this thread: 1  2  3  4 
 
Post new thread  Post a reply Close thread   Feature thread   Move thread   Delete thread Next oldest thread   Next newest thread
 - Printer-friendly view
Go to:

Contact us | Ship of Fools | Privacy statement

© Ship of Fools 2016

Powered by Infopop Corporation
UBB.classicTM 6.5.0

 
follow ship of fools on twitter
buy your ship of fools postcards
sip of fools mugs from your favourite nautical website
 
 
  ship of fools