Spellchecking

Yeah, that's the one. Here it is:

quote:

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Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.

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I guess my reply to that point would be:Boo-frickin-hoo

The problem with English is that it's a very good example of evolution, not intelligent design, although some attempts at design have periodically been made on it.It's full of vestigial characteristics. Our German and Dutch language cousins still pronounce the hard sound before the "T" in their "nacht" and "nicht". We opted for the lazier, or more practical, nite pronounciation centuries ago, but still keep the extra letters.Words evolve different meanings, sometimes shifting right round to mean the virtual opposite of the original sense, while still retaining their original sense in some contexts. The President can sanction a bill in Congress while putting sanctions on Iraq.It must be hell for foreigners to learn, but at least we don't have pointless masculine and feminine articles for sexless nouns, like some of them. Edited by bluegenes, : No reason given.

hmgdcntblvctlldcphdtht

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Disclaimer:Occasionally, owing to the deficiency of the English language, I have used he/him/his meaning he or she/him or her/his or her in order to avoid awkwardness of style.He, him, and his are not intended as exclusively masculine pronouns. They may refer to either sex or to both sexes![/size]

I think you dropped an "r" in there, Taz.

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Those who would sacrifice an essential liberty for a temporary security will lose both, and deserve neither. -- Benjamin FranklinWe see monsters where science shows us windmills. -- Phat

Just like to point out that there is only ONE English, and it ain`t American.:-p

No worries, mate. You just keep on waltzing with your Mathilda by the billabong, and we'll all understand you.Edited by bluegenes, : typo!!!

Geez, Pommies--can`t bowl, can`t bat, and now they bugger up MATILDA.

Really, I think that the committees of folks who write dictionaries, along with educational institutions, need to team up and sue the makers of iPods and cell phones for deliberately manufacturing a product that reduces the profficiency of children in their use of the English language. I wonder how many of you remember a commercial that used to air not too long ago”and probably still does on some stations”about a girl 'texting' too much. She begins to speak back at her mother, upset with the cell phone bill, in 'chat speak.' The necessity for the subtitles to translate into English what the girl already considered comprehensible demonstrates the severity of the problem.I do not think it is fair to blame individual people for their misuse/abuse of the language when there is a very large marketing force promoting such behaviour. What's worse, is that people in non-English-speaking countries can have trouble differentiating 'through' and 'thru'”which I've learned has actually become an acceptable alternative; God help us!”most especially if they lack formal education in English. Desperate to put their new-found language 'skills' to the test, these non-native speakers post blogs, exchange chat messages, and yes, post on EvC forums. Such dissemination of the lingual abuse only further poisons the aquifer, despite the non-negative intentions of the typist.I think it can all be traced back to the same evil that has religious fundamental leaders bashing education as being Satanic propaganda, even though the real reason is just to keep people ignorant so they can continue to be scammed. These cell phone and iPod companies know damn-well better when it comes to proper English”I doubt they'd ever have a contract drawn up in 'chat speak'”yet they promote such toxic filth because bringing people to accept, and more importantly understand as 'English', such putrid disgust allows them to continue making more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more money.But, that is just my possibly over-passionate rant, and I don't think a solution will be along any time soon. Ultimately, after suing the hell out of these companies, we'll need to brain-wash society back into acceptance and understanding of actual English, perhaps using marketing strategies similar to those used to fuck up the language. Maybe instead of reducing your cell phone bill for every letter you can skim off, every word you can abbreviate with a number, it could be that the smaller your deviance from proper English (other languages applying as well) within your text message, the larger your reduction on your bill; call it, 'language prophiciency savings'. Anywho...As for my personal preferences, the following things erk me like none other:-THRU instead of THROUGH
-dropping UE from words like DIALOGUE, CATALOGUE, etc.
-using numb3rs in place of actual letters/words
-abbreviating entire phrases, like gtg, g2g, FWIW
-the above, especially when no one else but you and three other friends know what the hell it means
-putting LOL at the end of every damn sentence: 'Did you hear about Jack, he was in a car accident the other day?'; 'OMG i hope hes ok LOL'
-putting LOL at the beginning of every damn sentence: 'LOL my cat gave me rabies'
-using ETC. fifteen times in one row”trust me, just one gets the point across
-... there are others, but this post is getting long, and draining from the other-wise-light-hearted nature of the thread; however, notice, 'honest spelling/grammar mistakes' didn't make the list.Anyway, time for me to put a cap on this one. Jon

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In considering the Origin of Species, it is quite conceivable that a naturalist... might come to the conclusion that each species had not been independently created, but had descended, like varieties, from other species. - Charles Darwin On the Origin of Species
_ _ _ _ _ ____________ _ _ _ _ _En el mundo hay multitud de idiomas, y cada uno tiene su propio significado. - I Corintios 14:10

Actually, I disagree with your assessment of the following sentence: This use of an apostrophe is perfectly correct, as long as you realise there were actually two different minor errors: a missing semi-colon and a failure to capitalise. It should have read: Strange name for a dog, but I knew one called Mutton once. No accounting for taste. (And to hell with it, I'm not going to spell check this post. See if I care!)

Pommies invent sports, and Aussies teach us how to play them, too true.I don't know how I typed the "h" into Matilda, but can even a pommy bugger a tramp's bedroll?Waltzing with it is dubious enough behaviour, I'd of thought.Waltzing Matilda - WikipediaLink for those interested in what folks down under do with their bedrolls when lonely in the outback. Edited by bluegenes, : Link added.

I don't know if that's a legitimate complaint. See this. It's just an Americanized version of the words (though I usually go with the -ue). Surprisingly though, my Firefox spellchecker doesn't recognize dialogue or catalogue as spelled correctly.

Let`s not explore what lonely Kiwis do. :-p

Now, now, Nighttrain! We don't have an 'outback', therefore the reference is clearly to Aussies. Us Kiwis don't want to steal your thunder.

Yeah, funny, isn't it? 'Americanized' = 'Lazy method' I really cannot be surprised... Yeah, I don't think mine would either, but I always set mine to English (UK). Oh, just noticed that Firefox also flags 'Firefox' Jon