OT God help the English language........

u neva reely no

I hate to think. Or rather, they hate to think.

Damn those lower class cretins that carnt spell . They should be all locked away .

G'day John L G,
man! it's a disappointment to all I'm sure, but really! did you have to bring it here as well. Get with it, this site says ExplorOz not explore the english language

andy
ps no further corespondence entered into!

" target="EOF" class="lbg">www.answerbag.com/q_view/126520/

Some people have an IQ of 150.
Some people have an IQ of 80.
Some people received a good education.
Some people received a bad, or limited, education.

I try to judge people on the goodness of their heart - if you see what I mean? :) I don't worry if they can spell or know the difference between a semicolon and a comma.

Mike Harding

Makes sense to me, he writes it the way it should be but it's not ergent for everyone to adjust.

And with those responses gentlemen, I rest my case..................

Spelling is much overrated.The reason the Oxford English Dictionary is regarded as the ultimate reference on English is because this dictionary (if you read its full title) is based on historical principles. The full (not those little pocket versions) OED shows all the changes in meaning and spelling of words in English over the years. The idea that there is just one way to spell a word in English is a very recent one. Shakespeare is generally regarded as being reasonably proficient in English and consistent spelling wasn't an issue for him. The only language where spelling is really ironclad is in dead languages like Latin. The strength of English is that it lives and breathes and
change is essential to this.
Having got that off my chest, I also agree 100% with Mr. Harding.

Got a couple of friends who can not read. Just missed that chance to learn.
Everything is done over the phone.
Now how do they handle something like this forum?

Wy dorn wee go bak t' strine?

Seems everyone is a bit tetchy today.

I agree with most regarding the english language and that it is a work in progress, however we still need a foundation to work from. Without this, we may well end up with a truly cumbersome dictionary with multiple spelling for every word to satisfy all the players and which will require further cross referencing to a thesaurus or such to unravel the meaning of the jumble of letters thrown on the page in front of us.

There is no blame to be laid here and the poor old school teachers are now in the firing line having had basic literacy ruled unneccesary some years ago by our famous educators and of course we now have the back flip.

Unfortunately, if we set low objectives in life, be it the english language or where you want to end up in the scheme of things, it may make it easier to arrive but the end result may not neccesarily be all that satisfying.

The word Urge for instance may be spelt as we discovered as erdge or erge perhaps and all permutations the old brain box can invent but somewhere amongst this we need the basic word and if we decide it should be erdge, then lets do it.

Of course I only speak of the English language, here and not the tortured nuances of that practicsed in the US.

Have a nice day

Twenty five years ago my son had a teacher who marked him wrong on a test when he spelled porridge correctly. She said the correct spelling was porrige. Teacher of youngest son some years later said that it didn't matter how the children spelt or wrote as long as they understood what they had written. I use a fifty year old dictionary when I want to be pedantic about spelling. In that dictionary it said that the letter 'j' was invented to take the place of 'dg' in spelling. I am still waiting to see it used this way.
'Strine' has now evolved into 'Strayan.'
OzeSheila.

Does spelling really matter ? Yes and no. It certainly matters in formal communications, especially if you're the one asking. I once spelt technician "technitian"....and lost out on getting a job (I was young at the time).
If I email a firm asking "f u got thu part nummber xyz34", I can imagine the lack of response.
Appropriate language and spelling are the key to good communications.
That doesn't mean that we can't use colour or color interchangeably, that would be pedantic.
But it does mean that if we put an ad on Ebay for all the world to see, we should try and put our best foot forward.

"Yesterday I couldn't spell it and now I are won."

I just knew this posting would get out of hand

hoo kares?..... (*d*)/` hehe sory dgust koodant rezizt!

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

And then there's ....

I take it you already know
Of tough and bough and cough and dough?

Others may stumble, but not you,
On hiccough, thorough, tough and through.

Well done!
And now you wish perhaps
To learn of less familiar traps?

Beware of heard, a dreadful word
That looks like beard and sounds like bird.

And dead: it's said like bed not bead -
For goodness sake don't call it "deed".

Watch out for meat and great and threat
(They rhyme with suite and straight and debt).

A moth is not a moth in mother
Nor both in bother, broth in brother.

And here is not a match for there,
Nor dear and fear for bear and pear,

And then there's dose and rose and lose-
Just look them up - and goose and choose,

And core and work and card and ward,
And font and front and word and sword.

And do and go and thwart and cart-
Come, Come, I've hardly made a start!

A dreadful language?
Man alive, I'd mastered it when I was five!
(Brush Up your English, by T.S. Watts)

Kids are no longer taught times tables , correct spelling, the difference between upper and lower case, print and cursive and there is no such thing as a pass or fail.
Teaching your kids to those in the position... is know your own problem.
All these laws WE have apparently made to save our brain dead selfs have forgotten one big thing COMMON SENSE!
Teachers are not allowed to fail!!!! Its called "Not yet competent"!
Therefore spelling and puncuation is irrelevant because if you understand what they are saying , ....they're right!
Shiit ( theres that word ill be banned for) but if people dont start doing what is moraly right instead of what s pollitically correct were all buggered! Incorrect spelling of the english language wont only be accepted but an art !!! (like text messages)
I appoligise for all the mistakes but I refuse to use spell check...Otherwise the kids win!
Cheers

Maybe this helps. In my teaching days(secondary) this is how we approached spelling. This is very OT, so don't read any further if it isn't of interest to you. We would spend time on the history of English to show it was a mix of languages resulting in different symbols for the same sounds. We would uise the full Oxford English dictionary to explore changes in meaning and spelling of words over the years. (Kids were always fascinated by the changes in the word "silly"). We would then look at the kinds of examples others have given in this thread that show that we really understand words on context, not mainly by spelling. Having done all that we would set up an agreed policy for marking and learning spelling in the class. It would generally go something like this. Spelling is massively over-rated. There are lots of more important skills that we need to concentrate on (including grammar). BUT because so many people who don't understand language make value judgements based almost entirely on spelling, if you don't want to be dismissed out of hand by these people, you had better learn the conventions. Therefore the teacher (me) will mark spelling and we will put time into learning spelling. BUT it is only al part of English skills. When an essay is set a marking scheme will be given with the topic to show the various things that marks will be given for in this essay. Generally, out of 100 marks for an essay, 10 will be for spelling. Then marks would be allocated depending on the aims for that particular essay. An essay arguing a point for example might have a very different marking system to a creative essay.
Interestingly, while working on literacy with traditional aboriginal men in the NT, I found this approach to be amazingly successful. Most of the men had high language skills, they spoke many different languages but had always struggled to learn to read and write in English They had never understood that English was a mix of languages, which was why it has the baffling spelling system (system is too good a word for it, "chaos" is better) it has. Once the men understood this, it was relatively simple for them to start using skills they already had in dealing with multiple languages when learning reading and writing in English. But that's another story.

Considering the argument he was putting, I just loved the spelling mistake in Willem's post, which nobody seems to have picked up. I don't think it was a typo, it is a long way from an "a" to an "o" on the keyboard.

Willem, never for a moment did I think you were talking about little Chinese soup dumplings.
Isn't it interesting how people who grow up with a couple of languages usually have a much better idea of how English works than those who only speak English. Even more so if the first language is something like Afrikaans which is already a mix of languages. It is also the cause of one of the biggest misunderstandings about"multiculturalism". We know that encouraging immigrants to remain proficient in their own language actually leads to learning English faster and better.
Willem, with your background you have to have some great stories. Are you writing them up somewhere?
Cheers

In the immortal words of Kevin bloody Wilson......... " DILLIGAF"

Look it up you'll laugh like i did LOL

Baz.

I'm surprised this is still going, but it seems to strikes a chord in most of us, be it for or against the formal word.

I suppose the real truth of the matter is that because I had to suffer 2 years of Latin as a youngster in the educative process, I have the right to inflict similar pain on others, however in its defence I certainly appreciate the written word, its derivative structure and what can be achieved in literary description.

One only need to remember the mastery of the English language from the likes of Killen and Whitlam during their parliamentary debates to appreciate the fun you can have with a full and knowledgeable vocabulary

try here.

www.engrish.com/

I think you all need to "Harden The bleep Up"!!

Aha, I now understand why ExplorOz members are so "unqiue".

Olny srmat poelpe can raed this.

I cdnuolt blveiee that I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd what I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy,

it deosn't mttaer in what oredr the ltteers in a word are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is that the first and last ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can still raed it wouthit a porbelm.

This is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the word as a wlohe. Amzanig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt! if you can raed this psas it on!!

yan, tan, titheri, ditheri, mimp, hareters, flareters, hovers, dovers, dick.

Cumbrian dialect counting one to ten. English??

It's a spoken language so spelling is optional.

John L.

Recent research has found atleast two meanings for the word 'erdge'.
1) It is the currency of a remote tribe in Borneo. Therefore the sentence in the original post should be read; "Do you ever have the money to sail a boat"
2) From the Sanskrit the sentence would read "Do you ever have the (desire to have sex with a woman from reading too much Kama Sutra therefore lie about your ability) to sail a boat.