Heh, I have fought against this “rule” for too long. I say that any “rule” that has so many exceptions with neither rhyme nor reason is no rule at all. It is hardly even a decent guideline. Worthless, IMO.
Well I improved my chance of spelling restaurant correctly by thinking of the word as meaning the thing which restores you. That with the knowledge that there is a u somewhere in there which I blaim on the French, leads me to get it right occasionally.
Thoroughly used to be impossible until I realized it was really the combination of the two words Thor Roughly, which makes perfect sense to me.
When you double or do not double a letter makes no sence to me, as does the use of -se or -ce at the end of words meking the same sound.
Has anyone even better ideas for causing me to faint while Dyslex tries to figure this out? (no joke… I must not even try to read this).
Is this a new form of torture?
Salaam. A
This list leaves much to be desired. I’d also like to see on what order of magnitude it is outclassed by the list of words that contain an “i before e.”
Re: OP, Yeah, wierd sucks.
Oh yeah, I missed conscience, science, society, specie, and species.
Certainly this is the most trivial spelling rant ever on these boards.
Am I the only one who suddenly had a flashback of Snoopy playing a jaw harp upon reading this?
(If I recall correctly, Linus also tossed in codeine and caffeine)
The i before e rule is a rule of thumb for learning to spell digraphs, or constructions in which the two letters function together to make a single sound. Thus, words such as science, weird, or society don’t fall under the rule, as the two letters occur in two different syllables and make two different sounds.
This rule of thumb is intended to be used by people just learning common ie/ei words (ie, elementary school students), and is fairly reliable for that purpose. It becomes less reliable as less commonly used words are added to the list, true but as new words are added to one’s use vocabulary, they can be learned on a case by case basis.
I am guilty as charged. I’m one of the people who can never remember how to spell “weird”, or “occaision” for that matter. I’ve also see “guarantee” spelled two different ways in the same official document. I’ve just double-checked “occaision” in the dictionary, by the way, and even though my dictionary has it spelled that way, it still looks wrong to me. I also use too many run-on sentences, and I have a weakness for semicolons.
It could be worse, though, folks. I like Weirdave, I am afflicted with people who misspell my handle, some of them people I quite like. I will also shame-facedly admit that when I signed up with this handle at a different messageboard, I misspelled it myself. Talk about having to go grovelling to a moderator! :o
Siege
I’d always thought the rule was -
I before E, except after C
And when sounding like A
As in Neighbor and Weigh
And you’ll always be wrong
No matter what you say
For a few months, I was actually an assistant editor at Weird Tales. I dealt with far too many letters adressed to Wierd Tales. It’s even more annoying when you know that the person misspelling weird is looking at the proper spelling when copying the street address. The boss often joked about publishing a humor issue entitled Wierd Tales, or a coffee and caffeine themed issue Wired Tales.
Isn’t “i before e except after c” an ancient rule? And I think “wierd” is on its way to becoming an accepted alternate spelling.
I wouldn’t call it ancient. IMHO English spelling hasn’t been standardised long enough for any of the rules to be ancient. I actually support the acceptance of alternate spellings (lite, nite, etc). English is a rich language due to having both Latinate and Germanic elements (Asimov wrote a fine article on this). But this makes spelling massively confusing. However when the correct spelling of weird is on the same page as the address, and the person is submitting a manuscript, it’s just annoying to see wierd.
Doc–Let me explain the ancient concept of being “whoooshed”
I disagree that this constitutes a whoosh. Outside of formal writing, many alternate spellings are becoming accepted. I took your use of the word ancient to mean that you thought the rule was archaic and should be done away with.
No, I was using the word ancient as an example of when “i before e except after c” ** doesn’t apply**. Do I have to hit you over the head with a wierd, ancient beast?
Ah, I see. I believe the proper response is :smack:
I’ve made up a couple of other mnemonic devices people might find useful.
“Liaison”: imagine that the a is acting as a go-between for the two i’s.
“Discrete” and “discreet”. Not sure which spelling fits your intended meaning? With “discrete”, imagine the t separating the two e’s into discrete units. With “discreet”, imagine the two e’s whispering discreetly together. Childish, but it works for me.
And imagine that the school principal is your pal. He probably isn’t, but let’s pretend he is.
I think you’re all a bit queir.
Or is it quier?