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Post by Count Zero on Dec 22, 2007 21:29:56 GMT -4
Four sum raisin, may spill-chigger doze nut seam too whork. Eye have a spel chequer, it shags the spalling four mea. That's "Eye halve a . . ." Still, you get a lot of extra points for being a non-native english speaker. Perhaps it is the story of Ladle Rat Rotten Hut.
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reynoldbot
Jupiter
A paper-white mask of evil.
Posts: 790
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Post by reynoldbot on Dec 23, 2007 8:01:18 GMT -4
I just learned how to spell and type when I was young. Now I get to lord it over my illiterate friends. Me, too. Now, I quite admit that English is a very difficult language to spell. And, yes, all those spellcheck examples are well-taken. But I despair, sometimes, about what people learn in school, since it clearly isn't grammar, spelling, or science. Yeah I've been in school for nearly 18 years and I'm still not quite sure what I was supposed to be learning all that time.
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Al Johnston
"Cheer up!" they said, "It could be worse!" So I did, and it was.
Posts: 1,453
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Post by Al Johnston on Dec 23, 2007 9:30:28 GMT -4
I learned most of my English grammar from Latin lessons: "English" was mostly comprehension and literature ...
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Post by Ginnie on Dec 23, 2007 13:01:31 GMT -4
Me, too. Now, I quite admit that English is a very difficult language to spell. And, yes, all those spellcheck examples are well-taken. But I despair, sometimes, about what people learn in school, since it clearly isn't grammar, spelling, or science. Yeah I've been in school for nearly 18 years and I'm still not quite sure what I was supposed to be learning all that time. If you come out of it with common sense, you've earned your education. Looks like you're doing pretty good in that department so far. I've often wondered what kids learn in high school. They have grade 12 but seemingly don't know any science, English, or Math. How do they graduate? Grmcdorman, my son is going to apply to U of T and McMaster. He wants to take Commerce and Finances and get his MBA.
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Jason
Pluto
May all your hits be crits
Posts: 5,579
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Post by Jason on Dec 23, 2007 13:39:11 GMT -4
Anglo-saxon is very easy to spell. It's the infusion of Norman French that made English so illogical.
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Post by nomuse on Dec 23, 2007 18:24:26 GMT -4
And the imposition of Latin.
Does make me wonder what exactly is supposed to be the strong suit of American Education. Science? Ridiculous. English? Ask any college prof or business employer dealing with high school grads. Math? 'Nuff said, I think! Arts and Music? Oh, but those were cut back to put MORE into the "core curriculum."
Okay, I'm being cranky. I shouldn't post before first coffee.
My brother's kids are in grade school right now and I am AMAZED at all the stuff they are learning. Even envious, I think!
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Post by Ginnie on Dec 23, 2007 18:34:36 GMT -4
Anglo-saxon is very easy to spell. It's the infusion of Norman French that made English so illogical. Easy to spell? You mean like, church, chirche, cherche, cherch, kyrk, kirk, kirke, churche, kyrke, or chyrche? Spelling didn't begin to be standardised in the English language till well into the sixteenth century. It didn't seem to be that important. It seemed natural that people from different parts of England had different spellings, words and styles of speaking or writing. Until dictionaries were in common use, spelling was chaotic. NOTE: church is not a Norman french deriviative, but has W. Germanic roots via Latin and Greek. EDIT: Don't blame everything on the French!
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Post by Ginnie on Dec 23, 2007 18:46:24 GMT -4
And the imposition of Latin. Does make me wonder what exactly is supposed to be the strong suit of American Education. Science? Ridiculous. English? Ask any college prof or business employer dealing with high school grads. Math? 'Nuff said, I think! Arts and Music? Oh, but those were cut back to put MORE into the "core curriculum." Okay, I'm being cranky. I shouldn't post before first coffee. My brother's kids are in grade school right now and I am AMAZED at all the stuff they are learning. Even envious, I think! Getting kids to read is the key. All parents should have lots of books in their house, take their kids to the library. Buy board books for the infants so that holding them seems as natural as reading, even if they prefer to chew them. Read stories to your toddlers at night, so that one day soon they also want to read them. Teach them to read yourself, don't wait for their schooling to do it. Get them chapter books, encourage them to write their own stories and illustrate them too. If reading and writing are integrated into a daily part of their lives by the time they are three or four, you have a good chance of them continuing on the reading and writing throughout their education process. Don't rely entirely on teachers to educate them. I repeat that, DON'T. I was talking with my brother and law about teens and young people getting so much misinformation because of the web. He asked me if in the past books did the same thing. I replied that when I was ten or fifteen or twenty years old, I had to physically go to a library, or bookstore and make effort to find reading material. Today they peruse YouTube and come across Hoax or Conspiracy videos effortlessly and think its true. All with just a few mouse clicks.
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Post by pzkpfw on Dec 23, 2007 20:27:44 GMT -4
...If reading and writing are integrated into a daily part of their lives by the time they are three or four, you have a good chance of them continuing on the reading and writing throughout their education process. Don't rely entirely on teachers to educate them. I repeat that, DON'T. ... Today they peruse YouTube and come across Hoax or Conspiracy videos effortlessly and think its true. All with just a few mouse clicks. When my Daughter was in Kindergarten (is that capitalised?) the kids would gather 'round her while she read to them. At 5 when she started Primary school her reading age was around 8 or 9. ...and her teacher practical accused my wife and I of spoiling her "enjoyment" of books by having her read above her age! (Grrr!) Luckily that attitude has passed; and while my daughters reading age is now not so far "above" calendar age... her ability to do things like read from the internet and separate the wheat from the chaff is huge. Books and more books.
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Post by BertL on Dec 23, 2007 20:46:16 GMT -4
When my Daughter was in Kindergarten (is that capitalised?) the kids would gather 'round her while she read to them. Story of my life. My aunt (who has practically been somewhat of a third parent to me) started teaching me how to read when I was about three. I must have really enjoyed learning that fancy stuff about letters and words and everything, because I was able to read some simple stories in the first year of Kindergarten (it's capitalized if it's German; all nouns are capitalized in the German language). My aunt told me a few months ago about how I came home and said i had read a story for everyone else, and all of the other kids in the class clapped. My aunt didn't know I was actually supposed to be learning that stuff at age 6 on school. I don't complain, though. Looking back to it you could say I more or less used these two extra years to improve my Dutch, and start with some fundatons for English. I remember writing up all the English words I was able to translate; I have no idea how old I was though. EDIT: I sure talk a lot. I don't want to sound arrogant or anything; I just like telling stories, and I know my own best.
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Jason
Pluto
May all your hits be crits
Posts: 5,579
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Post by Jason on Dec 23, 2007 21:09:24 GMT -4
Anglo-saxon is very easy to spell. It's the infusion of Norman French that made English so illogical. Easy to spell? You mean like, church, chirche, cherche, cherch, kyrk, kirk, kirke, churche, kyrke, or chyrche? Exactly. It's very easy to spell correctly when there is no standardized spelling. Actually what I mean is that there are no silent letters in anglo-saxon. That e at the end of "kirke" is voiced. That makes it spell like it sounds. Modern German and Dutch are also very easy to spell for the same reason.
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Post by Ginnie on Dec 23, 2007 21:19:15 GMT -4
Easy to spell? You mean like, church, chirche, cherche, cherch, kyrk, kirk, kirke, churche, kyrke, or chyrche? Exactly. It's very easy to spell correctly when there is no standardized spelling. Actually what I mean is that there are no silent letters in anglo-saxon. That e at the end of "kirke" is voiced. That makes it spell like it sounds. Modern German and Dutch are also very easy to spell for the same reason. For some strange reason, I'm finding that what you're saying makes sense, at least how it applies to the evolution of language. Cheers!
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Jason
Pluto
May all your hits be crits
Posts: 5,579
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Post by Jason on Dec 23, 2007 21:29:49 GMT -4
EDIT: Don't blame everything on the French! And I only blame the French for what they are guilty of. It's not my fault they're guilty of so much.
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Post by LunarOrbit on Dec 23, 2007 21:36:14 GMT -4
The strangest word in the English language (in my opinion) is "colonel". It makes no sense at all... who do we blame for it?
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Post by Count Zero on Dec 23, 2007 21:53:13 GMT -4
EDIT: Don't blame everything on the French! And I only blame the French for what they are guilty of. It's not my fault they're guilty of so much. ;D
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