Spelling

[rich p]

When I did Italian evening classes, the tutor spent the first lesson explaining to the us all what an adjective, noun and verb were. Gawd 'elp us.

No-one gets my vote. Noone looks ridiculous.
Peter Noone was Jane Asher's brother I think

 

[Auntie Helen]

do they have hyphens in greek?

Nope, nor punctuation in the early NT manuscripts. They do have lots of accents and breathings though (although not in the early majuscules again).

But of course you didn't want a serious answer. We don't always get what we want

 

[marinyork]

When I did Italian evening classes, the tutor spent the first lesson explaining to the us all what an adjective, noun and verb were. Gawd 'elp us.

Any worse than in other areas though?

 

[Arch]

I believe I am guilty of this
Every single time I type and essay I see countless squiggly red lines under "alot" and "along" yet I allways repeat the mistake.

It wasn't you I was thinking of...

We all make the odd mistake, anyway - with me it's more likely to be because I've typed too fast. It's when you see it over and over and over that it gets to me - same with pedal/peddle and brake/break. Or sometimes, people use both in one post, like they know one of them is wrong, but not which one....

 

[Rhythm Thief]

Peter Noone was Jane Asher's brother I think

And apparently he was once called over a tannoy system as "Peter No-one".

 

[Hover Fly]

I envy people who had enthusiastic teachers of English language.

I had an enthusiastic English teacher. She was enthusiastic about the buddist monk she ran off with, after she had thrown two years of our O-level course work in the bin.

 

[BigonaBianchi]

I'm a good smeller

 

[Funtboy]

There are occasionally some posts on here that include some dreadful spelling. Is this because of laziness, or is it because people just cannot spell anymore ? I am not pointing an accusing finger at anyone, rather just wondering if the idea of "text speak" has really become "computer speak" and is creating a realm where bad spelling and appalling punctuation are the norm ?

Just pondering really

Andrew

Redundant question mark at the end there...

 

[Night Train]

Redundant question mark at the end there...

Maybe it was said with an Australian accent.

I usually write 'no-one' or 'no one' but I used to use a forum where 'noone' was the norm and eventually most posters used it.

 

[punkypossum]

Although my German teachers at Uni both say they really struggle with the Rechtschreibung reforms as they learned to write properly before that! I must admit I'd find that a real problem here if the English could ever sort out a spelling reform (no hope of that, phew!)

That Rechtschreibreform was a nightmare - I left the country before it came into force, but now every time I have to write something in German, I don't know how to spell stuff anymore! Most of the changes don't make any sense either...

 

[montage]

That Rechtschreibreform was a nightmare - I left the country before it came into force, but now every time I have to write something in German, I don't know how to spell stuff anymore! Most of the changes don't make any sense either...

es kaput

 

[Auntie Helen]

That Rechtschreibreform was a nightmare - I left the country before it came into force, but now every time I have to write something in German, I don't know how to spell stuff anymore! Most of the changes don't make any sense either...

Well I think it made things a lot easier, particularly with regard to using ß or ss. And slightly more logical, if a bit weird looking: brennnesseln. Wiki has an interesting article on it. The problem is that they did the reform, then changed it again; the textbook I'm using for my German at Uni was done between the first and second reforms so they spell what now should be 'dass' as 'daß', which adds to the confusion!

 

[Andy in Sig]

I stick with daß partly out of cussedness and partly because it looks better.

The general review was that the reform was utterly unnecessary as everybody knew how to write the language and their is a strong suspicion that it was pushed by the publishing industry, particularly educational publishers, as it meant that loads of textbooks would have to be reprinted and of course bought by schools.

 

[cisamcgu]

Redundant question mark at the end there...

I might be dim, but I didn't know that question marks could be redundant. I always thought that you either needed them (at the end of a question) or you didn't . How can a question mark be redundant ?

(Or am I just being really dim )


Andrew

 

[Auntie Helen]

I stick with daß partly out of cussedness and partly because it looks better.

When I did O Level German (back when dinosaurs roamed the earth) our teacher said not to bother with ß, just to use ss, so I was never taught the correct usage. Somehow I got away with it and finally, a couple of months ago, learned when I should use ß instead of ss, although I'd clearly picked up the general usages just by reading newspapers, etc.

However I'm still a bit hazy, when writing German, whether to use ß or ss. What's a long vowel, after all? Füße, Größe, bloß – surely bloß is a short vowel but I think it's spelled with a ß.