Standard of spelling

[vyv_cox]

Sorry, don\'t see the connection

What are you saying? Two fingered typists can't spell? Totally untrue. You are welcome to search the archives for my contributions and, although I cannot claim to be typo free, I will buy you a pint for every spelling mistake of mine that you can find. I type with two fingers.

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[cameronke]

Re: Sorry, don\'t see the connection

I type with one finger (though left hand does the shift as required) and cant spell. Is there any hope for me? I do like to sail (two handed though)

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[ericw]

Right !

After a long lunch (well, long for me !) I feel it's time to add something to the debate !

1) Language/use of language can change - grammar is similar to maths (or should that be math for our US cousins ?) - grammar provides the skeleton for the language. Words/idiomatic usage can change - grammar rules rarely change !

2) Can we please remember that English is derived from Latin, so can we please talk about fora and not forums and for God/Allah's sake, stadia and not stadiums !

3) Why do people use 'would' in the 1st person singular and plural when 'should' is the correct version of the conditional ?

4) Who really cares and wouldn't you (2nd person familiar) rather be out on the water ?

Best regards and fair red wine to you all !

Eric.

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[Artemis]

Re: Sorry, don\'t see the connection

Touch typing (ten-fingers) is automatic - as you hear or read you type without thinking about the keyboard. If you type with two fingers and need to look at the keyboard then surely your thoughts are not entirely with the subject you are trying to discuss? I'm suggesting that may be the explanation for imperfect grammar/spelling sometimes. I am very well aware that there are quite a lot of people who do type with two fingers accurately and speedily. However, there are a lot who don't!

I'll pass on the pints.

P.S. I type with ten fingers!



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[bedouin]

Re: Two Fingers or Ten?

Ten fingers is totally unnecessary - I only use nine.

One of the oddities of the QWERTY keyboard is that it was designed to slow down typing by putting all the keys in the wrong place, and relegating the 2 most versatile digits to just pressing a single key.



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[Artemis]

Re: Two Fingers or Ten?

<One of the oddities of the QWERTY keyboard is that it was designed to slow down typing by putting all the keys in the wrong place>

You learn something new on this forum most days. I've been using a keyboard for thirty years and never knew that. If they are in the wrong place that probably accounts for the odd typographical error I make!

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[Gunfleet]

Re: Guilty as charged!

If he ricordo the genitivo anglosassone he'd be a lot better educated than most Englishmen about it. Most of our fellow countrymen don't understand cases at all, which is why they can't use who and whom. Does Italian have an ablativo and a dativo?

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[Gunfleet]

Eric, re 3 they use would and not should to change the mood from indicative to subjunctive by auxiliary, like falloir and devoir. My son's French teacher told him there was no subjunctive in English. I told him to reply to the man, 'Would that it were so.' Sailing this weekend?

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[Sybarite]

<< Can we please remember that English is derived from Latin>>

To be slightly pedantic, English is a hotch potch of languages with various influences of which Latin is admittedly important.

The example that gets me is the use of "media" as a singular noun.

I remember working for one of the big 8 accounting firms (as they were then rather than the final 4 now). The American senior partner wanted to standardize the use of English throughout the world and distributed a list of "acceptable" spellings. Apart from "amercanisms" many of the examples were purely wrong. I finally left when the eejit decided that only nationals were promotable in their own territories (as did most of the other expatriate managers).

While I am on the subject/rant of American firms ( I worked for several) I found that their super management system was based on " here is your target - always 20% above what you put in the budget and so the budget was drawn up accordingly - and if you are not capable of meeting it we will find somebody who can - and if you need to ask me how to do it then I don't need to employ somebody as expensive as you"...

John




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[surekandoo]

OMG! This has all got far `too serious, and not my original intention.

Where's all the humour gone, where's the wit, the repartee?

I wish I'd never posted the first now.

:-?

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[upstream]

Don't worry old chap, I have a boat built in 81, the original invoice shows the name shall be painted on the transon as "stiletto" what was actually written was "stilletto". It is still the same today howeve rthe dogers are spelt "stiletto2 bur who cares!!

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[MainlySteam]

Re: To boldly go ......

My ego prevents me from feigning ignorance - I see that I slipped up, I had the opportunity to create a fourth split infinitive in my post but missed it!

John

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[MainlySteam]

Re: To boldly go ......

Actually Cynthia, your example is a split infinity, not a split infinitive eg "...to boldly go where no man has been before... Warp speed please Scotty"

John

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[Metabarca]

Re: ablative

The ablative and dative appear in Italian only in pronouns (as in English, let's say). Italians are lazy with their subjunctive too. The language that takes the biscuit, however, is Slovene: cases as in Latin, verbs every which way as in German and not only a singular and plural (with cases) but a dual to boot. So the adjective 'zelena' (green), for instance, has 27 possible endings... although in practice you have a one in five chance of getting it write as these endings are always a vowel. Plus vocabulary that resembles nothing on God's earth: Odplutem jadro colnu in krenitem morja means 'I hoist my sail and set off to sea', but I've probably got some endings wrong. Don't be too hard on me!

<hr width=100% size=1><A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.comoy.com/saillinks.html>http://www.comoy.com/saillinks.html</A>

 

[cynthia]

Re: To boldly go ......

Sorry, so lazy I assumed everyone knew the rest of the quote!

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[cynthia]

Re: To boldly go ......

Oh boy am I slow this morning! Only just got the joke (and it's definitely on me!!). Nice one. Off for a walk on the beach to clear my head.

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[Gunfleet]

v. impressed at the Slovene nm

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[Sybarite]

Re: ablative

While we are on the subject of obscure languages it is interesting to note, and to consider the implications of, the surprising similarities between Basque (the oldest language in Europe pre-dating the Indo-European languages) and that of the Ainu people, an Aryan race of bear worshippers who migrated to Japan about 7000 years ago.

John

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[Gunfleet]

Re: Two Fingers or Ten?

I think you're right Artemis. I'm a good speller, if I say so myself, but like lots of people I make bizarre mistakes when typing which I would never make when writing longhand. Why? I’ve the feeling the typewriting must be controlled by a different (perhaps more conscious) part of the brain. After all I was taught to write in the early fifties with a chalk and slate, not a keyboard!

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[ArthurWood]

Re: ablative

And did you know that the only modern language that Basque is related to is Georgian? In fact the Republic of Georgia was once called Iveria. Nowadays the alphabets are totally different from each other. And did you know that Stalin's favourite wine was a Georgian red called Xvanchkara, which doesn't keep very well, by the way. But I digress.........

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