Learning to spell

[20ducks]

I know there are others that never figured it out. You know, "i" before "e" except after "c". However, the following has me confused why people misspell this word: incorrect speling - guage, correct - gauge.

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[key01]

I know there are others that never figured it out. You know, "i" before "e" except after "c". However, the following has me confused why people misspell this word: incorrect speling - guage, correct - gauge.

I see what you did there. Good one!

 

[jtmat]

I know there are others that never figured it out. You know, "i" before "e" except after "c". However, the following has me confused why people misspell this word: incorrect speling - guage, correct - gauge.

We have people on here who have purposefully turned off spell check and WANT everyone to see how they spell. Their sentence structure is normally horrendous anyway, so it does not matter.

With spell check, I'm not sure how people misspell so many words... I can see something like their/there/they're...

End of the day it is a forum... I don't normally point out these issues if I know what the person is saying. I don't always go back and review what I wrote.. so I know sometimes it won't make sense... but hopefully people "get it" and move on. lol

 

[compprep]

Brake vs break is what REALLY gets me, especially on any automotive forum. Spell check doesn't understand the context, but still......

 

[Vlad Soare]

I hate spell checks and always turn them off. Whether I write in English, or in Romanian, or in German, whether on my phone or on my computer, I never use them. I've yet to see one that doesn't annoy me.

English has an interesting characteristic that sets it apart from most other languages. You can get very quickly to a point where you can make yourself understood. Even misspelled words and badly formed sentences can convey your message just fine. Then, as time goes by and you gradually learn its subtleties, your spelling and grammar get increasingly better and better.
Many people think English is an easy, simple language. It's not. It has some extremely fine subtleties. A lot of them, actually. But interestingly, these subtleties aren't strictly required for pure communication purposes. This is what makes it so suitable as an international language.
In other languages you must first learn the subtleties, and only then can you hope to stand a chance to communicate something meaningful.

 

[JimC]

Brake vs break is what REALLY gets me, especially on any automotive forum. Spell check doesn't understand the context, but still......

That and sell or sale -- "I have my car up for sell" or "did you ever sale it?"

Usually with a "wall of text" writing. No sentence structure, no punctuation, no paragraphs. Just a wall of text.

 

[Park]

I shouldn’t talk, but the worst I’ve seen was on a sign at a pawn shop “we have sale fhones”.
A few days later it was corrected.

 

[Vlad Soare]

In all fairness, the fact that spelling rules in English are so chaotic and disconnected from the pronounciation doesn't help either. It isn't easy to learn how to spell correctly when words that are pronounced the same can be spelled in multiple ways without any obvious reason. Or the other way around.
And that's even before we get to regional variations, like spelled/spelt, center/centre, etc.

 

[Tinpot]

I’ve seen a couple of instances where ‘lighted’ was used. As this is a mainly US forum and I’m English I did wonder whether ‘lit’ should have been used or is ‘lighted’ an every day word in US English ?

 

[69mach1-395]

Did you mean 'gage'?

 

[Bugs]

I before E

Except when your feisty foreign neighbor Keith leisurely receives eight counterfeit beige sleighs from caffeinated atheist weightlifters.

Weird.

 

[StangTime]

Let's assume for a minute that not everyone has English as a first language. Given that it's a miracle to even be able to communicate at all. I've been trying to pick up Polish for the last 6 years. I am in my 50's and having a hard time grasping it. Kurwa!

 

[Vlad Soare]

I've been trying to pick up Polish for the last 6 years.

Wow! You're brave.
Slavic languages, particularly the northern variety, are horrendously complicated. Not just compared to English, but compared to almost anything else.
I tried to learn Czech some time ago. I'm usually good at learning foreign languages, but that one proved unbelievably difficult even for me. I would have cracked it eventually if I had kept at it, but it required so much effort and, most importantly, so much time, that I had to give up.
I have no personal experience with Polish, but can't imagine it being any easier.
Best of luck with that!

 

[Burkey]

English is easy…just ask a teacher…
(I wonder if you guys might see some regional differences raise their head through the simple act of changing the accent?)

 

[Vlad Soare]

What particularly annoys me is the habit of using incorrect words in order to appear smarter - a disease that, sadly, is starting to leak from corporate environments into everyday language.
Like, "I've sent you an invite". No, you haven't. "Invite" is a verb, you can't send it. What you've sent me is an invitation. Or, "I'm a team lead". No, you're not. "Lead" is a verb. It's something you do, not something you are. You can't be one. What you are is a leader.
Or my favorite one, which really gets on my nerves, "this product will be sunset on December 31st". Huh? Not only is "sunset" a noun, so using it as a participle is already a major flaw to begin with, but its meaning has nothing to do with this context. Unless you're specifically talking about the disappearance of the Sun behind the horizon, the word "sunset" has no place in your sentence. Discontinued, you pretentious show-off, discontinued is what it's going to be! Or killed off. Or whatever. But not sunset. Whoever coined this stupid expression in the corporate world deserves to be lapidated.

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