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Tag Archives: spelling

November 14, 2015
by gpointon
3 Comments

What’s brown and sticky?

As every British seven year old knows, the answer is “a stick”. We can add -y to almost any word to make it mean something like ‘like a …’ or ‘quite …’, rather like -ish. Generally we add just the … Continue reading →

Categories: Language | Tags: english, pronunciation, speech, spelling | Permalink

April 21, 2015
by gpointon
3 Comments

Eggcorns and spell checkers

I’m not sure whether errors of spelling or grammar introduced to a text by spell checkers are eggcorns in the same way as those caused by a misunderstanding in the mind of a person, but here are two that I’ve … Continue reading →

Categories: Language | Tags: english, spelling | Permalink

April 19, 2015
by gpointon
1 Comment

Lewis Carroll and Walt Disney

It gets worse! Walt Disney couldn’t even spell his nom-de-plume. This is a still from the beginning of the cartoon version of the book.

Categories: Language, Names | Tags: english, family name, spelling | Permalink

December 10, 2014
by gpointon
0 comments

An English educational website

I’ve just come across this website: http://www.primaryhomeworkhelp.co.uk/ It contains an amazing amount of information about Britain, its history, geography, etc, including the way in which the Union flag was developed, stage by stage, which I don’t think I’ve ever seen … Continue reading →

Categories: Language | Tags: english, punctuation, spelling | Permalink

August 11, 2014
by gpointon
4 Comments

Confusing place names

We’re used, in the British Isles, to place names that have more than one pronunciation – Shrewsbury (/ˈʃrəʊzbÉ™ri/~/ˈʃruːzbÉ™ri/) is probably the best known, although those with long memories will recall that there was a veiled threat to my position over … Continue reading →

Categories: Language, Names | Tags: journalists, place names, pronunciation, speech, spelling | Permalink

October 5, 2013
by Graham
3 Comments

Interview on spelling

I’ve recently read this newspaper interview with a professor of General Linguistics. Q: Do we have a low level of spelling? A: In general, yes. Above all, young people. It’s more – it’s one of the perennial problems, our major … Continue reading →

Categories: Language | Tags: spelling | Permalink

April 28, 2013
by Graham
6 Comments

Dental fricatives

I’ve been watching Lucy Worsley’s latest TV series on the monarchy – “Fit to Rule”. Dr Worsley is the Chief Curator of Historic Royal Palaces, and this is not the first series she has presented. They all seem well researched, … Continue reading →

Categories: Language | Tags: bbc, dialect, english, place names, pronunciation, speech, spelling | Permalink

December 31, 2012
by Graham
3 Comments

Another proposed new spelling system

I’ve just found this on the BBC website. In case anyone has problems linking to it, it says ‘Learning a language is often tricky, particularly when it comes to spelling new words. “The Spell As You Pronounce Universal Project” (SAYPU) … Continue reading →

Categories: French, Language | Tags: english, spelling | Permalink

November 24, 2012
by Graham
17 Comments

Back to English spelling

One of the problems with English spelling is the number of borrowings there have been from other languages. It is often said that English should follow the lead of languages like Spanish, that spell as they are pronounced. Leaving aside … Continue reading →

Categories: Language, Spanish | Tags: english, pronunciation, speech, spelling | Permalink

October 19, 2012
by Graham
11 Comments

What the ‘ll’

I’ve written before about the name Purcell, and the evidence that indicates it must originally have been pronounced with first syllable stress, but it isn’t the only name ending in –ell to be stressed in this way: Marvell, Durrell, Cavell, … Continue reading →

Categories: Language, Names | Tags: english, family name, spelling | Permalink

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