Tuesday, April 18, 2023

Words

I recently read the word  patriachal at a very respected blogger who I could not imagine misspelling any word. Spell checker did not like the word at all and suggested patriarchal, adding an r before the c. I've no idea, and I would appreciate patriachal and non patriarchal views. 

In a Trumpian manner, I refuse to concede that my spelling of souveneir is wrong. The internet and another  respected blogger tells me I am wrong.  I am an average speller but it is a word I know how to spell.  'Tis wot I learned. 

I now understand the spelling confusion of program/programme. 

You program a computer. You may program something to happen. But if you are listening to the radio, you may be listening to a radio programme, or you may be at the theatre and buy a programme (always for a usurious amount). 

At school I once threw a disc and nearly killed Mr Embling, my Physical Education teacher. He was tall, fit, curly haired blond, blue eyed and American. Did I obsessively think  about Mr Embling? Oh yes, but then without really knowing why. 

Actually, it may have been called a discus.  But a round thingie is a disc and the spinning around thing in this machine where I type is a disk.  I am happy with that. 

I was not in the poshest part of our big city, and the northern suburban school boys on the tram were pronouncing the word asked as arsed. "You arsed him." "I didn't arse him". Is that a sexual expression? I thought I knew everything about the kinks of sex, but I really don't know how to arse someone. Please do not give an explanation YP

I was just on the balcony and watched a tram turn from St Kilda Road into Toorak Road. I thought how gracefully it glid around the corner. Sure enough, spell check does not like glid, but that is how I learnt it and it is apparently allowed for Scrabble. To me, glided around the corner sounds wrong, if not just ugly.

Anyway, thanks for your attention and being oriented and not orientated.

35 comments:

  1. Ha, yes.
    Slid not slided, yet glided not glid. Such is language.
    I would have said patriarch with an "r".

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    1. JayCee, patriarchal is not a word I've ever written but I just naturally spelt it with an r. A diligent blogger would check it with OED, but clearly I am not.

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  2. Language evolved over time. People keep rewriting rules and invent new words as well. Can't keep up.

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    1. Roentare, I use new words but I am not changing my spelling.

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  3. American vs English spelling, too. Like Aluminum and Aluminium. Program is the american spelling and was adopted when computers became a thing. I haven't heard 'arse' instead of ask but 'arks' gets my goat. My brother used to teach at a snotty private boys school - I'll arse him!

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    1. Caro, you brother will not know if he teaches at private boys school. Yes, that is the essence of program but I've found my way to adjust, as with disc and disk.

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  4. This is the sort of stocking filler that gives blogging a bad name, but grown journalists have been paid for slighter stuff so who can blame you?

    PS: fine with "glid" by analogy with "slid." I'm a fan of having as many "strong verbs" as possible - even if in this case it is a false reconstruction cos it was once "glod."

    Not a spelling issue but when I was a teacher I faced schoolboy* accusations when I pronounced "ate" (as in "he ate a cake:) as (let's leave IPA symbols out of it) "et."

    *(it was a boys' school)

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    1. Neither glid nor glod is in any of my dictionaries nor my thesaurus.

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    2. Click bait MC? You clicked!
      Glided, glod. I can appreciate that.
      My grandfather used to say "et". I have written the word in my blog in years past, much to Victor's annoyance.

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    3. River, I would expect glid to be in British English dictionaries at least.

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    4. Mine is English, It's the one my eldest had in high school.

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  5. Although I would never use "program" myself, I understand that is totally optional these days. But "glid" should be totally unacceptable

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  6. I know there both grammar and spelling error on my blog. I feel like most blogger they want to share their life with other bloggers.
    I live close to Canada and notice some of their words are spelled different like cheque and here it spelled check.
    Coffee is on and stay safe.

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    1. Dora, yes we spell much as Canadians do and certainly for us it is a cheque, not that anyone here uses them anymore.

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  7. Patriarchal with two 'r's', souvenir with only the one 'e', the throwing item is a discus, and I have never heard glid. I would write glided, perhaps spellcheck thought you meant slid? Where on earth did you learn glid?
    Too many people skip the 'k' and say arsed instead of asked and some Americans say axed. "I axed him and he said no."

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    1. I learnt glid when I was young, River. I think being arsed might be preferable to being axed.

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  8. It's a total stuff up if you ask me Andrew...lol.
    Patriarchal, Programme, Souvenier, Asked and Glided.
    That's how I spell those words, but it doesn't really matter - we all know what we mean Andrew.

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    1. It is a stuff Margaret. You spell souvenier, which is how I wanted to spell it and thought I must have, but the net convinced me souveneir was an alternative.

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    2. yet my dictionary says souvenir with only the one 'e'.

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  9. Idiosyncrasies in all versions of English, though I don't like 'dove' instead of 'dived'. I know it's logical but it just sounds wrong to me.

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    1. Dove is an interesting one JabBlog. I would opt for dove, as dived just sounds wrong to me.

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  10. English, it is really a simple language, at first.

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    1. We English speakers don't get it TP. Hell for non native speakers.

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  11. One usage I heard for the first time about 20 years ago is "I can't be arsed" meaning "can't be bothered to get up off my ... to do something". I like that one and have even used it. Very descriptive. I can't be arsed to write a longer comment.

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    1. Tasker, my unreliable memory tells me arsed with that usage has been around longer than that here.

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  12. Google doesn't like a lot of my Canadian spelling so half the time I don't know when I have actually made a spelling mistake.

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    1. Pat, it is a constant battle here. We are lucky if can set something to Australian English, but even British English helps overcome that problem. Right. I just checked. In Google settings, found at the three small dots, top right of the screen, you can change the language to Canadian English, as I can change ours to Australian and I can also change the spell checker to Australian English.

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    2. three small dots, I'll set mine right now.

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  13. Hah, I turned OFF text prediction and Writing assistance. I'm so fed up wth little popups telling me I may need a comma here or a full stop there etc

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    1. River, it can be annoying but sometimes helpful. I am happy with just spell check.

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  14. Languages (not just the American and British English) are baffling. More than spelling, the usage. It's also constantly evolving. An expression or usage might be okay in one region but not okay in another, and vice versa.

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    1. Very true Pradeep. We can never fully understand our language.

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  15. Blogger used to have a spell check button. No longer. I'm often too lazy to spell check other ways. Glid makes sense in your usage rather than glided. Use it as you like, and maybe it one day is included in language. I'm not sure who makes the language rules or changes them over time.

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    1. Strayer, I have a memory of that. I don't know what does it but my blog is spell checked as I type.

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