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English is weird
Is it cold in here?:
--- Quote from: cesium133 on 16 Nov 2020, 19:16 ---'I' before 'E', except after 'C', unless it sounds like 'A' like in 'neighbor' or 'weigh'.
Or it's weird.
--- End quote ---
Any foreign observer, or anyone named "Keith", if caffeinated enough to become feisty would make you receive notification that this rule is unscientific and bad for society. It's just a weird counterfeit of a rule.
hedgie:
If Stephen Fry wasn't shitting me, there are actually more exceptions than examples.
cesium133:
--- Quote from: Is it cold in here? on 18 Nov 2020, 14:18 ---
--- Quote from: cesium133 on 16 Nov 2020, 19:16 ---'I' before 'E', except after 'C', unless it sounds like 'A' like in 'neighbor' or 'weigh'.
Or it's weird.
--- End quote ---
Any foreign observer, or anyone named "Keith", if caffeinated enough to become feisty would make you receive notification that this rule is unscientific and bad for society. It's just a weird counterfeit of a rule.
--- End quote ---
Keith is weird.
Gyrre:
--- Quote from: hedgie on 18 Nov 2020, 14:29 ---If Stephen Fry wasn't shitting me, there are actually more exceptions than examples.
--- End quote ---
How's the quote go?
"English is the result of Norman man-at-arms attempting to pick up Saxon barmaids. And the result is no more legitimate."
Something like that.
Tova:
--- Quote ---
I before e, except after c
Or when sounded as 'a' as in 'neighbor' and 'weigh'
Unless the 'c' is part of a 'sh' sound as in 'glacier'
Or it appears in comparatives and superlatives like 'fancier'
And also except when the vowels are sounded as 'e' as in 'seize'
Or 'i' as in 'height'
Or also in '-ing' inflections ending in '-e' as in 'cueing'
Or in compound words as in 'albeit'
Or occasionally in technical words with strong etymological links to their parent languages as in 'cuneiform'
Or in other numerous and random exceptions such as 'science', 'forfeit', and 'weird'.
--- End quote ---
https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/i-before-e-except-after-c
I never liked those naff and archaic rhymey things teachers tried to make us memorise:
“Thirty days HATH September blah blah blah”
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