Ginevra Posted November 2, 2013 Share Posted November 2, 2013 I would have spelled it "occassionally." Not "occasionally," that my spellcheck constantly reminds me is somehow incorrect, but with two "s"es, which is clearly way more logical and would save me a lot of trouble. :001_tt2: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SJ. Posted November 2, 2013 Share Posted November 2, 2013 I beg to differ, with two letter "s"es the a would be a short thus putting "ass" right in the middle of the word. :huh: :driving: :laugh: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farrar Posted November 2, 2013 Share Posted November 2, 2013 If I wrote the spell checkers, I would teach them to catch all the ways I have misspelled nessessarily nesessarily necessairly necessarally necessarily... that's it... ;) over the years. Half the time, the computer doesn't even know and there's nothing more embarrassing that that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pod's mum Posted November 2, 2013 Share Posted November 2, 2013 I'd actually prefer that Doctor Johnson had NEVER written his dang DICTIONARY. Before that words did not have such fixed spellings. Shakespeare apparently signed his name with as many different spellings as I have inadvertantly used for him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted November 2, 2013 Share Posted November 2, 2013 I'd actually prefer that Doctor Johnson had NEVER written his dang DICTIONARY. Before that words did not have such fixed spellings. Shakespeare apparently signed his name with as many different spellings as I have inadvertantly used for him. Yes, I've thought that before. It would be kinda cool to spell organically. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julie Smith Posted November 3, 2013 Share Posted November 3, 2013 They had a horrible history skit with Shakespeare giving a spelling bee. Of courses all the kids did well since the judges were saying things such as, "yup, sounds okay to me". At the end shakespeare pointed out that he didn't care how his name was written. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyingiguana Posted November 3, 2013 Share Posted November 3, 2013 Traveler vs traveller? Traveler looks to me like it ought to be pronounced tra-vuh-leer. Thank you, Word, for standardizing that to something that makes no sense. The spelling makes more sense in the UK than it does in the US. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted November 3, 2013 Share Posted November 3, 2013 I would have spelled it "occassionally." Not "occasionally," that my spellcheck constantly reminds me is somehow incorrect, but with two "s"es, which is clearly way more logical and would save me a lot of trouble. :confused1: How are you pronouncing the word? I have never heard anybody say "occassionally" with a short a in the middle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyingiguana Posted November 3, 2013 Share Posted November 3, 2013 :confused1: How are you pronouncing the word? I have never heard anybody say "occassionally" with a short a in the middle. But I haven't heard of the double consonant = short vowel sound in great big words like occasion. It's English. Our motto: Spell what you feel like. Pronounce however. What bothers me, I guess, is that a certain someone's "spell what I feel like" got entrenched as a standard. True, it makes reading faster, but it's annoying when writing. About that double consonant -- to my eyes, travel is a short word. The E is sort of short (kind of falls in that category just because it's not long, I guess). So traveler with one L looks dumb. But occasionally is long enough (maybe not Anglo-Saxon enough looking?) that the spelling could be whatever it wants. We could talk about "long" vs "short" vowels too. Anybody want to take that on? It's got nothing to do with length. It's just a different sound to begin with. I can say a short vowel as long as I want. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted November 3, 2013 Share Posted November 3, 2013 :confused1: How are you pronouncing the word? I have never heard anybody say "occassionally" with a short a in the middle. It's not that I'm spelling it according to a phonics rule or pronouncing it an unusual way. It's that double-c and double-s looks correct to me. Take another word that I'm prone to spelling wrong: occurrence. Two cs. Two rs. It looks balanced (BTW, another word I constantly spell wrong, as I want to write "balenced") with the two doubles. "Occur" is just one r. But "occurrence" is two. Occasion? One "s" - looks like it's missing something. It's English. Our motto: Spell what you feel like. Pronounce however. Nicely said. When we were choosing my son's name, I consulted Social Security statistics to see if Collin with one "l" or double-l was standard. The verdict: 50/50. I like it better written with the double-l's; plus one "l" appears to be the name COLE-in. Strangely enough, though, we run in to far more Colins (one "l") than Collins (with two), though none are pronouncing the "o" as a long vowel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SJ. Posted November 3, 2013 Share Posted November 3, 2013 I think the key here is vowels at the end of a syllable usually say their name (or their long sound or their second sound).* If occurrence had one "r" I would try to pronounce it oc-cu-rence but I can see how you could say oc-cur-ence. Spelling is weird. It is easy to get confused - is it definite or definate? Why do I always want to spell that one with an "a"? :laugh: *Yes, we use Spalding :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SJ. Posted November 3, 2013 Share Posted November 3, 2013 When we were choosing my son's name, I consulted Social Security statistics to see if Collin with one "l" or double-l was standard. The verdict: 50/50. I like it better written with the double-l's; plus one "l" appears to be the name COLE-in. Strangely enough, though, we run in to far more Colins (one "l") than Collins (with two), though none are pronouncing the "o" as a long vowel. This reminds me that a family member of mine has totally disregarded any type of phonics rules when naming her children using "air" for an "er" or "or" sound and "eigh" for a long E sound. Drives me crazy because every time I read the names I automatically say "air" and "(long) A" at the ends of the names out of habit. I'm weird though, so there ya go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seasider Posted November 3, 2013 Share Posted November 3, 2013 If I wrote the English language, "ough" would have exactly ONE sound associated with it. I don't care which, but I'd just pick one and stick with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matryoshka Posted November 4, 2013 Share Posted November 4, 2013 If I wrote the English language, "ough" would have exactly ONE sound associated with it. I don't care which, but I'd just pick one and stick with it. That's tough. You're just going to have to work through it, though. :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seasider Posted November 4, 2013 Share Posted November 4, 2013 That's tough. You're just going to have to work through it, though. :lol: Hahaha! Thanks for thoroughly proving my point! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted November 4, 2013 Share Posted November 4, 2013 And while we're on the point, doesn't it make you crazy when you're teaching a brand-new, early reader/writer math and they have to learn how to spell "one" and "two"? And then when they get to "forty," the "u" has disappeared! My son was just pointing out that "two" is completely illogical. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slartibartfast Posted November 4, 2013 Share Posted November 4, 2013 If things were spelled how I pronounced them there would be a lot more vowels in all the words. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SJ. Posted November 4, 2013 Share Posted November 4, 2013 And while we're on the point, doesn't it make you crazy when you're teaching a brand-new, early reader/writer math and they have to learn how to spell "one" and "two"? And then when they get to "forty," the "u" has disappeared! My son was just pointing out that "two" is completely illogical. Yes! You take all this time to teach the rules but find yourself saying - this one doesn't count, neither this this one, and this one :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happypamama Posted November 4, 2013 Share Posted November 4, 2013 If I wrote the English language, "ough" would have exactly ONE sound associated with it. I don't care which, but I'd just pick one and stick with it. My 8yo completely agrees with you. I frequently get comments from him when he's reading that are like, "Boy, this is dumb. Why'd they spell it that way?" This is the best thread! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kareni Posted November 4, 2013 Share Posted November 4, 2013 I once read that fish could have been spelled ghoti. gh as in tough o as in women ti as in notion Just agreeing that English spelling makes little sense! Regards, Kareni Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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