Why is it that when we take the word "fire" and make it into an adjective, we spell it "fiery"?
Why not "firey"?
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08-18-06, 12:43 PM
methos
from etymology online
fiery
c.1275, from M.E. fier "fire," the offbeat spelling is a relic of one of the attempts to render O.E. "y" in fyr in a changing system of vowel sounds.


08-18-06, 12:53 PM
Kelleygirl
Thanks, methos; I'm putting your site into my favorites. Would still like to vote on updating some of our vocabulary though.

09-13-06, 06:04 PM
mozart56
I found a print that Clarebear had posted on 06-12-02 on AP. Unfortunetly AP archives don't show it when you send it through "search"....too old. Smile

REASONS WHY THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE IS SO HARD TO LEARN

1. The bandage was wound around the wound.
2.The farm was used to produce produce.
3.The dump was so full that it refuse more refuse.
4.We must polish the Polish furniture.
5.He could lead if he would get the lead out.
6.The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert.
7.Since there is no time like the present,he thought it was time to present the present.
8.A bass was painted on the head of the bass drum.
9.When shot at,the dove dove into the bushes.
10.I did not object to the object.
11.The insurance was invalid for the invalid.
12.There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row.
13.They were too close to the door to close it.
14.The buck does funny things when the does are present.
15.A seamstress and a sewer fell down into the sewer line.
16.To help with planting,the farmer taught his sow to sow.
17.The wind was too strong to wind the sail.
18.After a number of injections my jaw got number.
19.Upon seeing the tear in the painting, I shed a tear.
20.I had to subject the subject to a series of subjects.
21.How can I intimate this to my most intimate friends.~~~~~~~~~~~~and the list could go on~~~~~~~~

09-17-06, 11:18 AM
juanruiz

quote:
REASONS WHY THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE IS SO HARD TO LEARN



Actually, this just points to the difficulty of associating English orthograthy with pronunciation. The grammar of the English language is incrediblly simple.

09-17-06, 11:51 AM
newnickname
I agree. Many of my students speak Chinese, in which a different character has to be memorised for every word, or Japanese, which has three alphabets (one of which is Chinese). English spelling holds no terrors for them.

One thing that does actually make English particularly difficult for many Asian students to learn is the use of determiners - "a" and "the".

Consider 'I have a cat. The cat is black. He is a smart cat. The cat I'm talking about is also black.' Try explaining that switching between 'a cat' and 'the cat'.

Of course, you can make yourself understood in English without using 'a' or 'the' at all. 'Have cat. Cat's black. Is smart cat. Cat I'm talking about is also black.' That's partly why English is taking over the world, apparently. It's a language you can speak badly and still make sense in - it's infinitely flexible.

09-17-06, 12:00 PM
juanruiz

quote:
it's infinitely flexible.



With, perhaps, the exception of its syntax.

09-17-06, 02:16 PM
FredPuli
A recent letter to The (London) Times asked:

Why is 'phonetic' not spelled with an F ?

Now, that is a good question Big Grin

As to 'the' and 'a' Latin manages perfectly well without using an equivalent of either of them. Smile

09-17-06, 03:22 PM
juanruiz

quote:
Why is 'phonetic' not spelled with an F ?



Why is psychology not spelled with an S? Thank the Greeks, and people like Dr. Johnson who loved them. As for the lack of articles in Latin, they really weren't needed. It's when the declension endings were lost that they were.

09-17-06, 04:12 PM
FredPuli

quote:
Originally posted by juanruiz:

quote:
Why is 'phonetic' not spelled with an F ?



Why is psychology not spelled with an S? Thank the Greeks, and people like Dr. Johnson who loved them. As for the lack of articles in Latin, they really weren't needed. It's when the declension endings were lost that they were.



"Phonetic : 1)(a) Designating characters in ancient writing that represent sounds rather than ideas. (b) Designating spelling in which each letter represents invariably the same 2) Of or pertaining to speech sounds or phonetics; consisting of speech sounds"[OED] So it should definitely be 'fonetic', by definition . Can't say that of, say, 'psychology' Big Grin

09-17-06, 04:20 PM
juanruiz
As I said, in ancient writing /f/ was represented by the Greek phi. Blame Dr. Sam for using it in his dictionary.

09-17-06, 04:22 PM
FredPuli

quote:
Originally posted by juanruiz:
As I said, in ancient writing /f/ was represented by the Greek phi. Blame Dr. Sam for using it in his dictionary.

I think that the letter was a joke, but I'm not sure Smile

09-17-06, 04:56 PM
juanruiz
On the other hand, through analogy, it could have been spelled "ghonetic."

10-19-06, 06:06 PM
Julieta Martinez
You know, my teacher at the Tecnologico de Morelia here in Mexico tells me that english is relatively easier than spanish because although the vowels in spanish are the same, there are a whole bunch of ways you can pronounce the consonants. And boy are there a lot of them! In English there aren´t as many sounds.

10-19-06, 06:21 PM
juanruiz

quote:
although the vowels in spanish are the same, there are a whole bunch of ways you can pronounce the consonants.

Hola, Julieta. ¡Qué bueno verte de nuevo! I'm not sure I understand your teacher's comment. Is this a reference to the pronunciations in various Spanish dialects?

10-23-06, 03:06 PM
Julieta Martinez
Hey JR! Nice to see you too. No, she didn´t give me a reference. What we were discussing was English Phonetics and I asked her if those sounds we were discussing were in spanish, too. And she said of course, but that spanish has a lot of different sounds for consonants than there are in English. I´ll ask her for a reference this Saturday (I go on Saturdays only) and I´ll post it for you!

10-23-06, 03:49 PM
juanruiz
Sounds good. I have a hunch she's referring to the way ll is pronounced as well as c before e and i and the z.

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