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I Before E ... ah ... Never Mind

Language evolves, as does the United States Constitution, which after all in physical form is just an assemblage of words. Linguists and English teachers have identified a complex set of rules to govern language just as judges have divined constitutional rules that govern your rights. The rules of English, like judicial precedent, sometimes reach a nonsensical endpoint. At those times you just have to stop pretending there are rules.

The British government, as custodian of the Queen's English, has decided that children shouldn't learn "I before E except after C" because, even if you account for neighbor and weigh with an additional rhyme, you're left with sufficient and weird. Here's the argument in support of teaching the rule even if it's incomplete:

[S]upporters say the ditty has value because it is one of the few language rules that most people remember.

The lesson we should learn: If judges crafted rules of law in easy to remember rhymes, Americans would be more likely to understand their Constitution. [there's one more amusing fact ...]

The linked story quotes Jack Bovill of the Spelling Society and ends with this:

(This version CORRECTS spelling of Bovill, sted Bovell, in graf 4.)
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    heh (5.00 / 0) (#1)
    by andgarden on Sat Jun 20, 2009 at 08:51:45 PM EST
    Do you think John Roberts can be a grammar ref?

    BTW, isn't it weird, "I" before "e" except after c?

    Thank you. (5.00 / 1) (#2)
    by TChris on Sat Jun 20, 2009 at 08:57:48 PM EST
    Weird is another excellent example which I have borrowed/shamelessly stolen for the post.

    Parent
    Years ago, when my 26 yr old (5.00 / 1) (#4)
    by Anne on Sat Jun 20, 2009 at 09:13:36 PM EST
    daughter was in 4th or 5th grade, her teacher told them that people were either natural spellers or they weren't, and I'd have to say that I have found that to be true.  The language is sufficiently quirky that even if you memorize all the "rules," there are so many exceptions to them that unless you have a natural affinity for spelling, you're pretty much at the mercy of good guessing.  Or spell check.  Which is fine, except for all those homophones - words that sound alike and are spelled differently, and which spell-check won't catch because there is no context-check component.

    Contextual spell-check would be a winner.


    After watch the recent spelling bee (none / 0) (#7)
    by nycstray on Sat Jun 20, 2009 at 11:03:08 PM EST
    OY!~ I'll take rhymes for 100 Alex!

    I will say I do find them fascinating though. So much is packed into the spelling of a word :)

    Parent

    Contextual spell-check (none / 0) (#14)
    by Pieter B on Mon Jun 22, 2009 at 01:49:57 AM EST
    About 20 years ago there was a spellchecker for the Mac (ThunderSpell? I can't remember) which flagged homophones, and gave a capsule summary which explained the proper usage for each spelling. I think most people felt it was too intrusive and time-consuming. Apparently there's some effort underway to revive the concept, but apparently only for Windows.

    Parent
    Excuse me, but (5.00 / 4) (#6)
    by DeanOR on Sat Jun 20, 2009 at 09:49:37 PM EST
    shouldn't that be The Spelling Soceity?

    unfortunately (5.00 / 2) (#10)
    by Jen M on Sun Jun 21, 2009 at 10:12:03 AM EST
    Fundamentalist Christians are apparently taught this rule strictly. So many of them rant online against those awful athiests.

    Okay, I'll give it a try (5.00 / 2) (#12)
    by ruffian on Sun Jun 21, 2009 at 01:03:21 PM EST
    Warrant before sieze
    and the court you will please

    That wasn't so hard!

    Except (none / 0) (#13)
    by Inspector Gadget on Sun Jun 21, 2009 at 07:49:29 PM EST
    it isn't after "c", and it doesn't sound like "a", so the rhyme still rules.


    Parent
    What about "Science?" n/t (4.50 / 2) (#8)
    by Repack Rider on Sun Jun 21, 2009 at 01:24:19 AM EST


    The ditty to remind... (4.33 / 3) (#9)
    by kdog on Sun Jun 21, 2009 at 08:21:38 AM EST
    of the grammar "rule" is very important lesson in another sense...teaches the kids that rules were made to be broken, and by blindly following the rules you are bound to make a mistake.

    I think you have (none / 0) (#11)
    by jimakaPPJ on Sun Jun 21, 2009 at 11:11:45 AM EST
    seized on a most excellent point.

    Parent
    and, foreign (none / 0) (#3)
    by Inspector Gadget on Sat Jun 20, 2009 at 08:57:58 PM EST
    Seems there really are only a few words that require using the rhyme to remember which comes first, the "i" or the "e".


    "I'm just a bill, (none / 0) (#5)
    by scribe on Sat Jun 20, 2009 at 09:36:24 PM EST
    here on Capitol Hill..."

    Many years ago, the federal judge who had heard Hurricane Carter's appeal/habeas concerning his second trial, wrote an opinion (in an entirely different case) which was in verse.  IIRC, it had to do with a dispute between artists of some flavor, but it was an extended poem.

    You see that occasionally in trial courts, but rarely in appellate courts.  Too much room for unintended results when lawyers get involved in parsing the language of an opinion, when the language of the opinion may well have been warped to accommodate the requirements of poesy.