I before e except after c and when sounding like a as in neighbor and weigh, and on weekends and holidays and all throughout May, and you'll always be wrong NO MATTER WHAT YOU SAY!
I before E except after c but not when your conscientious scientist foreign neighbors Keith and Heidi Einstein seize their eight counterfeit reindeer heifer sleighs from feisty caffeinated weightlifters of average height in a heist and deigns to reimburse the concierge. WEIRD.
Receive inherited the "ei" from French. Retrieve was "e" only, switched to "i" only, and then went to both, all after it was already in English.
A lot of the crazy spelling in English is either because of old French or because medieval/Renaissance scholars found out about Latin and decided they wanted some of it for themselves.
English makes WAY more sense when you learn the etymology of words. Multiple languages in a trench coat is totally accurate. Usually, if the spelling is all fucky and doesn't make sense, it's from French... Or sometimes Latin. Although Latin makes more sense than French.
19 Comments
CombatWombat@feddit.online · 29 pts · 80d
-- Brian Regan
OwOarchist@pawb.social · 6 pts · 80d
There are more exceptions to the 'i before e' rule in the English language than there are words that follow the rule.
hakase@sh.itjust.works · 3 pts · 80d
Wow, that's a hard rule!
FiniteBanjo@feddit.online · 21 pts · 80d
Just remember:
I before E except after c but not when your conscientious scientist foreign neighbors Keith and Heidi Einstein seize their eight counterfeit reindeer heifer sleighs from feisty caffeinated weightlifters of average height in a heist and deigns to reimburse the concierge. WEIRD.
wander1236@sh.itjust.works · 14 pts · 80d
Receive inherited the "ei" from French. Retrieve was "e" only, switched to "i" only, and then went to both, all after it was already in English.
A lot of the crazy spelling in English is either because of old French or because medieval/Renaissance scholars found out about Latin and decided they wanted some of it for themselves.
mech@feddit.org · 13 pts · 80d
Because English is 3 languages in a Trenchcoat
protogen420@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 3 pts · 79d
three? only?
Sanctus@anarchist.nexus · 10 pts · 80d
English is not a serious language
HaveYouPaidYourDues@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 80d
english is three languages in a trench coat
hakase@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 80d
It's just as serious/unserious as any other natural human language.
LurkingLuddite@piefed.social · 5 pts · 80d
English makes WAY more sense when you learn the etymology of words. Multiple languages in a trench coat is totally accurate. Usually, if the spelling is all fucky and doesn't make sense, it's from French... Or sometimes Latin. Although Latin makes more sense than French.
protogen420@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 1 pts · 79d
english makes more sense when never spoken or heard, only ever read and written
LurkingLuddite@piefed.social · 2 pts · 79d
This meme is literally about the spelling of things. I don't know if you know this, but you have to spell words to write them.
valar@lemmy.ca · 1 pts · 80d
i before e except after c
xistera@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 4 pts · 80d
Weird
Eggscellent@sh.itjust.works · 4 pts · 80d
I always went by "i before e except when it's not".
protogen420@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 1 pts · 79d
I always went by "vowels in english spelling are not phonetic" rule
lugal@sopuli.xyz · 1 pts · 80d
That's not very helpful but at least it's true
riskable@programming.dev · 1 pts · 79d
You can learn about spelling rules at your leisure but it might cause a seizure.