Scripsit illa aut ille Richard Liang <rhliang@interchange.ubc.ca>:
> Rudolf Polzer wrote:
> 
> >Scripsit illa aut ille Richard Liang <rhliang@interchange.ubc.ca>:
> >  
> >
> >>Rudolf Polzer wrote:
> >>    
> >>
> >>>Scripsit illa aut ille Kakarotto <kakarotto@xtra.co.nz>:
> >>>      
> >>>
> >>>>*Deploys anti thwack sheild.*
> >>>>        
> >>>>
> >>>Congratulations! It works perfectly against a thwack - at least it
> >>>would, if spelt correctly.
> >>>      
> >>>
> >>Maybe this is the wrong time to throw this in, but it's "spelled".
> >>    
> >>
> >
> >Not really. According to the American Heritage Dictionary and Webster's
> >Revised Unabridged Dictionary, both forms are correct. But there is a
> >meaning of "to spell" that only allows "spelled" as past participle and
> >simple past. You can look up these dictionary entries at
> >http://www.dictionary.com/
> >
> >So you're right - to be safe, one should always use "spelled" because
> >it's always the right form - but I'm right either because "to spell" can
> >have the p.p. "spelt" if it has to do with ortography.
> 
> Shoot, I have a bone to pick with my Grade 9 English teacher now :)

I did not check, but it might be an AE/BE issue.

BTW: Do you learn American or British English in Canada? Geographically
it looks like you learn AE - historically you should be learning BE.
What's your pronounciation of "can't": [c$(D??(Bnt] or [ca:nt] ($(D??(B is the
phoneme that is the only vowel of "back")? The former is AE, the latter
is BE.

> >No, I don't kill people for finding spelling mistakes in my postings - I
> >don't even kill_file_ them. That's because I know my English isn't
> >perfect - it's just standard German school English, no more and no less.
> 
> Really?  I thought you had been raised an English speaker, as your 
> English seems pretty flawless.

You don't know my pronounciation *g* - you would be able to perfectly
hear where I'm coming from. [*]

And I didn't even take English for 9 years like it's normal in Germany -
I started, like everybody else, in the 5th form, but stopped after the
first half of the 12th instead of taking English until my "Abitur"
(final test at the end of the 13th). I had much better marks in
Latin (in English my marks were worse than the average) and had to do
too much for English (especially reading completely uninteresting books
- the worst example was "To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee, which is
so boring that you never should even think about reading it!). So
instead I concentrated on Latin: less work, better marks.

[*]: This again reminds me of a certain thing at the IMO 2002. The guide
     of the Japanese delegation often visited the German team. Her
     grammar was nearly perfect, her pronounciation good (I could
     understand it perfectly, but neither the vowels nor the consonants
     really sounded like English and she talked too fast). I only
     noticed one r/l mistake. Just as the German delegation were
     on the way to the flight back, Azusa (that was her name) wa [+]
     asked the question: "When's your fright?". It took some time until
     someone answered because of two reasons: someone else of the German
     delegation seemed to think "WTF could this mean?", and I thought
     about whether I should say "twerbe folty" or not. I didn't, I
     pronounced the departure time correctly - yes, I admit, I *am* a
     coward.

     Another funny thing: before entering the bus, Thomas (a teammate)
     noticed that he still has to write some postcards. The result was
     an extremely loud "VERDAMMT!" (which is German and means the same
     as "DAMN!"). You had to see Azusa no [+] face...

[+]: Japanese name, Japanese "declension". At least in Germany we do the
     same to Latin names: it's not "Christus' Geburt" but "Christi
     Geburt". You are using English rules when using Latin names, so it
     might look strange to you. Interestingly, you do have Latin
     declined expressions: "Corpus Christi", but you do not apply Latin
     declensions when using them in another case ("Feast of Corpus
     Christi", not "Feast Corpi Christi").

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