Daer CR4 poeples

Yes, I hate it too when engineers get accused of being poor at spelling. I find that engineers are not that bad at spelling.

If you have looked at virtually any newspaper recently (at least around here), you will find that there are numerous spelling and grammar mistakes and that journalists are much worse in this subject than engineers. Interesting, since one would hope that they would have that area of study drilled into them in school, since it is more critical in their line of work.

A very good point...but not one which "excuses" engineers.

For the most part, "journalists," especially television personality "journalists" speak to an audience of comparatively less educational achievement level than that attained by engineers. And, in terms of scholastic rigor, it is no secret that mass comm and telecomm collegiate course work tends heavily to fluff...such a degree makes nowhere near the cerebral demands...as does Engineering and the sciences.

UG

It is always a curious thing to see snobbishism in Britons when it comes to English. YouOne would think it would be a point of (other than unspoken) pride that their language has been so adaptable...and so adapted, especially in their former dominions now called USA. After all, it has largely been Americans who, since the decline of Empire and of British naval/maritime and commercial dominance, have been instrumental in establishing English as the world's universal language. And, as to its variability of diction and complexity of form—that very thing about which so many complain as they strive to learn the language—how far would England's gift to the world have come if not for the absorptionabsorbing into English of words and usages from languages and cultures the world over, both ancient and modern? It is just those things so many complain of that has allowed English to evolve into far and away the superior world language that it is.

...just one old dog's bite at a well-chewed bone of contention.

It is a point of pride...but only when it makes the language more understandable and succinct, I prize brevity not the bloated expansion of words to make them sound more 'impressive'.
I've used up my brevquot now....now there's a word I made up earlier...or is it merely an abrev' ?

sbad innit.

I do not see it as a Bone of contention at all. I have many friends who only speak American, no problem at all!!

English and American are two derivatives of a language that was common a few hundred years ago, nothing more nothing less. The two countries have remained mostly friendly since then. The languages have each developed in their own way, neither is "wrong", except maybe to call "American" "English" now....

It was the English/American only speaking Armies of the UK and the USA marching across Europe in 1944 and later, that have broadened the front of English to such a degree. The common soldier usually did not have a second language.....

This conquering of Europe means that to a strong degree, it has made the same two countries generally quite lazy as whole in learning other languages!!! Sadly.

I have learnt in my life 4 languages (mostly with great difficulty!!) in my life, sadly my French has rusted, but I have recently started "cleaning the rust off" it!

German I only started leaning at 35, which means although I speak it well, I still have an English accent!

I learnt Portuguese while serving in the RN and stationed for 6 months on the Azores with practically no English reading material... Now that language has gone completely.....

I am still able (just) to get around in English and having installed a Toroidal Sat Dish called a "Wave Frontier", I am now able to watch UK (BBC1, 2,3 and 4 plus ITV1, 2,3 and 4 and several other English speaking transmissions on Astra 28 East.) television as well as German. My German wife just loves the "Soaps" in English and American that one can watch..... which should keep me (and her!) active language wise for a few more years.....). I just need to get a good interesting French station added!!!

Andy, I appreciate the answer...interesting, indeed. Here's a GA for you.

UG

Hello case491

Yes, it is very easy.

use Firefox Browser, and instal/install as a Firefox "Add-on", the Dictionary of your choice.

English Dictionary choices include UK, US, Australia, New Zealand and so on - Any misspelled word shows up red-underlined in the Edit Box, as you type the following word, then you have the choice of right-click, "Bypass System Menu", then the Dictionary which you installed shows suggested word spellings, also giving you the choice to "Add to Dictionary."

That way, apart from the various flavors/flavours of spelling, your Post should be spelled correctly.

Trust that answers your question.

Kind Regards....

Thank you, I do use firefox but I did not like their menu and it somehow keeps prompting me to "bypass menu" BS. I hate it actually, I like things to go the way I want it, maybe I am autistic or something but that is my hate of Microsnot as well.

The thing I meant was if it was possible to connect automatically to the spell check when you submit the post for review without the option of posting it before you were forced to ok the spell checker. I quite like the spell check in this forum, it makes a lot of sense opposed to some others.

"but that is my hate of Microsnot as well." - You did spell that right.

Hello Hendrik

Micro$oft is the way my dictionary spells it.

Kind Regards....

P.S.

Also not every other forum user uses firefox so they would still not be forced to do their spell check. I would like to see all posts checked no matter who writes them.

I normally use Microsoft publisher. but what really gets to me is, when I make a real stuff up, and I find I cant delete it, I then have to wipe and make some stupid remark? If I go into edit I would like sometimes to delete the post? I don't always get it right?

Regards jD.

The main problem with the CR4 Forum integrated Spell-checker, is that it has the US English Dictionary.

After all, the Queen's English is more correct, is it not?

Kind Regards....

Yes it may be but I find most of those complaints about which usage is correct a bit too much for the palate. Just administer a bit of tolerance and you can still read it. My gripe is with almost incomprehensible posts. Anger does not translate well in to forum language.

After all, the Queen's English is more correct, is it not?

Maybe, but I would wager there are more people that speak English outside the UK and Commonwealth than in it. Similarly for Spanish and Spain as well as French and France.

Deer Case491, (oh sorry Dear Case491):

I make a proposal which is valid for the Englishes used in this world.

We have most of us either Word, Open Office or other equivalent packs; their spelling corrector is programmmable (sorry again programmable) for several types.

The problem is the paste of a "word" text on Cr4. I tryed once and the result was may i say at least surprising. If the paste would be possible we could at least longer texts where the meaning is important correct each one with our corrector and then paste. The language will not be "americanized" for citizens of the UK or "europeanized" for Americans. The rest of the world is less sensitive to those fine tunings as far as the meaning is clear. Any way even if without spelling errors private jokes are not always understood.

Hello again, case491

Quote:

<"Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.">

For that, and much more, refer:http://www.mrc-cbu.cam.ac.uk/~mattd/Cmabrigde/

Please note that the above website has been updated to include some non-English examples.

I trust the above proves helpful to all.

Kind Regards....

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=sEJfS1v-fU0

Hilarious and true although not pc so you won't hear it on your radio

Hi Case!

If you use a Mac with OS 10.4 or later, the system spell checker works fine (it just told me I left the space out between the 'spell' and 'checker') within the original post, or anywhere else. Just in Case (Pun intended), it uses the Oxford English Dictionary, unless you provide and specify a different one.

This is true whether you (I) use Safari, Firefox, or any other browser. Even though the CR4 toolbar doesn't appear in Safari, I prefer it(Safari) most of the time because of its superior History. I use FireFox when I need to add an image to my posts, but don't like it because I can't easily go back to a place I visited 2 or 3 days ago...

Dick

John Deere Case 491,

Which makes you some sort of bizzar farm equipment.

What bugs me the number of clicks required for the cr4 spellcheck, 3 is the minimum if there are no misspellings.

I like auto-complete on open office or word & the real time checker.

Grammar check would be nice also [too].

The composition, cut & paste method, using your favorite word processor program, is too many clicks for me!

How's your bike coming?

I agree with you on the number of clicks but that surely could be repaired.

I am not, never will be or never was, at any stretch of any imagination, in any way related to agricultural equipment of any kind. Unless the pretty cow needs seeing to

P.S. I really hate having started thius thread as every time I do a spell check it tells me i am an idiot for spelling dear and peoples wrong

I wish admin would fix the sub/exponent/bold/underline boxs so I wouldn't have to highlight before I can use them. another nice feature would be a personal dictonary, so the various people's names wouldn't come up all the time. Being able to single space instaed of double with the return key would be nice too. The extra click for marking all comments read is a waste.

I hate the mouse & the need to switch back & forth between it & the keyboard!!!!

the ag eq reference was just my feeble attempt @ making connections where none exist.

I never heard the end of the alternator story or the rebuild?

I feel that we should now differentiate between English and American.

CR4 is an American website, so I mostly defer to the US spelling for any word. I can read both so what the hell?

For people not having English or American as their primary language, who may have to resort to looking in a dictionary, I feel we should make a proper attempt to spell words correctly, so that they have a chance to find them in a dictionary and to be able then to understand better. Trying to understand Check for Cheque for instance with regard to money be OK, but written for describing when looking over what you have done to see that it is correct!!! Chaos!!

I am informed, that most free world dictionaries actually use the US spellings, how true this is I personally haven't a clue......can anyone throw more light on this area?

As a Canadian I always choose the UK English dictionary where one is offered and I expect that most English speaking persons from the British Commonwealth would do so as well. If a UK dictionary is not available I end up adding words and after a period of time most of my Canadianisms are accepted.

I knew a fellow who did a sabbatical in the US and his children had a terrible time in school because the American school teachers would not recognize the British spelling that we Canadians generally tend to use.

Dear Case 491. This came in my mail and offers a unique solution.

The European Commission has just announced an agreement whereby English will be the official language of the European Union rather than German, which was the other possibility.

As part of the negotiations, the British Government conceded that English spelling had some room for improvement and has accepted a 5- year phase-in plan that would become known as 'Euro-English'.

In the first year, 's' will replace the soft 'c'. Sertainly , this will make the sivil servants jump with joy.

The hard 'c' will be dropped in favour of 'k'. This should klear up konfusion, and keyboards kan have one less letter.

There will be growing publik enthusiasm in the sekond year when the troublesome 'ph' will be replaced with 'f'. This will make words like fotograf 20% shorter.

In the 3rd year, publik akseptanse of the new spelling kan be expekted to reach the stage where more komplikated changes are possible.

Governments will enkourage the removal of double letters which have always ben a deterent to akurate speling.

Also, al wil agre that the horibl mes of the silent 'e' in the languag is disgrasful and it should go away.

By the 4th yer people wil be reseptiv to steps such as replasing 'th' with 'z' and 'w' with 'v'.

During ze fifz yer, ze unesesary 'o' kan be dropd from vords kontaining ' ou' and after ziz fifz yer, ve vil hav a reil sensi bl riten styl.

Zer vil be no mor trubl or difikultis and evrivun vil find it ezi tu understand ech oza. Ze drem of a united urop vil finali cum tru.

Und efter ze fifz yer, ve vil al be speking German like zey vunted in ze forst plas.

If zis mad you smil , pleas pas on to oza pepl.

I work for an English company which now has a German (female) Managing Director.

We were joking, before this happened, about the fact that we have just expanded into Germany and how "appropriate" it would be for the new MD to be German. Little did we know.

I brought this little joke in to work BEFORE we knew we would indeed get a German MD and now I am shitting myself thinking where that piece of paper got to and if it has MY NAME on it or not.

She actually turns out to be very nice and a breath of fresh air as she started a new trend by coming round every morning to have a little chat with every body. Our last one would sneak in and out before you even heard the door.

Good joke still even though I might loose my job if she ever finds out....and I am Dutch

Hi, Case. Doesn't it annoy you just as much for everyone (now) to see you are too forgetful and/or too lazy to click the ABC√ button? Or read/revise your review?

Maybe only a case of Bad Habits Die Hard?

There is a third possibility: Until you mentioned it, I had never noticed that icon/button. Of course since the System spell check works as I type on this Mac, I have no need for that button... Now that you have brought it to my attention, I'll have to find out the purpose of the cleanup button to its right...

dk,

The text (format attribute) cleanup sweeper (pictured above) should not affect you, using Mac OS as your are...I think. Its purpose was/is to "clean" up messages composed in MS Word (and other high level word processors?) before posting. After first trying it, I did not like it and avoided further use—I found that the cleanup program would wipe out virtually all of the formatting I had applied before posting...and I would have to re-do much of the formatting work using the CR4 editing tools. That was with the previous "edition" of the CR4 text editor tool bar. Since the revised CR4 tool bar was issued recently, many if not all standard MS word editing attributes have been added to CR4's editor...so most offline formatting is not wiped out as before. (Of course, this leads me to wonder what purpose, if any, the sweeper now serves...since just about any kind of formatting Word can create will pass through CR4 filtering and be published. It probably remains only because CR4 users have the option to use either the default, latest CR4 edit tools "kit," or revert back to the earlier tool bar.)

So the answer for you would most likely be: the sweeper is simply something to be ignored...no change required from what you've been doing.

UG

ABC check on the google tool bar? Works for me if I membery to use it...

Yes they are referred to as a tutor

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†‡

Apology accepted.

Just my two cents worth here,

I have traveled and spent time in 5 major regions of this great land of ours, working mostly in the retail auto repair business. The problem I have had (which caused me the most trouble in the south) is a tendancy to pick up accents a bit too rapidly. I might start out in a conversation with someone, using my native northwest accent and end up adopting thiers partway through. More than once the other person thought I was mocking. Having a keen ear for an accent is not always a blessing.

As to the original topic of this thread; I also have trouble with the spell check and only use it as a last resort.

I'd wager it simply never occurred to you to simply ask...if your speech was causing any angst? And that you would probably have been pleasantly surprised.

More to come...elsewhere

I also would have interest in the alchemy post.

The unconsciously adapting to each other even includes timing and mutual use of each others traits. Salesmen, politicians and seducers meet the mark(s) halfway then lead the reactions of the unknowing by their reflexes. Active subliminal programming by those who are really good at it. And very irritating once you figure it out. Like all tools it can be used to do good or bad depending on the user.

Brad

Spot-on observation. On remote construction sites, you can get people from all different areas and yet they manage to understand each others speech. Walk past somebody phoning home and you wont understand a word (which is probably a blessing). Subconscious mimicking of speech and body language probably helps avoid plenty of scraps, though clumsy attempts to copy can be pretty irritating.

Thanks svengali,

I gave a GA for that. I'm glad to see it's not just my own idiosyncracy.

Hello Shadetree,

You're welcome -- and thank you. Unconscious friendly mimicking is not only not a personal idiosyncrasy, it is a basic instinct that lays the foundation for trust (and therefore also for communication and affection). I had intended to write that this behavior is part of what "makes us human". But then I remembered that it applies to animals too (definitely with regards to body language, and maybe also even with "accent"?). While petting your cat, has it ever calmly reached out and gently stroked your face with its paw? This really surprised me the first time I experienced it, but I soon concluded that my cat mimicked me in order to return affection. I think that all mammals (since their complex brains enable emotions) probably have this ability of empathic mimicry . Very sadly many persons on the "Autistic spectrum" seem to lack the active "mirror neurons" that are probably required for empathic mimicry, and thus these fellow sentient beings have much trouble initiating personal relationships.

Getting back to the original concern that you mention: I have had the same concern. I (after 40 years in Florida with a "neutral" accent), lived in North Carolina for 5 years, and often found my pronunciation starting to sound like the local Southern accent. Sometimes I would consciously notice this, and would start to worry that my listener might misinterpret my new accent as mockery. No one ever complained or seemed to take offense, so I hope they understood that I meant well. The same sort of thing even happened with an English friend of mine at work!

By the way, I mentioned alchemy (in regards to the meaning of my avatar), and a few people expressed interest, so I will post that information as a new thread.

I love it when guests are posting over the same thing time and time again as it appears that the same person is arguing/talking to himself.......really funny!!.....especially when they get upset with something......better than radio/TV any day!!!!

Arguing with yourself is fine. It lets you see the situation from two perspectives. The problem comes when you argue with yourself...and lose.

I like that, I even gave you a GA for comedy. Many thanks.

If guests could see themselves from our point of view thy would never post in that manner!!!