Hey Mr. Aaron Sir

Is there a spellchecker available for us, or should we compose in "Word" before posting?
A spell checker on this site would help a lot.

Thanks

"I "Love Summer more than I hate Winter"

I'm not Aaron, and I probably wouldn't use Word unless I absolutely had to, but I have never seen a spelling or grammar checker available here. When composing poems, one should certainly use a separate program to check for such errors, then cut-and-paste the post.

For off-the-cuff remarks, I feel sure the odd mistake and/or typo will be forgiven, and posts should simply be dashed off on the fly. And, if someone dare criticize a spelling error, scathing flames for such wretched behavior are delightful to unleash in retaliation. A particularly virulent scurrility can leave one with a warm glow for hours, perhaps even the entire day.

An add-on to automatically delete superfluous signature lines at the bottom of posts, however, now that would be worth exploring!

Jean-Paul, I'm not quite sure what Hugh just said, but I think he's right. There is no spell-check mechanism here on the mule. Use your word processor before cutting and pasting a poem or long tirade onto the site. Deleting once you've posted is possible via the "edit post" if you are properly logged in.


Les

Ahhh....scathing, retaliatory flames ....my favorite! Please no spell check! Spotting errors is half the fun.

Hey! As someone who learned to read by look-say and not phonics I just don't see the errors, I only read for sense. (yes some stuff never gets read.) It also means I don't notice my own typos and usual spelling mistakes. So no flames in my direction please, I respond to kindness.

I also learned to read by the sight method, and I'm a terrible speller. The only thing worse than my spelling is my keyboarding.

I was born in Brasil, but I lived part of my life in Denmark, Sweden and Argentina.
My father was Italian, and my husband is Portuguese.

I would rather have someone corret my broken English than use
a spellcheck. Or else I will/would never improve my writing.

Quite often I make mistakes (more often than I believe, I am sure ...) ,
but I always hope people will 1) forgive me 2) correct me

But on the other hand I am not a poet . . .

Jean-Paul,

have you tried the Brightness knob on your monitor?

lol!

Speaking of spelling, ilza, in the United States we spell "Brasil" as "Brazil."
I just checked Google: 40,800,000 entries for "Brasil"; 125,000,000 for "Brazil." I suspect the British spell it with "s," since they seem to be so fond of putting "s" where we put "z"--but how do people in Brasil or Brazil spell it? If they use the "s" then we have no right to put in a "z," and they would be totally justified if they should refer to us as "the United Statez"!

This is one occasion when British and American agree, we both use Brazil.

brazil // n.
1 (in full Brazil nut) a large three-sided nut with an edible kernel, obtained from the S. American forest tree Bertholletia excelsa.
2 (in full Brazil wood) a hard red wood from any tropical tree of the genus Caesalpinia, yielding dyes.
[medieval Latin brasilium; the S. American country Brazil is named from the wood]

COD

I agree with Tandy

Germany should be Deutschland, Brazil Brasil etc

Ilza wrote: "I was born in Brasil, but I lived part of my life in Denmark, Sweden and Argentina. My father was Italian, and my husband is Portuguese."

That seems to partly explain Ilza's amazingly wide range of knowledge.

I've found that the more languages I learn some of, the more mistakes are possible for me to make! I only have 12 weeks' worth of Portuguese, but I can make almost as many mistakes as an advanced student!

-----

To its residents, the country in question is "A República Federativa do Brasil." In Portuquese "do" means "of the." So literally they called it "The Federated Republic of THE Brasil." Or "O Brasil" for short -- "the Brazil" (cp. "The Ivory Coast").

Likewise, "O Moçambique" ("the Mozambique) is the former Portuguese colony in Southern Africa. Cp. also the British way of referring to Argentina as "the Argentine."

Tandy

it is actually Brasil

in English it is Brazil so to sound the way we say it in here

True, but the SOUND of Portuguese is so different from the sound of English, we don't really get close to how you say it there.

My Portuguese teacher said it like "oo bra-ZEE-oo."

And just to add to the confusion- the real name of Los Angeles is 'El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora la Reina de los Angeles de Porciuncula.'

pam

Porciuncula

What does it mean, Our lady of the pork?

No wonder the angels are lost.


Les

Its Brazilie in Dutch (with two dots above the e, but I'm using my laptop).

I totally agree with Johnny. We should start using the original names. Only belgium would be a problem. It should be Belgie (again with two dots on the last letter) for the flemish speaking people and La Belgique for those who speak french.

The Netherlands would be Nederland (not Holland, thank you, we're small, but not that small).
Ireland Eire
Greece Hellas
Switserland Schweiz
Germany was already mentioned
France France (which is Frankrijk in Dutch and Frankreich in German)

About germany: germanus is the latin name for all the germanic tribes (made popular by Tacitus) (I am trying to find the etymology, anyone?). Then you also have the allemannen (hence allemagne in french), the Teutons (from which the name Deutch derives), and many many more (like the franks in france) (see: [en.wikipedia.org] />
I'm still thankful to the Romans for the baths and running water though.

should we compose in ?Word? before posting?

I sometimes compose in ?Word?, and then when i copy-paste, all the quotation marks get converted to question marks.

I spell very well - my computer makes all the errors. Half the fun of delegation is being able to blame someone/thing else.

Speaking of Brasil, I understand lots of folks are getting identity tags implanted under the skin to help locate them in the case of (the rampant) kidnapping there. I am curious how the bad guys arrange for the transfer of money, though. How do they get the bucks without exposing themselves to capture? (If you know.)

Monitor?
What monitor?

"I "Love Summer more than I hate Winter"

The one that was a Civil War Ironclad

Here you are, Desi, best I can offer.

German // n. & adj.
n.
1 a native or national of Germany; a person of German descent.
2 the language of Germany, also used in Austria and Switzerland.
adj. of or relating to Germany or its people or language.
[Latin Germanus, with reference to related peoples of central and northern Europe, a name perhaps given by Celts to their neighbours: cf. Old Irish gair ‘neighbour’]

COD

Oh! My ex-mother-in-law.

"I "Love Summer more than I hate Winter"

thanks Linda. So, that's why I couldn't find it. The etymology is not sure!

Dick Francis wrote a novel a few years back called The Danger that dealt with kidnapping. Apparently there are kidnap insurance companies that deal with the bad guys/gals for you.

I hadn't thought of microchips for that purpose, but do think it would be a good idea for Alzheimer's patients and other people with dementia.

pam

Odd how in Italian, German is Tedesci or some such

Tedesco according to an online dictionary. Think that is also related to the Teutons (one of the germanic tribes). It's what the germans call themselves, so it's a lot less odd than the word German.

Desi, I meant odd that they should pick that one over the Latin

Ehm, I missed the link between the italians and the romans.... Oops.

I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid. Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig, huh? Yaeh.... and I awlyas thguhot slpeling was ipmorantt.

So I guess we can forget the spellcheck.

So I guess we can forget the spellcheck?

Not so fast, Glenda!

No one in their collective right mind would recognize these words out of CONTEXT. Meaning determines everything!


frist
sitll
hmuan


Les

first
still
human

you were saying? And are you implying that the poems posted on this forum do not have a context? Hmm. Lets see what the writers have to say about that ;-)

Desi, I am a writer. Being a writer is no excuse for not being able to spell.

Here's a spelling test not from the paragraph in Glenda's post.


their (in that place?) meaning is everything!
to (the number, or also?)
loge (a fallen tree?)


Too, is one of the most misspelled words in the English language. ( so is mispelled)


Les

"Correct spelling, indeed, is one of the arts that are far more esteemed by schoolmarms than by practical men, neck-deep in the heat and agony of the world." -- Henry Louis Mencken, The American Language

But then, accuracy can save lives. I quote the story of the English queen,ruling instead of a deposed, imprisoned king (Edward III? - I think the one who was murdered in a Welsh Borders castle) who , when asked for permission to dispose of him, wrote a message in Latin that said 'Fear to kill the king the deed is not good'. But someone misplaced a comma, the meaning became 'Fear not to kill the king, the deed is good', so they did, quoting her authority.

Re: Spellcheck

Introducing spellcheck to emule would seem to be a natural progression.

Coin
"Try your wings"

Not caring about spelling is why we still have words in the language like these:

through
enough
weird
neighbor
phonetic



Les

Edward III died of old age as far as I can tell. Edward II was murdered in a very unpleasant manner involving a horn and a red hot poker, leaving no marks on the body.

It would be Edward II then, Linda, I remembered the poker but was too namby pamby to post it .

Please don't put Spellcheck on e-mule. I was once given a songsheet of 'Away in a Manager' because it had been spellchecked. Poetry uses so many archaic and even invented words that Spellcheck would create Frankensteins.