Arguments on the Internets
I tried to post this from my phone, but typing on it was getting silly with the laptop in front of me and on and everything.
I've been corrected on my spelling before. When I was 18. By a person who was approximately ten years old, and, while not being the OP, decided to return my beta (which had been requested) with a stunning reprimand on how I shouldn't correct others' spelling and grammar when I was so dumb as to spell 'favourite' with a 'u' and 'organise' with an 's'. I responded with a paragraph on how the United States is not the whole damn world. Which was fun and cathartic (and after that point I made a point of appending a shortened & more generalised version of that paragraph in brackets at the end of any beta in which I might correct spelling).
Today, somebody I've never met bitched at someone else whom I've never met that 'spelt' isn't in the verb conjugation for 'to spell'.
This person being bitched at had himself corrected the spelling of an OP (who may or may not be the same as the returning-bitcher), by saying "It's spelt 'lose', not 'loose'."
This earnt a HUGE rant in response, and an amusing comment about how pneumonia isn't spelt like how it sounds, so therefore 'spelt' is incorrect too. I also learnt today that 'spelt' is also a noun, referring to something about wheat or chaff or something. The more you know.
Thus, naturally, I picked up a dictionary.
And corrected the ranting bitcher.
The wheat bit about the 'spelt' rant was accurate, but my copy of the Oxford Dictionary gleefully lists spelt as the past-tense verb-form form of 'to spell'.
And the word 'spelled' appears nowhere.
Is this another matter of 'different spellings and grammar across the English speaking world'? In the same way that I just placed a question mark after a quotation mark, which would get me marked down for poor grammar in the United States (and Canada, depending on how close you happen to be to the American Border), but doing the opposite of which would result in big angry red pen and 'see me after class' from a teacher in New Zealand? Or is it simply a matter of 'random angry bitchy person on the Internets'?
I've been corrected on my spelling before. When I was 18. By a person who was approximately ten years old, and, while not being the OP, decided to return my beta (which had been requested) with a stunning reprimand on how I shouldn't correct others' spelling and grammar when I was so dumb as to spell 'favourite' with a 'u' and 'organise' with an 's'. I responded with a paragraph on how the United States is not the whole damn world. Which was fun and cathartic (and after that point I made a point of appending a shortened & more generalised version of that paragraph in brackets at the end of any beta in which I might correct spelling).
Today, somebody I've never met bitched at someone else whom I've never met that 'spelt' isn't in the verb conjugation for 'to spell'.
This person being bitched at had himself corrected the spelling of an OP (who may or may not be the same as the returning-bitcher), by saying "It's spelt 'lose', not 'loose'."
This earnt a HUGE rant in response, and an amusing comment about how pneumonia isn't spelt like how it sounds, so therefore 'spelt' is incorrect too. I also learnt today that 'spelt' is also a noun, referring to something about wheat or chaff or something. The more you know.
Thus, naturally, I picked up a dictionary.
And corrected the ranting bitcher.
The wheat bit about the 'spelt' rant was accurate, but my copy of the Oxford Dictionary gleefully lists spelt as the past-tense verb-form form of 'to spell'.
And the word 'spelled' appears nowhere.
Is this another matter of 'different spellings and grammar across the English speaking world'? In the same way that I just placed a question mark after a quotation mark, which would get me marked down for poor grammar in the United States (and Canada, depending on how close you happen to be to the American Border), but doing the opposite of which would result in big angry red pen and 'see me after class' from a teacher in New Zealand? Or is it simply a matter of 'random angry bitchy person on the Internets'?