A Historical Spelling Lesson
This is for all of my friends who get cranky with me because I correct their spelling sometimes. A project that I'm working on right now is transcribing a sixteenth-century play from the facsimiles to modern spelling and typeface. I'm doing it in two stages; first, get it into modern typeface, then go back and figure out the modern word equivalents. Here is part of the Prologue in stage two:
Nowe forasmuche as in these latter dayes,
Throughout the whole world in every lande
Vice doth encrease, and Vertue decayes
Iniquittie havinge the upper hande.
We therefore intende, good gentle Audience,
A pretie short Interlude, to playe at this present
Desyrynge your leave and quiet scilence
To shewe the same, as is mete and expedient.
The sume wherof, matter and argument,
In two or thre verses, briefely to declare,
Synce that it is for an honest intent,
I wyll somewhat bestowe my care.
In the Citie of London, there was a ryche man
Who lovynge his sonne moste tenderlye,
Moved hym earnestly now and than,
That he woulde gyve his mynde to studye.
Sayinge that by knowledge, science, and learnynge
Is at the last gotten a pleasaunt lyfe:
But throughe the want, and lacke of this thynge
Is purchased povertie, sorowe, and stryfe.
Kind of hard to read, isn't it? There are so many instances where a word is spelled three different ways within two or so lines in this play, because standardized spelling didn't show up for another two or three hundred years. LEARN CORRECT SPELLING. IT MAKES LIFE EASIER.
That's my soapbox observations for the day. Oh, and by the way? After getting about halfway through the play, a dialogue box popped up on my screen that said, "There are too many spelling errors for Microsoft Word to continue. If you would like to check the spelling, click on..."
I broke SpellCheck! That made my day.
Other than that, not much is going on with me. I have a new niece, which is cool. Her mom has a rarely-used LJ that I don't remember the name of, otherwise I'd link to it. Dog-sitting continues, and I am so very much a cat person. I love dogs, but dang, they are so high maintenance! I'm editing a friend's old manuscripts just for fun (yeah, I'm that kind of dork; I actually really wanted to be a copy editor until I figured out that technology is forcing that field out in a lot of ways). I'm loving the tons of rain that we've been getting lately.
I think that's about it, really. Summer is always slow, but summer after graduating and having a hodgepodge of part-time jobs is really uninteresting to other people. Waiting to hear whether or not I picked up a library position--doubt it, as they haven't called or contacted me. Will start looking for something else; I love having three or four jobs at a time, why not?
Should probably go scrounge up some lunch. Just wanted to say hey to the blog-o-sphere world. Here, blog-o-sphere. Have a quiz.
You Were Born into the Fire Element
You are an innovative person who values adventure. You believe life is magical.
You are brilliant and expressive. You are naturally creative and artistic.
You have to watch out for your self destructive streak. You can get depressed and moody.
You are honest to a fault, but people find it to be part of your charm. You are entertaining and charismatic.
What Element Were You Born Into?
Huh, that actually describes me fairly well, but I've always aligned more with water, myself. The power of fire freaks me out a little bit (not to mention the fact that I don't like heat).
Nowe forasmuche as in these latter dayes,
Throughout the whole world in every lande
Vice doth encrease, and Vertue decayes
Iniquittie havinge the upper hande.
We therefore intende, good gentle Audience,
A pretie short Interlude, to playe at this present
Desyrynge your leave and quiet scilence
To shewe the same, as is mete and expedient.
The sume wherof, matter and argument,
In two or thre verses, briefely to declare,
Synce that it is for an honest intent,
I wyll somewhat bestowe my care.
In the Citie of London, there was a ryche man
Who lovynge his sonne moste tenderlye,
Moved hym earnestly now and than,
That he woulde gyve his mynde to studye.
Sayinge that by knowledge, science, and learnynge
Is at the last gotten a pleasaunt lyfe:
But throughe the want, and lacke of this thynge
Is purchased povertie, sorowe, and stryfe.
Kind of hard to read, isn't it? There are so many instances where a word is spelled three different ways within two or so lines in this play, because standardized spelling didn't show up for another two or three hundred years. LEARN CORRECT SPELLING. IT MAKES LIFE EASIER.
That's my soapbox observations for the day. Oh, and by the way? After getting about halfway through the play, a dialogue box popped up on my screen that said, "There are too many spelling errors for Microsoft Word to continue. If you would like to check the spelling, click on..."
I broke SpellCheck! That made my day.
Other than that, not much is going on with me. I have a new niece, which is cool. Her mom has a rarely-used LJ that I don't remember the name of, otherwise I'd link to it. Dog-sitting continues, and I am so very much a cat person. I love dogs, but dang, they are so high maintenance! I'm editing a friend's old manuscripts just for fun (yeah, I'm that kind of dork; I actually really wanted to be a copy editor until I figured out that technology is forcing that field out in a lot of ways). I'm loving the tons of rain that we've been getting lately.
I think that's about it, really. Summer is always slow, but summer after graduating and having a hodgepodge of part-time jobs is really uninteresting to other people. Waiting to hear whether or not I picked up a library position--doubt it, as they haven't called or contacted me. Will start looking for something else; I love having three or four jobs at a time, why not?
Should probably go scrounge up some lunch. Just wanted to say hey to the blog-o-sphere world. Here, blog-o-sphere. Have a quiz.
You Were Born into the Fire Element
You are an innovative person who values adventure. You believe life is magical.
You are brilliant and expressive. You are naturally creative and artistic.
You have to watch out for your self destructive streak. You can get depressed and moody.
You are honest to a fault, but people find it to be part of your charm. You are entertaining and charismatic.
What Element Were You Born Into?
Huh, that actually describes me fairly well, but I've always aligned more with water, myself. The power of fire freaks me out a little bit (not to mention the fact that I don't like heat).