In the UK we spell it Artefact – I gather in the US you spell it Artifact. Anyone know why the difference?]

poms don't know how to spell?
(rapidly retreating icon here)

the L roots are arte and factum, W3 speculates that the revisionist spelling may have been influenced by artifice (and the original sense of artifice, now obsolete, was more closely related; i.e. the production of something).

Thanks, tsuwm. Hey Helen, yah wanna poke in de i?

ot temerariously observes poms don't know how to spell?

pot, kettle, black?

I object!! Don't you go a-throwin' of nasturtiums at our Littel Nell! It is well known that she of the face that launched a thousand slips has her spelling well tied up - she is, indeed, spell-binding. The problem that she nobly grapples with every day is that her key-board is a lousy speller.

The problem that she nobly grapples with every day is that her key-board is a lousy speller.

Hear! Hear!
If anyone's going to cast anything in the direction of our noble Helen, it should be bouquets.

it should be bouquets

...of hyacinths?

it should be bouquets

...of hyacinths?

"If you have but two pence left,
With one buy bread,
And with the other
Hyacinth for the soul."

Quoting an aphorism of one of my teashers ... where the Good Sister got it is unknown to me.

Well put, tsuwm-- but in fact I am an excellant speller! It is just that some comman minds-- unused to creative thinking--insist on spelling a word the same way, sentence after sentance, paragraph after paregraph, page after page!

Creative minds like mind have no such boundries! we see spelling as experiment-- and wonder how far we can push the envelop! (which of course should be envelope!)

The idea of consistancy is wonderful for mass produced things-- and i suppose it has some use in publishing-- where you are mass (re)producing an idea-- but should it be required of individually crafted sentences? shouldn't they be like hand thrown pots? not so much "imperfect" as "having character"?

(AnaS, calm down, I am being tongue in cheek!) - I do recognize the value consistant spelling offers-- but my hand crafted sentences-- are like those interesting pots one sees at a craft show-- (sometime they catch our fancy-- and entrance us--other times, we look at them, and think "My second grader did better-at summer camp!")-- often possesing more character than perfection!

(And if you buy that-- there is this Bridge you might be interested in buying...)

Thank you all, for your kindness-- even you Mav!

not so much "imperfect" as "having character"?

Follow the bouncing ball...

One *can't be -in-cheek about this! Nobody's by-ing no stinkin' brijes dat ain't already there for them to uze - spamming the globe for the thrill of Victoria and -gony of defeat.

Being safe and sorry at the same time leaves the whole more character than perfection idea up the puddle with crick.

Very few sitting at a round table will think about the copier used (human or not) to reduce the minutes.

Attempts to *define obscurity are best left to the "artist".

Helen parenthesizes: (AnaS, calm down, I am being tongue in cheek!)

I'm fine. Just fine. Perfectly calm. The quintessence of serenity. Ommmm.....

"I don't care what they say about me, long as they spell my name right."

the one constant thorn in my side, and will probably end up as the epitaph on my (misspelled, no doubt) headstone.

Well, Sweet Max, you could: change your name to something unmistakable; or--pre-order your headstone so you can "edit"
it!
There's a popular--make that frequent--ad on TV here, whose
"signature" line is, "What do you want on your Tombstone?"

Well, Sweet Max, you could: change your name to something unmistakable

Will this do, O Queen of Hearts?

"I don't care what they say about me, long as they spell my name right."

Beg to differ.

(a) I care truly, madly, deeply what they say about me (and let's face it AnnaS, don't we all, underneath); and

(b) I hate it when they spell my name right - that's because on the rare occasion it is spelt correctly I don't get to add to my lovingly compiled collection (currently up to 42 and still growing) of mutations of my admittedly unusual, not to say ridiculous, surname. This week's favourite: 'Godslam'. I only accept, BTW, variants which are, to the best of my knowledge and belief, genuine fractured attempts at salutation, received in print. As I post this, they beam at me from the noticeboard behind this screen, reminding me of who I appear to be.

careful - nemesis awaits!

Stig_the_weird
(stranger )
Tue Jun 5 21:51:52 2001
Re: A matter of fact

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Well, Sweet Max, you could: change your name to something unmistakable

Will this do, O Queen of Hearts?

Oh, no, you did NOT do this! ...did you?

As my brother-in-law can no doubt attest, Stig is unmistakeable as a name, in the sense that he is the only Stig he knows, but it still gets misspelled or mispronounced on a regular basis!

> Stig_the_weird

Clearly the brother of Jude the Obscure.
A Hardy fan are you Max?

I seem to recall a series of children's novels about a character called Stig of the Dump, a caveboy living on a modern day (this was in the 60s) rubbish dump. I think some of them were televised.

Bingley

> .. the above moniker was simply a play on the AngloSaxon source of my name

Weard indeed

> Stig of the Dump

No way, it reminded me of that book too, Bingley. Think I've still got it somewhere. Quite good as I remember. I didn't know there was a series.
A while back I translated an article about a young girl called Momo, who lived in and around the ruins of an amphitheatre in much the same way as our ol' Stig did.

the Maaori "kaitiaki" - "guardian, caretaker, ..."


So, Max, will you be moving to Vladivostok then?

Vladivostok = Guardian of the East, if memory and some dictionary or other serve.