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old hand
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old hand
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This same battle also rages in the German language area. I just finished reading a book on the subject by Dieter E. Zimmer. He makes the important distinction between implicit "rules" (which have "grown" without anybody prescribing or formulating them) and explicit ones, i.e. formulated so that you can mechanically apply them to new situations. The former are much more widespread - and relevant.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Oh my gawd, Zed! They've hijacked your giggly thread and turned it into a (gasp) word thread 
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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And the battle in Germany has been aggravated by the new spelling reform (Rechtschreibreform) which went into effect at the beginning of this month. Not sure if Switzerland and Austria are following. Poor little esszet (ß) never hurt nobody.
Ceci n'est pas un seing.
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Pooh-Bah
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OP
Pooh-Bah
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...and why do we title the thread "giggles"?
I called it giggles because I was amused by the fact that it was an ironic word to make a mistake on. Spelling haemoglobin or apartment wrong wouldn't have made me giggle.
Would it have been funnier in wordplay?
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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Please tell us more about the German spelling reform.
When I was in Germany ten years ago, I had a discussion with a teacher about German spelling. She was intrigued by the idea that "spelling" must be taught in English with rote memorization of many words; at the time, she was "giving dictation" regularly, during which the students wrote down words she recited to them ... apparently, the spelling structure was such that prior study of the words was deemed unnecessary.
I take it that the reform is meant to further simplify the spelling rules?
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Well, about 6 years ago, a spelling reform was passed, and everybody, schools, newspapers, magazines, etc. were supposed to get on board by this month. Some major newspapers opted out early on and went back to the old spelling. (also more recently some states in Germany have gone back to the odl ways, too.) The only thing I know for sure is they got rid of the esszet (scharfes s) which is a ligature of a long s and a z (so, sz, ß). The rules for when to use -ss- (zB, ich wusste) or when to use -ß- (ich weiß) were tough on foreigners and Germans alike. I spoke with a couple of friends who teach in German high schools (one in a Gymnasium, and the other in a Gesamtschule), and they also mentioned a lot of the more obscure comma rules being dropped. I seem to also remember that German has some weird hyphenization rules that might have been affected.
Here's a couple of articles in English.
http://tinyurl.com/9yb9c
http://tinyurl.com/7ablp
And, if you read German here's a list of the new rules:
http://tinyurl.com/ay5h9
Ceci n'est pas un seing.
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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Thanks for the links.
It's odd to my eye to see phrases like "science fiction", "jumbo jet", and "swimming pool" hyphenated.
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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>>She was intrigued by the idea that "spelling" must be taught in English with rote memorization of many words; at the time, she was "giving dictation" regularly, during which the students wrote down words she recited to them ... apparently, the spelling structure was such that prior study of the words was deemed unnecessary.<<
After glancing at the 60 pp Rechtsschrebsreform I'm thinking them days is past.
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old hand
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old hand
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After glancing at the 60 pp - which are not even comprehensive, and are out of date anyway. At least part of the perceived need for a "reform" stems from the present schools' aversion to "rote learning", which, in my opinion, is part of any learning process. Another reason was the need to adapt the "logic" of language to the logic of computers (machine translation is still far behind expectations).
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Carpal Tunnel
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