Spelling Checker Hazard (was Re: I before E)
Bob Cunningham
[...]
An e-mail message has pointed out that the word "seethe" appeared
in my list of exceptions to the "i before e" rule:
> leitmotiv, neigh, neighbor, neither, peignoir, prescient,
> rein, science, [*]seethe[*], seidel, seine, seismic, seize, sheik,
> society, sovereign, surfeit, teiid, veil, vein, weight,
I cut and pasted the list from an old message in which the word
"seiche" appeared in the place into which "seethe" somehow crept. I
think this must be an example of one of the hazards of using a
spelling checker. What must have happened is that the spelling
checker suggested "seethe" to replace "seiche" and I carelessly
clicked on "Change" instead of "Add" or "Ignore".
[...]
Later in the posting, where I reorganized the list according to
pronunciation of the digraph "ei", "seiche" appears as it should.
That time I must have clicked "Add", because my spelling checker now
accepts that word:
> Long "a":
> beige, deign, dreidel, eight, feign, feint, freight,
> gleization, greige, heinous, neigh, neighbor, peignoir,
> rein, [*]seiche[*], seine, veil, vein, weight
In case anyone wants to be saved the trouble of looking it up, a
seiche, pronounced "saysh", is a "random oscillation of the waters of
a lake, bay, etc., caused by wind or earthquake. [1830-40; <
Franco-Provençal]" (RHWCD^).
^ RHWCD = <I>Random House Webster's College Dictionary</I>
Copyright 1995, 1992, 1991 by Random House Inc.
ISBN 0-679-43886-6
---
BC | "I before E except after C, unless:
LA | a. E precedes I and does not follow C, or
| b. I precedes E and follows C."
| -- Robert Elwood Cunningham (1922- )
KJBlake
>
>This happened a few weeks ago to the menu of a well-to-do restaurant here
>in San Francisco. The menu was spell-checked, printed, and a copy
>displayed in the window of the restaurant (as is the custom here).
Nobody
>noticed that the spell-checker turned "warmed spring salad greens with
>prosciuto" into "warmed spring salad greens with prostitutes."
Well, at least "prostitutes" was spelled correctly, which is more than you
can say about "prosciuto."