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#Post#: 17931--------------------------------------------------
Why is English spelling weird? Paul’s explanation
By: Aliph Date: July 13, 2019, 5:49 am
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After I read on another website that pony and Bologna rhyme in
American English, I first thought that the person who wrote that
was a bit phony (I still believe it).
So I looked up on YouTube and found this video of Paul of
LangFocus. I didn’t know all the history of English and that
even Shakespeare was unsure about the spelling of his name. I
find it interesting that the printers had such a power on the
language
HTML https://youtu.be/EqLiRu34kWo
#Post#: 17941--------------------------------------------------
Re: Why is English spelling weird? Paul’s explanation
By: NealC Date: July 13, 2019, 11:03 am
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It is a damn shame, but pony and bologna do rhyme in American
English, but only when you are talking about the lunch meat. If
you are talking about the city in Italy then you have the
typical English massacre of that spelling.
HTML https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=rmPRHJd3uHI
Oscar Mayer tried to get the country to at least call it ba lo
na. But people pronounce it like the kid. That ad was
incredibly popular in the 70's.
#Post#: 17943--------------------------------------------------
Re: Why is English spelling weird? Paul’s explanation
By: NealC Date: July 13, 2019, 11:14 am
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Your video seems spot on, a great explanation but I blame French
most of all. For a while French was the language of the Royal
Court and the upper classes, for a longer while it was the mark
of an educated man.
My father and one of his brothers did not go to school much, a
lot of their schooling was exempted as they were helping my
grandparents on the farm during the war. My uncle could barely
spell at all, my father read more so he was better at it.
When I went to school in the 70's it was drilled into us that
spelling English correctly was the sign of an educated mind.
Kids who couldn't spell were supposedly doomed to digging
ditches and pumping gas for the rest of their lives. I believed
that until as an adult I got a plumbing bill and a car repair
bill from two of the "dumbest" kids in my high school. I
thought they were dumb because spelling education was very
public, and you could see who did not do well at it. And here
they are as adults and still poor spellers (they had bad
"penmanship" too!)- and they were doing fine!
The teachers lied to me!
English spelling should be cleaned up and fixed. It is why I
supported Esperanto. Otherwise is elitist and a waste of
education time. Being able to spell English "properly" is a
sign you were forced to memorize spelling lists every week as a
child, and is not predictive of an active mind or adult success.
#Post#: 17945--------------------------------------------------
Re: Why is English spelling weird? Paul’s explanation
By: Truman Overby Date: July 13, 2019, 11:43 am
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I've never heard anyone call the lunch meat ba lo na in my
life.
#Post#: 17947--------------------------------------------------
Re: Why is English spelling weird? Paul’s explanation
By: NealC Date: July 13, 2019, 11:55 am
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Oscar Mayer tried - end of the commercial.
#Post#: 17948--------------------------------------------------
Re: Why is English spelling weird? Paul’s explanation
By: Aliph Date: July 13, 2019, 12:00 pm
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Neal, they told me that if I wasn’t able to pass the test of the
French “verbes irréguliers “ (French was the first foreign
language I learned to write at school besides Latin) at the age
of 12 that I will end up working in a factory. That scared me! I
still hate French grammar.
Well your story reminds me of that. And my plumber is more
expensive than my doctor. The plumber usually charges at least
the double and can’t even fix things. My doctor on the contrary
compliments me on my excellent health and my Mediterranean diet,
he is nice : 100% Italian.
#Post#: 17952--------------------------------------------------
Re: Why is English spelling weird? Paul’s explanation
By: NealC Date: July 13, 2019, 12:34 pm
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Bologna the lunch meat was brought over from Italy. It is
basically a cheap, processed version of Mortadella, and was
first called "Bologna Ham" because Mortadella comes from
Bologna.
People in the US know enough Romance language to associate morta
with the word dead (even if that is wrong) so "mortadella" as a
lunch meat is a non-starter. Calling it Bologna didnt work
because Americans see that word and pronounce it bo LOG na.
Baloney doesnt work because people associate that word with
phoney.
So we are stuck with this hybrid foolishess that doesnt really
help anyone. I am sure this happens in every kids' life:
"Johnny go get the Baloney out of the refrigerator so we can
have lunch". "Mom I cant find Baloney, but we got this Bo log
na stuff, is that good?"
#Post#: 17958--------------------------------------------------
Re: Why is English spelling weird? Paul’s explanation
By: Nikola Date: July 13, 2019, 1:30 pm
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I first heard of bologna when I was reading the book The
Shipping News (you might have seen the movie) where Quoyle, the
main character, moves to Newfoundland to reconnect with his
roots. Most food the local diner offers comes from a can.
"Quoyle ordered the fried bologna dinner. It was the only thing
on the menu he hadn't tried, but night after night he'd watched
diners at neighboring tables wolfing and gnashing, guessed it
was a house specialty. The plate came heaped with thick bologna
circles, fried potatoes and gravy, canned turnip, and a wad of
canned string beans, all heated in a microwave. The overwhelming
sensations were of sizzling heat and salt content off the
scale."
I googled it and thought "what a treat".
#Post#: 17959--------------------------------------------------
Re: Why is English spelling weird? Paul’s explanation
By: NealC Date: July 13, 2019, 2:00 pm
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I wont touch baloney in general. Fried baloney at a restaurant?
I am not sure that would go over well with Chef Ramsay.
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