A baboon doesn't play bassoon! I have no idea when the english word took a o more in spite of the french basson. Bas being the french word for low comming from the latin. He certainly catched a o when crossing the channel. Beginning to wonder if it is not better to listen to music only when nude in my bass room...with my bad spoose.
Last edited:
I think it's a sign of integrity.
Some people don't care about being ignorant. I have zero respect for them. If you can't spell and use grammar properly, then you're an idiot.
You say basson and I say bassoon. Let's call the whole thing off!
"Let's Call the Whole Thing Off" is the Gershwin song that contains lines such as "You say after and I say arfter".
It is easier in German.
A bass is 'Ein Bass' and a bass is 'Ein Barsch'.
When it comes to spelling Italian is the easiest language. Every letter or letter combination (ie gl, gn, ch, gh) is always pronounced the same and all vowels are always short, no exceptions. If you can say a word you can spell it and vice versa. German is nearly as unambiguous but not quite.
Grammar wise English is the easiest by far but spelling and pronunciation not so much. Consider this sentence:
'To deliver a dough trough to Loughborough I drove through Slough.'
How many different ways to pronounce '-ough' can you find in there?
And then there is French: ENGLISH TO FRENCH FUNNY TRANSLATION COMPILATION | your uncle mows your tuna VIRAL GOOGLE VOICE thon - YouTube
A bass is 'Ein Bass' and a bass is 'Ein Barsch'.
When it comes to spelling Italian is the easiest language. Every letter or letter combination (ie gl, gn, ch, gh) is always pronounced the same and all vowels are always short, no exceptions. If you can say a word you can spell it and vice versa. German is nearly as unambiguous but not quite.
Grammar wise English is the easiest by far but spelling and pronunciation not so much. Consider this sentence:
'To deliver a dough trough to Loughborough I drove through Slough.'
How many different ways to pronounce '-ough' can you find in there?
And then there is French: ENGLISH TO FRENCH FUNNY TRANSLATION COMPILATION | your uncle mows your tuna VIRAL GOOGLE VOICE thon - YouTube
Noah Webster, Andrew Carnegie (Simplified Spelling Board), Teddy Roosevelt, and many others changed the language in the USA. Some of their changes 'stuck', which is why our English and Canadian cousins snicker at our colo(u)rless text. Others did NOT catch-on....you can lead a pig to lipstick butt.......
cloke — cloak
soop — soup
masheen — machine
tung — tongue
greef — grief
dawter — daughter
korus — chorus
nightmar — nightmare
turnep — turnip
iland — island
porpess — porpoise
steddy — steady
hainous — heinous
thum — thumb
gillotin — guillotine
spunge — sponge
ake — ache
wimmin — women
determin — determine
giv — give
bilt — built
beleev — believe
grotesk — grotesque
stile — style
neer — near
sley — sleigh
I have read whole books that used tecnic or teknic for technique. That didn't catch-on, but it was a thing for several years.
Last edited:
(I once got points off for writing "base" when my prof thought I meant "bass", but he lives on another plane.)
If it is music (or audio), it is "BASS". A low pedestal is a "BASE". They have been two different words for hundreds of years. Careful aware people won't confuse them.
(The fish is a different story.)
Remember that ALL spelling in most languages was fluid through most of the 19th century.
bass (adj.)
late 14c., of things, "low, not high," from Late Latin bassus "short, low" (see base (adj.)). Meaning "low in social scale or rank" is recorded from late 14c. Of voices and music notes, "low in tone" from mid-15c. (technically, ranging from the E flat below the bass stave to the F above it), influenced by Italian basso.
bass (n.2)
"lowest part of a harmonized musical composition," c.1500, from bass (adj.) or cognate noun in Italian. Meaning "singer having a bass voice" is from 1590s. Meaning "bass-viol" is from 1702; that of "double-bass" is from 1927.
______________________________
base (n.)
"bottom of anything considered as its support, foundation, pedestal," early 14c., from Old French bas "depth" (12c.), from Latin basis "foundation," from Greek basis "a stepping, a step, that on which one steps or stands, pedestal," from bainein "to go, walk, step," from PIE root *gwa- "to go, come."
base (adj.)
late 14c., "low, of little height," from Old French bas "low, lowly, mean," from Late Latin bassus "thick, stumpy, low" (used only as a cognomen in classical Latin, humilis being there the usual word for "low in stature or position"), possibly from Oscan, or Celtic, or related to Greek basson, comparative of bathys "deep."
If it is music (or audio), it is "BASS". A low pedestal is a "BASE". They have been two different words for hundreds of years. Careful aware people won't confuse them.
(The fish is a different story.)
Remember that ALL spelling in most languages was fluid through most of the 19th century.
bass (adj.)
late 14c., of things, "low, not high," from Late Latin bassus "short, low" (see base (adj.)). Meaning "low in social scale or rank" is recorded from late 14c. Of voices and music notes, "low in tone" from mid-15c. (technically, ranging from the E flat below the bass stave to the F above it), influenced by Italian basso.
bass (n.2)
"lowest part of a harmonized musical composition," c.1500, from bass (adj.) or cognate noun in Italian. Meaning "singer having a bass voice" is from 1590s. Meaning "bass-viol" is from 1702; that of "double-bass" is from 1927.
______________________________
base (n.)
"bottom of anything considered as its support, foundation, pedestal," early 14c., from Old French bas "depth" (12c.), from Latin basis "foundation," from Greek basis "a stepping, a step, that on which one steps or stands, pedestal," from bainein "to go, walk, step," from PIE root *gwa- "to go, come."
base (adj.)
late 14c., "low, of little height," from Old French bas "low, lowly, mean," from Late Latin bassus "thick, stumpy, low" (used only as a cognomen in classical Latin, humilis being there the usual word for "low in stature or position"), possibly from Oscan, or Celtic, or related to Greek basson, comparative of bathys "deep."
Worse than those who can’t tolerate the faults of others, right? 😉
My point is that everyone in the US has an opportunity to become literate, and employers judge you (or used to I guess) on your level of literacy. It was drilled into me, not just by nuns but by my parents, that it was absolutely imperative that I learn to read and write correctly. In my generation, this was a standard that was 100% expected to be met. Maybe times have changed. The internet has cheapened everything, including literacy I guess.
It costs nothing to learn. You just have to do it. The list of reasons for not achieving a high level of literacy is short, so barring an obvious reason (like an obvious intellectual deficiency) I jump to the conclusion that someone that can't write properly is just lazy.
It costs nothing to learn. You just have to do it. The list of reasons for not achieving a high level of literacy is short, so barring an obvious reason (like an obvious intellectual deficiency) I jump to the conclusion that someone that can't write properly is just lazy.
And yes, it really gets under my skin when someone spells "bass" as "base." It's glaring ignorance.
Nevermind the fact that most modern browsers underline spelling errors in red, and https://www.grammarly.com exists, too.
It doesn't bother me to see base instead of bass. I assume they are ESL.
It does bother me when people say things like "I used too go too school"... Or simple spelling errors like "rediculous" instead of ridiculous. Or words that don't exist like "irregardless"...
Even "amps of current" pisses me off. There's no such measurement as an amp. It's Ampere after André-Marie Ampère. I know it's commonly shortened to amp by almost everyone, but it bothers be none the less LOL
It doesn't bother me to see base instead of bass. I assume they are ESL.
It does bother me when people say things like "I used too go too school"... Or simple spelling errors like "rediculous" instead of ridiculous. Or words that don't exist like "irregardless"...
Even "amps of current" pisses me off. There's no such measurement as an amp. It's Ampere after André-Marie Ampère. I know it's commonly shortened to amp by almost everyone, but it bothers be none the less LOL
Some of us had to learn to read and write before Al Gore invented the Internet. I had the advantage that the nuns would highlight any spelling or grammar errors I made with a Sharpie.
Thankfully, I didn't have nuns because I went to public school in Ontario in the 80's and 90's. My teachers would circle errors in red ink and write "SP" beside it.
Also any word you asked the teacher how to spell was spelled "D I C T I O N A R Y" which I always though was stupid. You need to know how to spell to look up definitions in a dictionary... The word" shugger" doesn't exist but sugar does.
Also any word you asked the teacher how to spell was spelled "D I C T I O N A R Y" which I always though was stupid. You need to know how to spell to look up definitions in a dictionary... The word" shugger" doesn't exist but sugar does.
Try explaining the pseudo-cultural defiance of a certain demographic in the US to even dignify themselves with coherent speech. I know it's a complicated topic for another discussion but it still boils down to simple self respect.
btw, I see "irregardless" being used regularly (or is it 'regularily'?)by journalists.
and I really hate the word 'normalcy'. I will not use it. Seems a bit oxymoronic that 'normality' has not kept it's rightful stature in the English language.
btw, I see "irregardless" being used regularly (or is it 'regularily'?)by journalists.
and I really hate the word 'normalcy'. I will not use it. Seems a bit oxymoronic that 'normality' has not kept it's rightful stature in the English language.
What irks me at times is the use or overuse of acronyms - as I've notice a huge increase of the use of them in the last 2 decades.
Not everyone can understand many of them, I surely don't.
And it's not a matter of education, to me it comes across as laziness in some ways.
Because assuming that all people would understand all of them is just not going to happen.
And using "ESL", I had to look it up, and it has several meanings - which make things even more confusing.
Why has acronyms become so overly popular?.... and why has it become so unpopular to spell things out so that anyone can read or understand what is written?
Not everyone on this site, for instance, is a trained or seasoned technician, and can understand immediately what a ATD or DAC is.
It almost becomes secret code to segregate the experienced from the non-techs.
Merely typing out the whole word or phrase isn't a drudgery, is it?