Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 (Tek) 9/28/84 based on 9/17/84; site iddic.UUCP
Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxr!mhuxt!houxm!vax135!cornell!uw-beaver!tektronix!orca!iddic!galenr
From: galenr@iddic.UUCP (Galen Redfield)
Newsgroups: net.followup
Subject: Re: literacy
Message-ID: <2260@iddic.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 24-Oct-85 19:40:27 EDT
Article-I.D.: iddic.2260
Posted: Thu Oct 24 19:40:27 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 26-Oct-85 05:35:18 EDT
References: <747@cyb-eng.UUCP> <1900005@datacube.UUCP>
Reply-To: galenr@iddic.UUCP (Galen Redfield)
Organization: Tektronix, Beaverton OR
Lines: 54
Summary: 

In article <1900005@datacube.UUCP> stephen@datacube.UUCP writes:
>
>>Postings to the net routinely contain typographical errors.  Most of my
>>...  (etc.)
>
>I agree. My particular choice is "mnemonic" misspelled as "pneumonic". Even
>worse, I hear it pronounced "noo-monic" instead of "nee-monic".
          ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^                         ^^^^^^^^^
>Stephen Watkins                    UUCP: ihnp4!datacube!stephen
>Datacube Inc.; 4 Dearborn Rd.; Peabody, Ma. 01960; 617-535-6644

I agree!!  Boy, I sure hate  it  when  I  hear  words  pronounced
incorrectly on the net, too!   ;-)

You  may  not  be likely to hear it pronounced "nee-monic", since
the  correct  (most  dictionaries)  pronunciation  is  more  like
"nimmonic" (short "i" sound, not long "e", but it should probably
be a short "e" sound).  In the long run,  a  word  is  pronounced
however  most  people  say it, and scholars try to determine just
what that is, and finally whether to adopt that pronunciation.
      (So,  tell me something I don't know, right?)

Say,  how  can  you tell whether "they" pronounced the wrong word
correctly, or the correct word  incorrectly??   Perhaps  if  they
tried  some  mnemonics (not the computer opcode kind), they could
remember how to pronounce the correct  word  correctly!   On  the
other hand, speaking is somewhat pneumonic, since it involves the
use of lungs (and other things, sometimes including the brain).

Here  are  a few more boo-boo's I've noticed, which have bothered
me when I was in a botherable mood....

* "rather" instead of "whether" as in, "Ask her rather or not she
   went to the review meeting."

* "doing" instead of "during"  as  in,  "We would like to stop by
   for a short tour of your plant some time doing the week."

* "dampened" instead of "damped" as in, "It looks to me like that
   system is overdampened."  (Does this mean it's all wet?)

* "orthagonal" instead of "orthogonal"  (the former is not a real
   word, as far as I know, but sounds like it comes from "agony")

I  wish  I  could  remember  more  of  them.  They sometimes seem
humorous, especially when one can sense an innocent ignorance  in
the  person  making  these errors.  Or, it can become aggravating
when repeated excessively.  To  forgive  is  devine,  but  nearly
impossible at times.

    Some people just ain't as literate as we is, is  they?

Warm regards,
Galen.