"8 Easy DIY Projects We Wish Weâd Thought Up" - but YOU did!
Awesome news, guys* - Wired blog ran an article on 8 Easy DIY Projects We Wish We’d Thought Up, and most of them were thought up by the members here!
Congratulations to enero, amandaghassaei, timwikander (twice!), replayreb, and randofo.
(Dang, the "American" thing is catching!)
Congratulations to enero, amandaghassaei, timwikander (twice!), replayreb, and randofo.
(Dang, the "American" thing is catching!)
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So its been what... 40 hours and your already losing your British? lol :P
(I am having to teach the spell-checker on this computer the correct use of the letters S and Z in words like "realise", and some evil person has swapped over the @ and " symbols on the keyboard as well!)
We describe our height in feet and inches. We measure things with our rulers in centimeters. We might tell you how far something is in yards, but mainly in feet or kilometers... Don't even get me started on spelling. We spell "neighbour" this way (and spell check hates that). :P
And, just listening to the link about the Queen (she deserves a big 'Q', I believe, even if she's not my Monarch), I have to say, I'm allergic to the 'erbal remedy.
What a silly affectation! Sort of like dropping the 'i' from aluminium. F'God's sake! Spell-check has pinged aluminium! How can I direct it to the Periodic Table, where it can learn some very basic science?
Humphry Davy, who isolated the metal from the source mineral alumina (notice that it doesn't end in "ia"), named the metal aluminum, from the proper latinization "a" -> "um."
See, for example the mineral "lanthana", from which the metal "lanthanum" is derived. Metals like magnesium are derived from minerals (here, magnesia) which end in an "ia."
What is most amusing is that it is the rutting yanks (19th Century U.S.) who came up with the silly name "aluminium", and didn't drop it until the 1920s or so! And you all just picked it up and ran with it, like a rugby fumble.
Anyhoo, whenever I type online, the add-on works like a word-processor checker, and underlines dodgy words with a red squiggle. I can choose to let the lines stay, or right-click on the word, and select from several possible replacements for the word, or to add the word to the dictionary (Like I just had to do with FireFox and anyhoo).
A few years ago I decided to do so in everything I write and it's actually catching on! I've been informed by several who read my writings that my Britishisms bring 'class' to their blogs whenever I comment. Facebook is another good way to quietly express myself.
The thing is--spellchecker's a pain if you want to have your words spelled properly, instead relying on good old-fashioned speed and proofreading. It's better for you anyway--hones your writing and reading skills.
Americans are those who abbreviated everything--they removed the 'u' from the 'our' words, and the 'i' from aluminium. Spelling words the British (and Canadian) way is considered correct everywhere else in the World. I'm no stickler--I'd never correct another for leaving out the 'u', but this is what works for me and I've had nothing but positive feedback.
"my Britishisms bring 'class' to their blogs"
Are you sure it's really your Britishisms, and not the mere fact of correct spelling at all?
:-D
http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/neighbour
Origin: Old English nēahgebūr, from nēah 'nigh, near' + gebūr 'inhabitant, peasant, farmer' (compare with boor)
It's our word, so we shall jolly well decide how to spell it!
Enjoy that view - it's the last time you'll see it so tidy.