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Show JCIST STUFF f?2 BY JfiM 0k , : ) Whenever I attempt to spell a word which I know has an "i" and an "e" located side by side somewhere some-where in its middle, the little saying say-ing learned in elementary school runs through my head: "'I,' before 'E,' except after 'C,' or when sounding like 'A' as in 'neighbor' and 'weigh.'" That's not the only little tid-bit I remember from the good old days. I will always remember that "when two vowels go walking, the first one does the talking." This means that if there are two vowels together to-gether in a word, they usually take the sound of the first vowel, as in boat, wait and please. Of course there are exceptions, such as "great" and "you." We say the "A" and the "U" sound, not the "E" and the "O." But I remember the little adage anyway. Today I know when to use . "principle" and "principal," because some teacher taught us that the principal of the school was our pal, thus the "pal" at the end. And I probably keep "capital" and "capitol" straight because of the same teacher. Capitol is a building with a dome both have an "o." For some reason both examples made lasting impressions. When you spell the word arithmetic, arith-metic, do you think "A Red Indian Thought He Might Eat Tomatoes In Church?" That's how I learned it. How do you spell geography? "George Edward's Old Grandfather Rode A Pig Home Yesterday." And is there anyone who can spell MISSISSIPPI, without the singsong sing-song MISS ISS IPPI? Oh, I rarely stop to think about the two vowels, and I don't often have an occasion to spell arithmetic, arith-metic, geography or Mississippi, but whenever I write a note to someone saying "I received the blah, blah, blah . . ." "T before 'E' except after 'C'", runs through my head. |