Regular Spelling
Thoughts on language and more

Mission Complete: Hard Mode Unlocked

I've seen some interesting things over the years in e-mail. Most of it is spam, so it's not really worth mentioning because its garbage designed to bypass spam filters. But every so often, an actual person's e-mail becomes interesting.

Like this, an e-mail we got at my work fairly recently:

"Actually I got the computer.
but Hard is not working.
So you sent to me new hard.
but I still do get the Hard.
can you check it?

Thanks."

...

...

I don't even begin to understand that. The mind reels.

Date posted: 11 September, 2007
Tags: anecdote internet words

Charlie Gordon

Alright, written Rorschach test time. What's the first thing that comes to mind reading the abbreviation "BKCN SHT CAKE"

Go ahead, I'll wait. The page I'm trying to go to in another window doesn't seem to be loading anytime soon.

Anyway, I went to the store to get some change on Saturday, and picked up a Vanilla Coke so I had something to get the cash back on (and I love Vanilla Coke, so glad they brought that back). As I waited, I saw the screen for the cash register, and an item that said "BKCN SHT CAKE".

I hadn't seen the cake yet, and my mind certainly didnt turn it into a very appetizing sounding phrase.

Even after seeing the plain sheet cake that the person ahead of me bought, I'm still not sure what "BKCN" is supposed to stand for.

Date posted: 10 September, 2007
Tags: anecdote words

Month Removed

Apparently, according to the archive list on the side of the page, the month of July did not exist.

I am not sure yet of the full implications of this.

Ahh there we go, a quick rebuild and all is well.

Date posted: 07 September, 2007
Tags: regularspelling website_design

Psoriasis?

Sometimes I wonder how Google's ads work.

Like just now, when I came on here and the ad it was showing was for something concerning "psoriasis."

I didn't even know what that was, much less have talked about it before or it have any relevance to anything else I've talked about before. I had to look it up to find out what it is.

Spelling it wrong in the process so Wikipedia said it didn't exist, mind you.

Date posted: 06 September, 2007
Tags: advertisement internet spelling

Caution: English Construction Next 5 Miles

At my work theres a guy who often mispronounces the names of things. Usually its nothing to bother with, but occasionally some unusual words are created by him.

Today he was talking with another coworker about Perpendicular Hard Drives, and the speed and storage benefits they have over older hard drives. However, not once did he use the word 'perpendicular' Instead, he came up with some new word.

Parapendicular.

This one's hard to break down, as perpendicular was borrowed from several different languages, originating as perpendiculum , being the line of a blumb bob. Finally I found the main root pendre, which means to hang. The prefix para has several similar-but-different meanings, I'm going to go with "beside, alongside of" for this word. So, here's my definition:

Parapendicular, adj. - hanging close to where it should be located

As such, that would make a 'parapendicular' hard drive one dangling in a computer case by the cables attaching to it without being secured. Haven't done that since my old 386 computer, but I had attached it with electrical tape too.

See? Using English is just that easy.

Date posted: 30 August, 2007
Tags: anecdote linguistic pronunciation words


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