tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-344810805089119836.post770710780503738790..comments2023-11-03T00:49:27.673-07:00Comments on Ssnot!: 'I' before 'E' except for when 'E' is before 'I'.Tatarizehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06655536699564744308noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-344810805089119836.post-53728717021457733692010-12-27T21:55:01.486-08:002010-12-27T21:55:01.486-08:00After years of German in high school, I still see ...After years of German in high school, I still see "IE" as an "EE" sound and "EI" as an "I" sound. So this is really weird. (whoah, there's another one!)Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12468326016935108629noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-344810805089119836.post-65642656105614519092010-12-27T16:37:47.772-08:002010-12-27T16:37:47.772-08:00Right, and my point was exactly that...that it is ...Right, and my point was exactly that...that it is not in fact a "rule".Sparrowhawkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16520765821903563677noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-344810805089119836.post-8146920436226235252010-12-27T15:50:52.663-08:002010-12-27T15:50:52.663-08:00ANCIENT
BOCCIE
FACIEND
FACIES
FARCIE
GLACIER
HACIE...ANCIENT<br />BOCCIE<br />FACIEND<br />FACIES<br />FARCIE<br />GLACIER<br />HACIENDA<br />LANCIERS<br />NESCIENT<br />PRECIEUX<br />SCIENCE<br />SOCIETY<br />SPECIE<br />SPECIES<br /><br />vs.<br /><br />CEIBA<br />CEILING<br />CEILI <br />CEINTURE<br />CONCEIT <br />CONCEIVE <br />CROCEIN<br />DECEIT<br />DECEIVE<br />DECEIVER<br />ENCEINTE<br />NARCEIN<br />ORCEIN<br />PERCEIVE <br />RECEIPT<br />RECEIVE<br /><br />If we remove the obvious modifications (excluding those which are used frequent enough to be words themselves), we end up with it being about even. Also there are a few words with thei as a root part and thus are 'i' after 'e'. It really is generally a terrible rule. Usually I goes before E, but sometimes the words have roots like 'ceiv' or 'the' and thus don't modify the spelling. The rules still crap even if we ignore the fact that it has far more exceptions than applications.Tatarizehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06655536699564744308noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-344810805089119836.post-66639551915556224052010-12-27T14:56:23.235-08:002010-12-27T14:56:23.235-08:00Pretty much all the words in that second list are ...Pretty much all the words in that second list are not exceptions to the "cei" thing. They're morphologically modified words, nearly all of them.<br /><br />JUICIEST is JUICY + EST which becomes JUICIEST thanks to some English morphology.<br /><br />LUNACIES is LUNACY + [plural] which becomes LUNACIES.<br /><br />A lot of the words that maintain their "cei" contain the "cei" part in the original root word. Like "ceiling". The "i" and the "e" in ceiling are not a result of spelling rules like they are in "lunacies".<br /><br />I think it probably has to do with the fact that a lot of words like "receive" and "conceive" were incorporated into English a long time ago and the original meaning of "ceive" has been lost, so it's just spelled that way...<br /><br />I think your frustration comes from the fact that the "i before e" thing isn't really a "rule" of English word formation at all, but rather a mnemonic device that Junior High English teachers teach their students to make it easier to remember words like "receive". In other words...it's a way to take a stab at a word if you can't remember if it's "cie" or "cei".<br /><br />I minored in Linguistics and took a Morphology class...and believe me, if our professor hadn't stopped some of the more pedantic kids in the class, we probably could have talked about the stupid "i before e" thing for hours! Truly fascinating stuff...Linguistics is a fun science.<br /><br />Wait....science...sCIEnce?!<br /><br />No...not going there.Sparrowhawkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16520765821903563677noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-344810805089119836.post-27715695147861822412010-12-27T12:39:50.243-08:002010-12-27T12:39:50.243-08:00I thought perhaps the CEI words, although having a...I thought perhaps the CEI words, although having a fewer amount compared to the CIE words, might occur more often in language, thus making the rule more accurate on a number of times encountered basis rather than per unique word. But after reading the two lists, the CEI words don't look like they're more commonly used either.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17306331511446131284noreply@blogger.com