Darwinia wins IGF Grand Prize

[Stewsburntmonkey]

Tell you what. We'll pick 5 countries that teach English in their schools, and pick 5 elementary (or equivalent) schools at random from each country. Then, we'll call/email them, talk to the Grade Three (or equivalent) teacher, and ask them which spelling they would accept in the kids' homework, and which one they would mark as being spelled incorrectly. If the majority of them respond that 'spelt' would be the correct spelling, then I'll concede the argument.

I would hope all of the teachers would accept either spelling, as both are perfectly correct. The fact that Coke is more popular than Pepsi does not mean that Pepsi is not a valid softdrink. They are both softdrinks. The same applies to this spelling issue. Both spellings are correct.

[trickfred]

I surrender.

[ScareyedHawk]

Oh, and I'm not American, I'm Canadian..

Because Canada is not a part of America!

[Stewsburntmonkey]

The forms with -ed are also common in Commonwealth usage, and preferred by many careful writers of English since they are regular verbs.

Therefore, 'spelt' is sloppy English, and anachronistic to boot if only some people in one country still use it. 'Spelled' is a better word.

You know.. more than one country uses English...

Not to beat a dead horse, but this reminded me that "spelt" is also commonly used in India (whose population dwarfs America and the UK combined).

[Gravitron]

Doesn't "spelled" equates to being put under a casted spell?

Also: trickfred> I cite from wikipedia, therefore I am correct.
GG on the self pawnage.


I'm an Israeli agnotist jew, and I say 'spelt', 'color' & 'armour'.
Sue me.


(their =! they're) && ((their && they're) =! there) && (your =! you're) && (its =! it's) && (his =! he's)
It's not an 'IF', however, it's still a 'STATEMENT'.

[Rkiver]

Wikipedia is hardly the most accurate source of information around, and that is a fact, it was recently disputed and shown to be erroneous.

When it comes down to it, the "UK" English trumps "US" English. Why? Well UK English isn't lazily dropping letters, and they can pronounce aluminium correctly!

[Stewsburntmonkey]

Actually a scientific study recently showed Wikipedia is as accurate as the typical encyclopedia. That is not to say it is perfect (it isn't by any stretch) nor that it should be taken as authoritative, but it is about as accurate as you are going to get in general.

[Gravitron]

Stew, as far as WORDS go, I would refer to such as http://www.dictionary.com and its sister-sites before I take advice from wikipedia.

Wikipedia by far and large is made by pompus arrogant snot lickers who rather document cyberspace phenomenas than actual information.
I'm certain it has its share of intelligent scholars who do proper research work, however, for its majority it's being done by nothing short of "dictatorship of the masses" nerdish gauntlet.
They say history is written by the victors, and wikipedia is the best example of such, if it has enough fans then it gets written - their way.
One of the better examples: the existance of the silly trivial Leeroy Jenkins fan-flic as a stamped documented event...and it has been voted out of deletion by shere amounts of WoW fans/geeks.

Quantity =! Quality





In other news, England predates America and spoke English before Americans even realised it's the real language and that Americanese doesn't actually exist.

[Stewsburntmonkey]

What's wrong with having that article? Where else would you find such an indepth article about Leeroy Jenkins? Just because it doesn't interest you doesn't mean it shouldn't exist.

It is actually interesting that you are living in a country that has been created and sustained by a tiny group of highly motivated people and would likely be dissolved if popular opinion in the region were allowed to dictate its fate. in many way Israel is a real life example of Leeroy Jenkins Wikipedia article phenomenon you seem to detest so much.

[Gravitron]

To quote Dee Jay from streetfighter (1994): Are you totally demented, man?

First of all, how can you even compare on the same level something such as the state of Israel on all the sentimentalities which implies to something such as a fan flic?
Secondly, you've just countered yourself, you are the moron in oxymoron - good game; if Israel was created and is sustained by a tiny group of people how can the article's situation be similar if it's sustained by the popular oppinion of a humangoose group of people which dictated its fate?

[Stewsburntmonkey]

There are more Jews in Israel than WoW players in the world. . .

The vast majority of people who use Wikipedia have never and will never see that article. The authors and supporters of that article are not a "humangoose group of people" but a small minority.

[Gravitron]

Actually, there are probably more arabs in Israel than jews, so to speak (IE including all the Palestinian Autonomy territories).
And the world wide WoW player counts a good several millions, Israel's jewish population counts for a good 4 million or so.

And you're still a moron.

[Lowell]

That's funny...in the Oxford Dictionary spelt is a type of wheat.

spell
spelled
spellbound
speller
spellican
spelling
spelling bee
...then...
spelt ... a species of wheat, Triticum aestivum

[NeoThermic]

That's funny...in the Oxford Dictionary spelt is a type of wheat.

Which year? Do note that older editoins are not as correct as newer versions.

Also note:

spell [spel] (3rd person present singular spells, present participle spelling, past spelt [spelt] or spelled, past participle spelt [spelt] or spelled) verb
Encarta® World English Dictionary © & (P) 1999, 2000 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Developed for Microsoft by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc.

So spelt is a valid present participle and past participle, which makes xander's original use of the word valid.

Also I'm not sure why you're fighting a battle that was ended 3 days ago...

NeoThermic

[DataMage]

Wow, first time ive ever seen a news topic devolve into a grammer fight. Good Job, dumbasses, for argueing about something completely idiotic, trivial, and irrelevant.