I just e-mailed NBC 5 to tell them to correct the spelling on their visual regarding the American Airlines flight cancellations. It read, "Flights Canceled." Ahhhhhhhh! I mean, spell something wrong on the GEBB when you're just rattling off at the mouth but on a newscast with a large viewership!?!? Unbelievable!


And get this, I just typed a sentence in Microsoft Word with the word spelled incorrectly and it DIDN'T catch the mistake! That explains why NBC 5 didn't catch it...no one spells anymore. They just spell-check.

Did you think perhaps they were referring to this website?

Oh yes Amy you are so correct! We have all been allowed to become so careless! Long gone are the grammar and punctuation police. However be happy that you are not teaching English today! I seem to be able to catch all errors but my own!

As verified by Webster's Dictionary, both cancelled and canceled are correct (just like traveled and travelled).
---

canceled
One entry found.

cancel[1,verb]

Main Entry: 1 can·cel
Pronunciation: \ˈkan(t)-səl\
Function: verb
Inflected Form(s): can·celed or can·celled ; can·cel·ing or can·cel·ling \-s(ə-)liŋ\
Etymology: Middle English cancellen , from Anglo-French canceller , chanceller , from Late Latin cancellare , from Latin, to make like a lattice, from cancelli (plural), diminutive of cancer lattice, probably alteration of carcer prison
Date: 14th century
transitive verb

quote:

Originally posted by Amy:
I just e-mailed NBC 5 to tell them to correct the spelling on their visual regarding the American Airlines flight cancellations. It read, "Flights Canceled." Ahhhhhhhh! I mean, spell something wrong on the GEBB when you're just rattling off at the mouth but on a newscast with a large viewership!?!? Unbelievable!


And get this, I just typed a sentence in Microsoft Word with the word spelled incorrectly and it DIDN'T catch the mistake! That explains why NBC 5 didn't catch it...no one spells anymore. They just spell-check.

Amy, now would be a good time to quietly delete the first post in this thread to see if the whole thing will disappear.

quote:

Originally posted by Fish:

quote:

Originally posted by Amy:
I just e-mailed NBC 5 to tell them to correct the spelling on their visual regarding the American Airlines flight cancellations. It read, "Flights Canceled." Ahhhhhhhh! I mean, spell something wrong on the GEBB when you're just rattling off at the mouth but on a newscast with a large viewership!?!? Unbelievable!


And get this, I just typed a sentence in Microsoft Word with the word spelled incorrectly and it DIDN'T catch the mistake! That explains why NBC 5 didn't catch it...no one spells anymore. They just spell-check.

Amy, now would be a good time to quietly delete the first post in this thread to see if the whole thing will disappear.

LOLL!!

In the same vein - I e-mailed the Sun-Times to inform them that in the photo caption for the correcting of the Ernie Banks statue engraving, they had misspelled the word "statue" as "statute." The opening line of the caption read, "Proofreaders rejoice!" Nice job, proofreaders.

Neil Steinberg sent back an response with a typo and made lemons into lemonade by deciding to not correct it; instead he called it a "leitmoif."

leit·mo·tif–noun a motif or theme associated throughout a music drama with a particular person, situation, or idea.

My dictionary does not have both spellings and I have NEVER seen travelled or cancelled spelled with one "L". It just looks wrong. Sorry - I'm not deleting it. I'm standing firm - it looks wrong and at least SOME dictionaries don't list the alternate spelling so there! Actually, I'm sure it's because I use the Oxford Dictionary.

I just looked it up again and in parenthesis it declares that in the US, those alternate spellings are considered correct. Americans are idiots!

In that vein, I share with you a very funny e-mail a friend (who lives in London but is American) sent me: (Yes, it's long but it's darned funny.)

A Message from John Cleese

To the citizens of the United States of America:

In light of your failure to nominate competent candidates for President of the USA and thus to govern yourselves, we hereby give notice of the revocation of your independence, effective immediately.

Her Sovereign Majesty Queen Elizabeth II will resume monarchical duties over all states, commonwealths, and territories (except Kansas, which she does not fancy).

Your new prime minister, Gordon Brown, will appoint a governor for America without the need for further elections.

Congress and the Senate will be disbanded.

A questionnaire may be circulated next year to determine whether any of you noticed.

To aid in the transition to a British Crown Dependency, the following rules are introduced with immediate effect:

You should look up "revocation" in the Oxford English Dictionary.

1. Then look up aluminium, and check the pronunciation guide. You will be amazed at just how wrongly you have been pronouncing it for so long.

2. The letter 'U' will be reinstated in words such as 'favour' and 'neighbour.' Likewise, you will learn to spell 'doughnut' without skipping half the letters and the suffix -ize will be replaced by the suffix -ise.

Generally, you will be expected to raise your vocabulary to acceptable levels. (look up 'vocabulary').

3. Using the same twenty-seven words interspersed with filler noises such as "like" and "you know" is an unacceptable and inefficient form of communication.

There is no such thing as US English. We will let Microsoft know on your behalf. The Microsoft spell-checker will be adjusted to take account of the reinstated letter 'u' and the elimination of -ize. You will relearn your original national anthem, God Save The Queen.

4. July 4th will no longer be celebrated as a holiday.

5. You will learn to resolve personal issues without using guns, lawyers, or therapists. The fact that you need so many lawyers and therapists shows that you're not adult enough to be independent.

Guns should only be handled by adults. If you're not adult enough to sort things out without suing someone or speaking to a therapist then you're not grown up enough to handle a gun.

6. Therefore, you will no longer be allowed to own or carry anything more dangerous than a vegetable peeler. A permit will be required if you wish to carry a vegetable peeler in public.

7. All American cars are hereby banned. They are crap and this is for your own good. When we show you German cars, you will understand what we mean.

8. All intersections will be replaced with roundabouts, and you will start driving on the left with immediate effect. At the same time, you will go metric with immediate effect and without the benefit of conversion tables.
Both roundabouts and metrication will help you understand the British sense of humour.

9. The Former USA will adopt UK prices on petrol (which you have been calling gasoline)-roughly $6/US gallon. Get used to it.

10. You will learn to make real chips. Those things you call French fries are not real chips, and those things you insist on calling potato chips are properly called crisps. Real chips are thick cut, fried in animal fat, and dressed not with catsup but with vinegar.

11. The cold tasteless stuff you insist on calling beer is not actually beer at all. Henceforth, only proper British Bitter will be referred to as beer, and European brews of known and accepted provenance will be referred to as Lager.
South African beer is also acceptable as they are pound for pound the greatest sporting Nation on earth and it can only be due to the beer. They are also part of British Commonwealth - see what it did for them.

12. Hollywood will be required occasionally to cast English actors as good guys. Hollywood will also be required to cast English actors to play English characters.

Watching Andie McDowell attempt English dialogue in Four Weddings and a Funeral was an experience akin to having one's ears removed with a cheese grater.

13. You will cease playing American football. There is only one kind of proper football, it is played with the feet and a spherical ball; you call it soccer. Those of you brave enough will, in time, be allowed to play rugby (which has some similarities to American football, but does not involve stopping for a rest every twenty seconds or wearing full kevlar body armour like a bunch of nancies). Don't try Rugby yet though - the South Africans and Kiwis will thrash you, like they regularly thrash us.

14. Further, you will stop playing baseball. It is not reasonable to host an event called the World Series for a game which is not played outside of America. Since only 2.1% of you are aware that there is a world beyond your borders, your error is understandable. You will learn cricket, and we will let you face the South Africans first to take the sting out of their deliveries.

15. You must tell us who killed JFK. It's been driving us mad.

16. An internal revenue agent (i.e. tax collector) from Her Majesty's Government will be with you shortly to ensure the acquisition of all monies due (backdated to 1776).

17. Daily Tea Time begins promptly at 4 pm with proper cups, never mugs, with high quality biscuits (cookies) and cakes; strawberries when in season.

God save the Queen.

Only He can.

John Cleese

Amy - Sorry, but snopes.com reports that this is not from John Cleese. It does have a convoluted back story, if you're interested in how this type of e-mail develops.

Jesus, Amy...what the hell? You've become a one woman campaign of disinformation!!

Wake up Clam, she's a Democrat-it's what they do!

Ha! Very funny, Yoss. I don't care who it's from. I just thought it was damn funny!!

quote:

Originally posted by Amy:
Ha! Very funny, Yoss. I don't care who it's from. I just thought it was damn funny!!

Because of your Democratic ways, you likely would be interested to know that this letter's origins go back to 2000 with the, let's just call it, "Presidential Election Situation."

Is bus another one of those words? When plural I have seen it spelled buses and busses. I spell cancelled with the double "l" and have taken grief about it.

quote:

....Ahhhhhhhh!....

Isn't that the sound of contentment?

Perhaps they mean "Arghhhh!"

I was thinking of starting a conversation about homonyms, homophones and homographs, but this is a family site...

quote:

Originally posted by Amy:
Ha! Very funny, Yoss. I don't care who it's from. I just thought it was damn funny!!

Very funny Amy! Can we throw Clam in the dungeon?

quote:

Originally posted by Amy:
Ha! Very funny, Yoss. I don't care who it's from. I just thought it was damn funny!!

No, it wasn't. Will this be a five minute argument?

Argument Clinic

Yes it will.

I love John Cleese.