I doubt it  ;D

Who cares.

Don't know, don't care. ::)

We all know that Bush Sr.'s VP couldn't.

While I'm on the subject, one time in '91 (when Quayle was the VP, incidentally), my family and I went to a resturant in Santa Monica, and I came across a misspelling of the word "tomato" on the menu (spelled tomatoe), and I said to myself, "I wonder if Dan Qualye wrote this menu!" :D

^ The thing people forget about potato-gate is the word potato was also misspelled on the index card the VP was holding!

For those who don't remember, vice president Dan Quayle was proctoring a spelling bee for some elementary school students. The kid who got the word potato spelled it correctly. Quayle said something like "very good but you're forgetting the 'E.'"
You would think a nice conservative Republican would be a better speller than some liberal bubblehead school teacher!

The plural "potatoes" is spelled with an "e." English is a tough language because of all these inconsistencies!

Anyway, the question isn't "Can George Bush spell potato?," it's "Can Karl Rove spell potato?"
http://www.inthe00s.com/smile/10/znaika.gif

How to spell "potato(e)" is rather a stupid thing to argue over.  And as is so common in the English languate, there is more then one correct way to spell it.  In fact, "potatoe" is correct according to several laws of English spelling, including "silent E" and "plural S".  After all, tell me how many other words have the plural version with an "es" at the end.  It may be considered "archaic", but that does not make it invalid.

Let's go ahead and bash everybody in here from UK or the Commonwealth who spells Armor (Armour), Honor (Honour), Color (Colour), or Theater (Theatre) funny as well.  And while we are at it, let's bash all those people from the NE US, especially those from Mass.  We all know that they can't say words like "Cuba" and Vigor".

Myself, I say let's just attack everybody who says or spells things different then me.  Because everybody knows that I speak perfect American English, and everybody else has the accent.

Shroom I'm afraid you're a bit off.


From wikipedia:

"Potatoe" is an archaic spelling of the word potato. The Oxford English Dictionary lists potatoe as a variant form, the most recent usage cited being from 1880: "She found the parson in his garden..making a potatoe pie for the winter." However, in modern English it is considered a misspelling, since although the English plural, potatoes, is spelled with an "e", the singular is not, and no dictionary considers potatoe to be an acceptable modern spelling.


Its not the same as the difference between realize and realise or armor and armour.

[quote author=

You spell "potatoe", I spell "potato". Let's call the whole thing off.





Cat

You spell "potatoe", I spell "potato". Let's call the whole thing off.


*laughs*

Exactly my point.  I simply can't see the reason or need to bash somebody about something like this.

In fact, I have many things I am much more concerned about, like the fate of Gilad Shalit.  In reality, I care about how you spell potato(e) about as much as I care if a tomatoe is a fruit or a vegitable.

And here is another thing Dan Quayle could not do: defend his misspelling of "potato" as well as "Mushroome" just did!
;)

And a lot of Dictionaries did not recognize "Ain't" until a decade ago, reguardless of the fact that it was used almost daily by millions of people.  In fact, a lot of them still consider that phrase "Vulgar".

And there are lots of times I have seen "Potatoe" used today.  You have "Black Potatoe" records, which is from New Jersey.  And no, the were founded in 1988, almost 4 years before the "potatoe incident".  http://blackpotatoe.com

Then of course there is the "Sun Valley Potatoe Growers, Inc.", an Idaho co-op.  http://www.idaho-potatoes.com/potatoe.html

Of course, I grew up in Idaho.  We saw "potato" and "potatoe" as interchangeable.  Both were used about equally in advertisement and signs in the region.



Ain't still isn't an acceptable world in English.  If its in any dictionaries its definitely a colloqialism.  As a Southerner I REFUSE to use ain't OR ya'll, and I really don't understand why any educated adult Southern or not would use those types of words.  To me its a thing of self-respect.

[quote author=

How to spell "potato(e)" is rather a stupid thing to argue over.  And as is so common in the English languate, there is more then one correct way to spell it.  In fact, "potatoe" is correct according to several laws of English spelling, including "silent E" and "plural S".  After all, tell me how many other words have the plural version with an "es" at the end.  It may be considered "archaic", but that does not make it invalid.

Let's go ahead and bash everybody in here from UK or the Commonwealth who spells Armor (Armour), Honor (Honour), Color (Colour), or Theater (Theatre) funny as well.  And while we are at it, let's bash all those people from the NE US, especially those from Mass.  We all know that they can't say words like "Cuba" and Vigor".



Cuba?  We may drop the "r" in vigor, but Cuba?  And although the Boston accent is famous for the dropped r, it is fact a feature of the native speech of New England, Virginia, South Carolina, Georgia, Mississippi, Alabama , Louisiana, and Florida.  There is an excellent program that was on PBS that can be rented called "Do You Speak American" and another series "The Story of English"  They are really quite good.

About Cuba.  You must be referring to the Kennedy way of saying "Cuba".  As anyone from Boston can tell you the Kennedys don't have a typical Boston accent.  The have an Boston Irish accent.  It is different.

Cuba?  We may drop the "r" in vigor, but Cuba?  And although the Boston accent is famous for the dropped r, it is fact a feature of the native speech of New England, Virginia, South Carolina, Georgia, Mississippi, Alabama , Louisiana, and Florida.  There is an excellent program that was on PBS that can be rented called "Do You Speak American" and another series "The Story of English"  They are really quite good.

About Cuba.  You must be referring to the Kennedy way of saying "Cuba".  As anyone from Boston can tell you the Kennedys don't have a typical Boston accent.  The have an Boston Irish accent.  It is different.


Uh, certain New Englanders who drop their R's also possess a peculiar rhotacism in which the Caribbean country becomes "Cuber" and the large brass instrument becomes a "Tuber," whereas your job becomes your "caree-ah," the Asian country is known as "Koree-ar." Why, I once heard a Boston attorney defending a mobster rhetorically ask, "What is the meeaffier?" I think he was the same one talking about "marijuwanner" being "against the larr"!
http://www.inthe00s.com/smile/08/rolleyes.gif

I agree on those PBS documentaries. Both are worth watching if you can find them.

As for spelling, English is a peculiar language with all kinds of inconsistent rules. English spelling did not become regularized until the latter half of the 19th century. If you read letters from the Revolution era from even the most educated men, you'll be puzzled by all the misspellings. But the weren't really misspellings back then.
However, if I got disqualified from the spelling bee for spelling "p-o-t-a-t-o-e," I still couldn't pull out a letter from Sir Thomas Hrrrrumph from 1752 and requalify myself by saying, see "Potatoe"!
Rules are rules, arbitrary or systematic!

Well I know as well as you do that ain't ain't good English (neither is failing to recognize the difference between "it's" and "its", which you did three times), but I still use it when I talk in informal situations.


::)

Buzz off.  Theres a difference between that and using a word as blatantly wrong as "aint".  ITS NOT A WORD.  Don't you think so?

About Cuba.  You must be referring to the Kennedy way of saying "Cuba".  As anyone from Boston can tell you the Kennedys don't have a typical Boston accent.  The have an Boston Irish accent.  It is different.


I grew up listening to the "First Family" albums, by Vaughn Meader.  Part of the humor in them was JFK's pronunciation of words like "Vigor", "Cuba", and "Swan".  And even after 30 years, I remember part of it delt with children starting to spell Cuba "C-U-B-E-R".

::)

Buzz off.  Theres a difference between that and using a word as blatantly wrong as "aint".  IT SNOT A WORD.  Don't you think so?

Who says ain't ain't a woid? ::)

It's in page 15 of my old dictionary.

[quote author=

Sorry but every English class I've ever been in disagrees.

[quote author=

[quote author=

[quote author=

Very well, its a word, but it isn't proper English.


With a history that long, it is hard to imagine how anybody can claim "it is not a word".


Ask basically every English teacher I've ever had. :D




If course, the word ain't was kept alive in the US mostly in the South Eastern states.  And we all know that people down there are vulger, right?


LOL! :D

I'm a Southerner, dude.  Going back generations and generations.  I was born and raised here in Texas.  My father was born in Alabama(the heart of Dixie ;) ) and he spent most of his time growing up in the South(his family moved around).

Its not a prejudice against Southerners on my part, its just a prejudice against BAD English. :D

It just annoys me because I generally communicate in proper English.  My English isn't PERFECT but it doesn't have OBVIOUS worts like the usage of words like "ain't" and "ya'll".

I know I know millions of Southerners disagree- c'est la vie. I tend to basically ignore all of the cultural expectations for who I am based on my age/generation, where I grew up etc.  I've always lived in my own little world and I'm not outgoing so thats probably part of it.  If you could somehow tally it up I wouldn't be surprised to find out that I've wrote and read more than I've talked and listened.  I've always lived inside my mind.

Sorry for the personal rant there. :D

Don't say ain't, your mother will faint, your father will fall in a can of red paint    ::)

Rhyme learned in childhood

Don't say ain't, your mother will faint, your father will fall in a can of red paint    ::)

Rhyme learned in childhood


"...your brother will die, your sister will cry, and the dog will call the F-B-I!"

I thought that one was kinda lame even when I was six! Poor grammar becoming fratricidal seemed quite illogical. I tried to picture my dog calling the FBI...but what could she say, "woof woof"?
http://www.inthe00s.com/smile/12/grommit.gif

How to spell "potato(e)" is rather a stupid thing to argue over.  And as is so common in the English languate, there is more then one correct way to spell it.  In fact, "potatoe" is correct according to several laws of English spelling, including "silent E" and "plural S".  After all, tell me how many other words have the plural version with an "es" at the end.  It may be considered "archaic", but that does not make it invalid.

Let's go ahead and bash everybody in here from UK or the Commonwealth who spells Armor (Armour), Honor (Honour), Color (Colour), or Theater (Theatre) funny as well.  And while we are at it, let's bash all those people from the NE US, especially those from Mass.  We all know that they can't say words like "Cuba" and Vigor".

Myself, I say let's just attack everybody who says or spells things different then me.  Because everybody knows that I speak perfect American English, and everybody else has the accent.
omg. so it turns out dan quayle DIDn't actually misspell "potato"? the right wing relativizing of truth has just hit a new extreme.

lol. i'm SO sure dan had the archaic olde english spelling in mind.  ;D

So, for all the pro "ain't"s . Next time you go on a job interview, apply to an institute of higher learning, go for a promotion, etc. use "ain't"  maybe throw in a double negative or two.  Say it loud "I ain't and I proud".  ::)

Don't say ain't, your mother will faint, your father will fall in a can of red paint    ::)

Rhyme learned in childhood




"...your brother will die, your sister will cry, and the dog will call the F-B-I!"

It thought that one was kinda lame even when I was six! Poor grammar becoming fratricidal seemed quite illogical. I tried to picture my dog calling the FBI...but what could she say, "woof woof"?
http://www.inthe00s.com/smile/12/grommit.gif




I have never heard of these. The one I heard of was:


Don't say "Ain't" because "Ain't" ain't in the dictionary. Of course this was BEFORE it was in the dictionary.




Cat

So, for all the pro "ain't"s . Next time you go on a job interview, apply to an institute of higher learning, go for a promotion, etc. use "ain't"  maybe throw in a double negative or two.  Say it loud "I ain't and I proud".  ::)




Oh WTF.  Come on, give me a break.  I said it's a word.  It is.  I never said you should use it in a job interview, or when giving an oral report or even type it in a thesis.  I said it's slang.  Do YOU use slang at a job interview?  I don't think anyone here is saying that because it's a word, it's appropriate for all situations.  I don't think anyone here is dumb enough to use the word "ain't" when they are interviewing for a job.


Quit reaching.

Don't say "Ain't" because "Ain't" ain't in the dictionary. Of course this was BEFORE it was in the dictionary.


Ain't is in every dictionary I've seen.





Oh WTF.  Come on, give me a break.  I said it's a word.  It is.  I never said you should use it in a job interview, or when giving an oral report or even type it in a thesis.  I said it's slang.  Do YOU use slang at a job interview?  I don't think anyone here is saying that because it's a word, it's appropriate for all situations.  I don't think anyone here is dumb enough to use the word "ain't" when they are interviewing for a job.


Quit reaching.

Nicely said.  I would never use nonstandard words in formal situations either.  And people use slang all the time; I'm one of them.

omg. so it turns out dan quayle DIDn't actually misspell "potato"? the right wing relativizing of truth has just hit a new extreme.


Actually, I remember a situation about 18 years ago, when I was accused of spelling a word wrong.

It was when computers were first starting to be used by the military, and I was working in an administrative office.  I had to type a bulletin telling when there was going to be a presentation at the base theatre.  I typed up the bulletin, ran it though the spell checker, and handed it to the Captain for approval.

I was somewhat surprised that I got it handed back, with the word "theatre" circled in red.  I questioned the Captain about it, and he told me it was spelled wrong.  I went and got the dictionary, and showed him that it was correct.  We went back and forth about it for a few minutes, before the Major came in and told us we were both right.  However, theatre was the British spelling.  And since we were on an American base in Japan, we would follow the American spelling of theater.

I honestly have no idea where I got the habit of useing the UK spellings for words like colour and theatre.  I looked back through some of my journals years ago, and realized I started doing it somewhere around 1984.  Thankfully, with a computer I was able to set it to automatically change the spelling to the American ones when I was typing things up when I was on duty.

Idaho Russet presents

POTATOE THEATRE

Actually, I remember a situation about 18 years ago, when I was accused of spelling a word wrong.

It was when computers were first starting to be used by the military, and I was working in an administrative office.  I had to type a bulletin telling when there was going to be a presentation at the base theatre.  I typed up the bulletin, ran it though the spell checker, and handed it to the Captain for approval.

I was somewhat surprised that I got it handed back, with the word "theatre" circled in red.  I questioned the Captain about it, and he told me it was spelled wrong.  I went and got the dictionary, and showed him that it was correct.  We went back and forth about it for a few minutes, before the Major came in and told us we were both right.  However, theatre was the British spelling.  And since we were on an American base in Japan, we would follow the American spelling of theater.

I honestly have no idea where I got the habit of useing the UK spellings for words like colour and theatre.  I looked back through some of my journals years ago, and realized I started doing it somewhere around 1984.  Thankfully, with a computer I was able to set it to automatically change the spelling to the American ones when I was typing things up when I was on duty.

I never understood why certain words differed in spelling between the UK and the US either. Especially words ending in -er/-re, like theater and center. :-\\

I never understood why certain words differed in spelling between the UK and the US either. Especially words ending in -er/-re, like theater and center. :-\\


Or color and colour, or flavor and flavour, or jail and gaol, or curb and kerb...

American culture was far enough from British culture that the language spoken and written developed differently over the past few hundred years. There are even broader gaps between Castillian Spanish and Latin American Spanish, as well as between the Portugese spoken in Portugal and the Portugese spoken in Brazil.

Ain't is in every dictionary I've seen.




That's why I said BEFORE it was in the dictionary. I believe it was in the 1960s (though I could be wrong), that if finally found it's place in the dictionary.




Cat

Or color and colour, or flavor and flavour, or jail and gaol, or curb and kerb...

American culture was far enough from British culture that the language spoken and written developed differently over the past few hundred years. There are even broader gaps between Castillian Spanish and Latin American Spanish, as well as between the Portugese spoken in Portugal and the Portugese spoken in Brazil.


Similarly, if you say "tire" and are talking about a circular piece of rubber that goes around a car wheel, it's "tyre" in the UK!

Similarly, if you say "tire" and are talking about a circular piece of rubber that goes around a car wheel, it's "tyre" in the UK!

By association, I had an English girl in one of my labs at college. She turns to me and asks, "Got a rubber?" I don't know how they do it in London, but over here it's at least dinner and movie first...oh, of course, she means "eraser."
;D

Of course, there are other instances where the "archaic" version is simply more popular, or more well known then the current "correct" version.

A good example is the hero of the musical "Man Of la Mancha".  We in the English speaking world all know of him as "Don Quixote".  However, the current mode of spelling is more commonly "Don Quijote" in Spanish speaking countries.  "Quixote" is considered "Archaic".

In the same way, the Shakespeare play "The Twelfth Night" is often called "The Twelfe Night", because that is the original spelling of the title.  And either spelling is considered "correct", even though one is no longer used in the ENglish languge.

Yeah but the common, everyday word of potato isn't one of these instances.

[quote author=

Hukt on fonix wurkt for me.

Bad spellers of the world UNTIE!!!!  ;D ;D ;D





Cat

Hukt on fonix wurkt for me.

Bad spellers of the world UNTIE!!!!  ;D ;D ;D





Cat




That joke is actually "Dyslexics of the world........UNTIE!"


My friend has that as a bumper sticker, as she is dyslexic and gets a kick out of it.

Radio Barcelona Presents:

The Man from Potatoe

(Talk bout beeting a ded hoarse!)

Hukt on fonix wurkt for me.

Bad spellers of the world UNTIE!!!!   ;D ;D ;D





Cat

Hehe, good won, Cat!

It wurkt four me, two. :D :D