Athiest

[Myriad]

I rarely see someone similarly misspell theist or theism.

True. But from what I've read online, many theists appear to believe in dieties. I gather that those are divine beings who have to watch their waistlines.

Respectfully,
Myriad

 

[wahrheit]

Let's fight it out on Google:

Atheist vs. Athiest

Deities vs. Dieties

 

[Myriad]

The results are more impressive in the singular case, deity vs. diety. Almost two thirds as many wrong as correct (unless lots of bloggers out there are actually talking about how their frequent fad diets give them a diety lifestyle).

Best,
Myriad

 

[Marc L]

Personally, I'd love to see us simplify our language a lot, and get rid of these stupid rules.

By the way, I noticed a couple of people claim that "Theist" is one syllable, while "Atheist" is two. I've been trying to work my brain around it, but for some reason, I can only pronounce the first with two syllables, and the second with three.

Marc

 

[Keerax]

The rule applies to words where 'ie' or 'ei' are part of the same syllable, generally pronounced as a long 'e' -- piece, thief, receive, etc. It's not useful for words where the letters are pronounced separately -- atheist, deity, diet, etc.

Budweiser.

 

[Myriad]

Budweiser.

... and many words and names of German or related origin, e.g. Freitag (Ger) = Friday.

Respectfully,
Myriad

 

[JoeTheJuggler]

But from what I've read online, many theists appear to believe in dieties. I gather that those are divine beings who have to watch their waistlines.

Or they're the attendees at the big conference in Worms when Luther refused to recant.

 

[Polaris]

English is not my first language, so I actually don't know that rule. But that would explain why so many people make the same mistake. Thanks.

Similar reason to why I sometimes see it spelled "al-Queda", because there's a rule that Q must always be followed by U in English.

 

[Ignignokt]

To quote the Moonities from aqua teen hunger force "English Grammar is beyond comprehension with 100% of your minds"<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" /><o></o>

 

[Polaris]

To quote the Moonities from aqua teen hunger force "English Grammar is beyond comprehension with 100% of your minds"<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" /><o></o>

Two of the greatest characters in recent years, those Moonanites.

"Let's shatter his fragile grasp of the world."

 

[EverLastingGodStopper]

By the way, I noticed a couple of people claim that "Theist" is one syllable, while "Atheist" is two. I've been trying to work my brain around it, but for some reason, I can only pronounce the first with two syllables, and the second with three.

I was wondering how people could pronounce "theist" in one syllable. What do they say? Does it sound like "theest"? "Thist"? I pronounce it the way the dictionary says to, with two syllables: "the - ist." (thee - ist) And of course, its antonym has three syllables: "a- the- ist."

 

[Art Vandelay]

The weirdist thing was someone managing to make "real" into a three syllable word.

Let's just get rid of that old i before e except after c rule. The idiot who thought it up didn't account for the hundreds of exceptions.

I think that a better (but still not universal) rule is that whatever sound predominates goes first. In "weigh", the "e" sound predominates, so it goes first. In "atheist", the "i" sound predominates, so people expect it to come first.

Second, I think T.A. knows, for instance that Philanthropist is pronounced phil-an-thro-pist, but was just using it to show the "ist" is a suffix.

Really? I think "phi-lan-thro-pist" is more common.

The best way to get under my skin is to misspell "lose" as "loose". I see it every day, and for some reason it really frustrates me. It's a sickness, and I'm seeking treatment.

What's really bad is that Newsweek spelled "choose" as "chose".

I knew someone just one year away from college who could not spell it - would always spell collage - that misspelling annoyed me the most, maybe because the pronunciation is so jarring in one's head. I just wanted to scream at them through the computer.

That reminds me of seeing someone write "strategery" over and over again. I wonder whether they pronounce these words the same as they spell them.