spell/spelling
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spell/spelling
In which contexts and for what purpose might a speaker use "How are you spelling that" over "How do you spell that"?
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Stephen Jones
- Posts: 1421
- Joined: Sun May 18, 2003 5:25 pm
Most probable context: He's Indian
Purpose: Save money on a dictionary
Highly unlikely context:
Purpose: Save money on a dictionary
Highly unlikely context:
- He's looking at somebody making what he feels is a mistake and expressing surprise or irritation.
There are variant spellings (BrE or AmE) and he is asking which one is being used in a context where either is possible.
An interesting example:
How do I Start Windows?
While I am not a techie, I know enough that I get asked questions, but plead igonorance enough so that when I say "I don't know", they believe me, and find someone else. And to admit to any real techie that the cause of a problem was probably me. Even so, when my friend related this story the solution was something even I knew...or so I thought...
(Back when you booted to DOS and typed 'win' to get to Windows. U = user, F = Frank, the poor guy who went through this)
U: How do I start Windows?
F: Oh, type Win at the prompt.
U: It says "Bad command or file name"
F: Great, okay bye....wait, say that again?
U: Bad command or file name.
F: Uhh...type cd windows and type win again.
U: Same thing.
F: Huh. Type dir and tell me what you see.
U: blah, blah, blah..win this, win that...blah
F: Okay....
(Omit two hours of walking through everything possible, O\S, all relevant files, etc, etc.)
F: I'm stumped. Looks like we'll have to reinstall windows.
U: Oh man.
F: Well, get your disks...
(At this point, obvious light bulb hits Frank)
F: by the way, how are you spelling 'win'?
(Did I mention that Frank has a southern accent??)
U: W-H-E-N, why?
F: I can't believe this...I shoulda guessed...try W-I-N.
U: Okay...
F: Are you in?
U: Yep. Thanks.
It wouldn't have been that bad, well, yes it would, but just a few days ago the same question had come up, and when Frank told him to type 'win' the first time, he had spelled it out...specifically because of his accent.
http://www.techtales.com/1998_12_tftcontent.html
How do I Start Windows?
While I am not a techie, I know enough that I get asked questions, but plead igonorance enough so that when I say "I don't know", they believe me, and find someone else. And to admit to any real techie that the cause of a problem was probably me. Even so, when my friend related this story the solution was something even I knew...or so I thought...
(Back when you booted to DOS and typed 'win' to get to Windows. U = user, F = Frank, the poor guy who went through this)
U: How do I start Windows?
F: Oh, type Win at the prompt.
U: It says "Bad command or file name"
F: Great, okay bye....wait, say that again?
U: Bad command or file name.
F: Uhh...type cd windows and type win again.
U: Same thing.
F: Huh. Type dir and tell me what you see.
U: blah, blah, blah..win this, win that...blah
F: Okay....
(Omit two hours of walking through everything possible, O\S, all relevant files, etc, etc.)
F: I'm stumped. Looks like we'll have to reinstall windows.
U: Oh man.
F: Well, get your disks...
(At this point, obvious light bulb hits Frank)
F: by the way, how are you spelling 'win'?
(Did I mention that Frank has a southern accent??)
U: W-H-E-N, why?
F: I can't believe this...I shoulda guessed...try W-I-N.
U: Okay...
F: Are you in?
U: Yep. Thanks.
It wouldn't have been that bad, well, yes it would, but just a few days ago the same question had come up, and when Frank told him to type 'win' the first time, he had spelled it out...specifically because of his accent.
http://www.techtales.com/1998_12_tftcontent.html