Lessons in Basic English

[40cakes]

Today, vowels.

In English, we have the silent 'e' that helps change the pronunciation of vowels to 'long' or 'short' vowels. Examples:

Hat - a short vowel.
Hate - a long vowel. The silent 'e' at the end, only one consonant away from the a, changes its sound.
Hateration - again, a long vowel.

Dan - a short vowel.
Dane - a long vowel. again, the silent 'e' steps up to the plate.
Dancerie - a short vowel. Note that the silent 'e' is separated from the a by two consonants, and is part of a separate syllable.

So while names come from a variety of sources, and creative license is taking when naming a baby, you can still make some basic assumptions from these examples when spelling a name.

For example:

Casey - a long vowel. Can also be spelled Kasey, Kacey, K.C., whatever floats your boat, really.

Cassie - an entirely different name. Short vowel. Note the two 's' consonants between the a and the next vowel.

Thank you.

*Note - I am pulling this particular spelling lesson out of my ass. I haven't learned anything about short and long vowels since the first grade, but am really irritated by everyone from my boss to nurses to other secretaries who don't get how to spell my relatively simple name. It might be more fun if I still went by Elizabeth. I'm gonna start telling people to call for Esmerelda.

>^..^

Comments

[arafel.livejournal.com]

I can so sympathize. Most people who don't know me well will call me Susan, or Sue. So, Cassie, let's go out and kill them all with a flamethrower.

Re:

[crisischick81.livejournal.com]

HA! My name's Susan, so people always call me Suzanne. And whenever I'm in a group with a Suzanne, they'll call her Susan. And then we mutually hate everyone and form bonds quickly. And of course, my mother trained people from birth not to call me Sue, so inevitably, people call me Sue and she gives them the evil eye.

[fadingembers.livejournal.com]

Yay! Flamthroughers!

>^..^

[crisischick81.livejournal.com]

You should start having people call you Kitty. Kitty is pretty easy to pronounce. Then, instead of just mispronouncing it, they'll call you Pussy, and in the midst of trying to explain what a malpropism is, you'll decide to just sue them for sexual harassment and win a million dollars in court because they called you Pussy, with which you will establish Casey-Cat Productions, and throw them all for a loop.

[fadingembers.livejournal.com]

XD I like your solution.

>^..^<

(Yes, still laughing.)