"i before e except after c" = USELESS CRAP!

I vote that "i before e except after c" is the most useless rule ever thunk up.

It's more like:
i before e except after c ...and except for 'neighbor', and 'leisure' and 'seizure', and words that rhyme with 'weigh' (including when you add a 't' to the end of the aforementioned, as in "weight and "height"), and don't forget 'weird', and words of Germanic origin like 'weiner' and 'abseil'... and of course 'e' comes first when you're singing "Old MacDonald Had a Farm"... ARGGHHHHHH!
[/rant]

 

um... I think you've forgotten the end of the rule!

it's:
I before E
except after C
when the sound is 'ee'

I'm sure there are still loads of exceptions, but that's what spellcheckers are for!

 

oh. oops. :&
But that still doesn't explain "leisure", "seizure", "weird", "weiner" and Old MacDonald had a farm "eieio".

 

heheheh. well, 'leisure' is a problem with your pronunciation, not the rule ;-P

The others are exceptions, but hey, that's what makes English cool, right?

 

Hey wow, I never thought of that.
Lezure.
Lezzzzzzure.
"Jeeves, I'll be wearing my lezzzure suit tonight. Please bring the Jag-u-ar out front. We're behind shhhedule."
Brit-English is da bomb. Only they can cram 30 syllables into 2, like: Leicester (lester) Square and Worcestershire (wooster-sher) sauce.

 

If you don't like it, start learning Spanish. You'll probably be finished by the end of the week.

 

english can be a sloppy language at times but there are other languages that are far worse.

 

I didn't know there was more to that rule...I just have always heard I before E except after C. Of course, now knowing there is more to it...it still doesn't make a lick of since to me. Oh welll...gotta love spell check!

 

Well, I always thought it was 'i' before 'e' except after 'c' and when sounding like 'ei' as in 'neighbor' and 'weigh'.... but it never explained 'science' or 'weird', which is how I describe the little rhyme.

 

That is the full verse and it works 80-90% of the time which is about as good as any rule.

 

Not to criticize, but the entire poem is:
I before E
Except after C
or when sounded as A
as in Neighing and Weigh

 

I am too stupid to remember that, or maybe too lazy to apply it. My spalin dos not nead wurk.

 

I always heard neighbor and weigh.....

 

It's English, get used to it. Unless you're American, in which case just reform the language so that things fit your expectations.

 

Posts by Sax_Machine: 1572
Posts by Sax_Machine bashing Americans: 1536

OK, you win, mate. You can have Boston back.

 

While full of exceptions to the rules, English is remarkably consistent when considering that it is made up of words and expressions from other languages from all over the world. I am not claiming that it is superior, but that it does not always deserve the criticism is receives--which, by the way, came from Middle English-to Old North French- to Latin.