Helpfull hint (Google Toolbar Spellchecker)
 

:smile: For those who find spelling difficult and make many typographical errors as sometimes I do in posting I have discovered a system that can alleviate your problems.
There was a suggestion in one of the recent posts that a spell check should be added to mersenneforum.
Well quite by accident I downloaded the Google tool bar and found it gives a spell check on whatever account you are on irrespective.
Moreover simultaneously you can do a search of any topic at the same time and on the same window.
Give it a try guys, it's well worth the free download. It may be old hat for some though. I look forward to some error free language in our posts from now on.
Mally :coffee:

Just keep in mind that the Google toolbar is very likely Spyware.

Ironic that the first word in the title is spelt [sic] incurrectly.

... or perhaps Mally is just using the old deliberate-misspelling-on-the-sign trick that businesses use to bring in a few more customers. :-)

[QUOTE=Greenbank]Ironic that the first word in the title is spelt [sic] incurrectly.[/QUOTE]
"Spelt" is a correct, though less-common and somewhat old-fashioned, spelling of the past tense of the verb "to spell".

It is also the correct spelling of the name of a particular species of cereal, Triticum spelta. I have a 500g packet of spelt seeds in the larder right now.

"Incurrectly" is, I presume, a rather feeble attempt at humour.

Paul

[QUOTE=PhilF]Just keep in mind that the Google toolbar is very likely Spyware.[/QUOTE]
Well, is it or not?

[QUOTE=smh]Well, is it or not?[/QUOTE]
I don't care to load it to find out. Maybe we can get Mally to run a spyware checker for us and report what it says about it.

[QUOTE=PhilF]I don't care to load it to find out. Maybe we can get Mally to run a spyware checker for us and report what it says about it.[/QUOTE]
Google wouldn't release software that would be considered malicious, and they're very [url=http://www.google.com/support/toolbar/?quick=privacy&v=3.0&hl=en]upfront[/url] about the functionality of their software. While they might be collecting statistical page-visit data to refine their search engine, nothing's being done to compromise your privacy.

Drew

[QUOTE=xilman]
"Incurrectly" is, I presume, a rather feeble attempt at humour.

Paul[/QUOTE]

I refer the honourable gentleman to the definition of "sic" when used as an adverb.

[QUOTE=Greenbank]I refer the honourable gentleman to the definition of "sic" when used as an adverb.[/QUOTE]I am well aware of the meaning of "sic".

It is Latin for "thus" and is used when quoting another's text to indicate that the error apparently occurring in the text immediately before the word "sic"was present in the original quoted material and is not an inadvertent error made by the person quoting the text.

As far as I can tell, you were not quoting the words of some other publication; neither was the word "spelt" used in error.


Paul

From: [url]http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=sic[/url]

"Thus; so. Used to indicate that a quoted passage, especially one containing an error or unconventional spelling, has been retained in its original form [b]or written intentionally[/b]."

From: [url]http://encarta.msn.com/dictionary_1861735210/sic.html[/url]

"thus or so: thus or so, used within brackets to indicate that what precedes it is [b]written intentionally[/b] or is copied verbatim from the original, even if it appears to be a mistake."

As for its placing within the sentence, it is my own experience that I have nearly always seen it placed after a quoted passage but, in the few cases where it is used to indicate intentional misuse, it has been placed before the appropriate word.

[QUOTE=Greenbank]From: [url]http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=sic[/url]

"Thus; so. Used to indicate that a quoted passage, especially one containing an error or unconventional spelling, has been retained in its original form [b]or written intentionally[/b]."

From: [url]http://encarta.msn.com/dictionary_1861735210/sic.html[/url]

"thus or so: thus or so, used within brackets to indicate that what precedes it is [b]written intentionally[/b] or is copied verbatim from the original, even if it appears to be a mistake."

As for its placing within the sentence, it is my own experience that I have nearly always seen it placed after a quoted passage but, in the few cases where it is used to indicate intentional misuse, it has been placed before the appropriate word.[/QUOTE]
I do not have access to my copies of the OED or Chambers right now (they are at home and I am in the office) so I can quote only the entry in the Concise OD. Here it is in its entirity and with formatting reproduced to the best of my ability:


[i]sic[/i] /sik/ [i]adv.[/i] (usually in brackets) used, spelt, etc., as written (confirming, or drawing attention to, the form of quoted or copied words). [L, = so, thus]


No mention there of intentional misuse.


Paul

I'll save you the hassle. The Online version of the 20 volume OED (second edition) says:-

"A parenthetical insertion used in printing quotations or reported utterances to call attention to something anomalous or erroneous in the original, or to guard against the supposition of misquotation."

Still, the OED is no [i]Académie française[/i]. I'll be interested to see what Chambers says.