Comments on: I before E, except in all these words

By: David

David — Sun, 20 Feb 2011 12:00:11 +0000

There was a very funny discussion of this rule on a recent QI program. Here is a link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=duqlZXiIZqA

By: AKA

AKA — Sun, 02 Jan 2011 21:02:38 +0000

Wow Tom, are you completely and utterly stupid?

Of course it belongs on that list.

I before E except after C.

Species.

If that rule was correct, the I would go after the E you ill-bred moron.

By: Emily

Emily — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 00:17:13 +0000

I learned a slightly longer version of the rhyme which includes more words you can add to your list!

I before E, except after C… and when it says A, as in “neighbor” and “weigh”.

By: tom

tom — Mon, 03 May 2010 23:47:16 +0000

i think species doesn’t belong to that list

By: Teacher Robert

Teacher Robert — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 12:35:57 +0000

I always pronounce the “alternate, pretentious leszer” instead of the more common leeszer. I used to correct myself to the more common, but now that I’ve found Toby’s explanation I will keep my pretentious pronunciation.

By: Toby

Toby — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 18:37:42 +0000

Being and deity are (in American English) usually pronounced bee-eng and dee-i-tee (with the i sounding like in “it”), so the i is pronounced in both cases. Also, “either” and “neither”, have an alternate pronunciation common among higher class people and people from the Northeast of being pronounced i-ther and ni-ther with the i sounding like sight. Leisure has an alternate, pretentious pronunciation of leszer instead of the more common leeszer.