Yes, I agree that I find absolutely no reason why "stupidest" should be viewed as incorrect, and for that matter, I've never heard of the idea of such being viewed as such until this thread. On the other hand, "most stupid" sounds very, very akward to me at least, unlike "stupidest", and for that matter, I haven't really heard it in actual use around here at least.
Stupidest
I agree with Lazar, and I'd probably say it the way he did, but I'd also say, "I heard you were fired". What happened to the "that" there? Is this because idf there is more than one optional "that" in the sentence, we feel the need to put in every other one?
The IPA itself tends to encourage the use of IPA symbols that most closely represent the most common allophones of the phonemes being represented. For English, this means that the upside-down 'r' is most appropriate for the 'r' sound (because this is the symbol for the most common allophone, a postalveolar approximant), and the lowercase epsilon is the most appropriate for the vowel in "bed" (the /e/ represents the sound of "made").
The problem with English dictionaries using the wrong symbols is that this is very misleading to foreign students of English who actually know how the IPA works, and it can lead to a lot of mistakes and wasted effort. Offhand, I can't think of any English pronunciation in which [E] becomes [e], and the use of the latter symbol causes confusion with the real /e/, which is a separate phoneme.
The problem with English dictionaries using the wrong symbols is that this is very misleading to foreign students of English who actually know how the IPA works, and it can lead to a lot of mistakes and wasted effort. Offhand, I can't think of any English pronunciation in which [E] becomes [e], and the use of the latter symbol causes confusion with the real /e/, which is a separate phoneme.
Didn't see Adam's post before.
Adam, have you heard of "The Celtic Tiger"?? Ireland has the Euro, and its economy is far from stagnent. And if you think that our current economic situation is down to you having £ instead of € on your coins you are seriusly mislead, like it or not you have the Scot, Gordon Brown to thank not our over priced currency.
Instead of me listing the benefits here, read this.
http://www.ldeg.org/briefs/policy-euro.htm
"If anything, if European countries want to continue the stupid idea of all having the same currency **(thus ceasing being independent nations)** then they should all adopt the pound. "
Read point 11.
Adam, have you heard of "The Celtic Tiger"?? Ireland has the Euro, and its economy is far from stagnent. And if you think that our current economic situation is down to you having £ instead of € on your coins you are seriusly mislead, like it or not you have the Scot, Gordon Brown to thank not our over priced currency.
Instead of me listing the benefits here, read this.
http://www.ldeg.org/briefs/policy-euro.htm
"If anything, if European countries want to continue the stupid idea of all having the same currency **(thus ceasing being independent nations)** then they should all adopt the pound. "
Read point 11.
Wow, what happened here?
Somebody reposted a post that Travis made in 2005, a post that Tiffany made in 2005, a post that Mxsmanic made in 2004, and a post that Jim C made in 2006.
Somebody reposted a post that Travis made in 2005, a post that Tiffany made in 2005, a post that Mxsmanic made in 2004, and a post that Jim C made in 2006.
"Didn't see Adam's post before.
Adam, have you heard of "The Celtic Tiger"?? Ireland has the Euro, and its economy is far from stagnent. And if you think that our current economic situation is down to you having £ instead of € on your coins you are seriusly mislead, like it or not you have the Scot, Gordon Brown to thank not our over priced currency.
Instead of me listing the benefits here, read this.
http://www.ldeg.org/briefs/policy-euro.htm
"If anything, if European countries want to continue the stupid idea of all having the same currency **(thus ceasing being independent nations)** then they should all adopt the pound. "
Read point 11. "
***********************
It's not the Euro currency that has been helping Ireland's economy - all the cash that it has been receiving from the EU has been helping it. Ireland has been riding the EU Gravy Train. It is a net RECEIVER of money from the EU whereas Britain is a net GIVER.
When the Euro was first introduced, pro-Euro people said that London's position as Europe's financial centre would be in danger if Britain kept the Pound and tthat, instead, Frankfurt would overtake London and become Europe's financial centre.
Instead, the opposite has happened: not only has London kept its position as Europe's financial centre but the gap between London and Frankfurt has become bigger. In fact, even London's Canary Wharf skyscraper is a bigger financial centre than the whole of the city of Frankfurt. Not only that, but London is about to overtake New York as the financial capital of the WORLD for the first time since the days of Empire.
Ireland has become rich and successful thanks to the EU's money (much of it Britain's) and NOT because of the Euro, whereas other countries that have the Euro - notably France, Germany, Italy - are in the economic doldrums and are in rapid decline.
Thanks to Britain keeping the Pound - and Gordon Brown making the Bank of England independent - Britain's economy is booming.
Adam, have you heard of "The Celtic Tiger"?? Ireland has the Euro, and its economy is far from stagnent. And if you think that our current economic situation is down to you having £ instead of € on your coins you are seriusly mislead, like it or not you have the Scot, Gordon Brown to thank not our over priced currency.
Instead of me listing the benefits here, read this.
http://www.ldeg.org/briefs/policy-euro.htm
"If anything, if European countries want to continue the stupid idea of all having the same currency **(thus ceasing being independent nations)** then they should all adopt the pound. "
Read point 11. "
***********************
It's not the Euro currency that has been helping Ireland's economy - all the cash that it has been receiving from the EU has been helping it. Ireland has been riding the EU Gravy Train. It is a net RECEIVER of money from the EU whereas Britain is a net GIVER.
When the Euro was first introduced, pro-Euro people said that London's position as Europe's financial centre would be in danger if Britain kept the Pound and tthat, instead, Frankfurt would overtake London and become Europe's financial centre.
Instead, the opposite has happened: not only has London kept its position as Europe's financial centre but the gap between London and Frankfurt has become bigger. In fact, even London's Canary Wharf skyscraper is a bigger financial centre than the whole of the city of Frankfurt. Not only that, but London is about to overtake New York as the financial capital of the WORLD for the first time since the days of Empire.
Ireland has become rich and successful thanks to the EU's money (much of it Britain's) and NOT because of the Euro, whereas other countries that have the Euro - notably France, Germany, Italy - are in the economic doldrums and are in rapid decline.
Thanks to Britain keeping the Pound - and Gordon Brown making the Bank of England independent - Britain's economy is booming.
Mxsmanic knows better than John Wells who writes ...
"In some languages, notably French and German, one needs to distinguish two e-type vowels, a closer one (IPA [e]) and an opener one (IPA [E]). The English bet vowel lies between them, but is more similar to [E], which is why Upton prefers that symbol. However, from the point of view of an EFL learner whose native language is, say, Japanese or Greek -- languages that have no such distinction -- it is quite unnecessary to distinguish the "[e]" at the starting point of the face diphthong from the "[E]" of bet. And following IPA principles, if we are to choose just one of the two symbols we should prefer the simpler one."
http://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/wells/ipa-english-uni.htm
(italics lost & IPA converted to SAMPA)
One might be tempted to note that in Australian & New Zealand English this vowel is closer to [e] but I suppose Mxsmanic knows better than consider such nonstandard dialects.
"In some languages, notably French and German, one needs to distinguish two e-type vowels, a closer one (IPA [e]) and an opener one (IPA [E]). The English bet vowel lies between them, but is more similar to [E], which is why Upton prefers that symbol. However, from the point of view of an EFL learner whose native language is, say, Japanese or Greek -- languages that have no such distinction -- it is quite unnecessary to distinguish the "[e]" at the starting point of the face diphthong from the "[E]" of bet. And following IPA principles, if we are to choose just one of the two symbols we should prefer the simpler one."
http://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/wells/ipa-english-uni.htm
(italics lost & IPA converted to SAMPA)
One might be tempted to note that in Australian & New Zealand English this vowel is closer to [e] but I suppose Mxsmanic knows better than consider such nonstandard dialects.
I don't agree with Mxsmanic's viewpoints, but I do think that for British and American English that vowel should be transcribed as [E]. This is the more common practice anyway. I would counter Wells' EFL argument by saying that some EFL learners might find it hard to produce a diphthongal [eI]; so if we transcribe the "bet" vowel as [E], then these learners can at least fall back on the distinction of vowel height.
But I'll add that I don't consider Australian and NZ English to be "substandard", and I think the "bet" vowel should definitely be transcribed as [e] for those dialects.
But I'll add that I don't consider Australian and NZ English to be "substandard", and I think the "bet" vowel should definitely be transcribed as [e] for those dialects.
Correction: In my last sentence I should have said "[e] or [I]", because I think in NZ that "bet" vowel tends to be [I].
John Wells' viewpoint ignores that in North American English dialects, there is no hint of phonemic vowel length (meaning that saying /e/ versus /e:/ does not work) and middle tense vowel diphthongality is weak or absent (meaning that saying /e/ versus /eI/ does not work either); rather, it is quality *alone* which distinguishes pairs like GA /E/ and /e/ in practice, and thus using notation that does not specifically indicate vowel quality would be misleading for such. What John Wells is saying would only work if you were teaching Australian English or *maybe* English English, but simply does not work for NAE (which one must remember has a supermajority of native English-speakers and thus cannot be ignored here).