Lens / lens

paleblue

paleblue

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Why are people still saying lens? Why add the extra 'e'? I read it as 'len-sse' in my head :cuckoo:
 
to/too
lose/loose
there/their/they're
were/we're

Their are lots that people choose too use that are the wrong one, but that's there choice.

Were all different after all.
:D
 
Phonetic spelling - if you don't know the right way, make it up.
Beats me too (for what it's worth,) personal Bete Noir.
It's not as if our computers don't come with a spell-checker either.
You could better understand (perhaps) in the typewriter and dictionary days...
 
I think I've done it a couple of times when I was really tired and I know its wrong but it just slips out when my brain is tired.

98% of the time is LENS!

It could be because its LENSES, people may think that by just taking the S off it they are making it a singular.
 
Harvey_nikon said:
I think I've done it a couple of times when I was really tired and I know its wrong but it just slips out when my brain is tired.

98% of the time is LENS!

It could be because its LENSES, people may think that by just taking the S off it they are making it a singular.
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You mean like Dan Quayle telling that child that potato had an "e" on the end? :bang:
 
just to add to the list

where/wear
its/it's

The usual excuse for being illiterate is "It's only an internet forum, I am not writing the works of Shakespeare" roughly translated that means "I CBA to make it easy for everyone to understand exactly what I am saying and anyone who complains is a <fill in expletive preferred with reasons for your choice>".

OTOH there are some for whom correct spelling is really difficult and a spelling chequer won't pick up the wrong word spelt correctly... for them I have sympathy :D

I guess that there are also some Spelling/Grammar Nazi trolls who abuse the language to get a bite from those who seem to make it their life's work to belittle people who make typos.

B.
 
Whilst some dictionaries permit both lens and lens as being valid spellings, to me lens just looks so out of place. I think a lot of people singularise the plural word lenses by knocking the s off to leave lens.

The other spellings in this thread are both correct spellings used in the wrong context.

Personally I prefer lens. lens is still often used by people new to photography.
 
I think the world is going to end if people don't start spelling things correctly ;)
 
Whilst some dictionaries permit both lens and lens as being valid spellings
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I'm curious... which ones? Chambers 21stC doesn't... nor does the compact Oxford English dictionary. Dictionary.com allows it however the only reference is to a single American University.

B.
 
Chrome say lens is wrong from its spellcheck.
 
That's just odd, I changed my signature about an hour ago , and now this topic has appeared :eek:
the lens thing, It drives me NUTS , but i'm just a bit weird about stuff like this.
 
Does anyone have access to the OED? The full thing, not the abridged versions.

Last time I got involved in a lens/lens various online dictionaries offered lens as being an acceptable, but admittedly a much less common use of the term lens, but still in their view perfectly acceptable. Lenz was also listed as another alternative.

Rechecking I see that some dictionaries have altered their position and its no longer listed. This is a post someone put online in 2001 where lens and lenz were acceptable, although the source they provided no longer agrees with what it did.


Main Entry: lens
Function: noun
Etymology: New Latin lent-, lens, from Latin, lentil; from its shape
Date: 1693
Variant(s): also lens /'lenz/
1 a : a piece of transparent material (as glass) that has two opposite
regular surfaces either both curved or one curved and the other plane and
that is used either singly or combined in an optical instrument for
forming an image by focusing rays of light b : a combination of two or
more simple lenses c : a piece of glass or plastic used (as in safety
goggles or sunglasses) to protect the eye
2 : a device for directing or focusing radiation other than light (as
sound waves, radio microwaves, or electrons)
3 : something shaped like a biconvex optical lens
4 : a highly transparent biconvex lens-shaped or nearly spherical body in
the eye that focuses light rays (as upon the retina)
5 : something that facilitates and influences perception, comprehension,
or evaluation
- - lensed /'lenzd/ adjective
- - lens.less /'lenz-l&s/ adjective
 
If I was a mod I would implement a word filter/replace in the script so that whenever anyone types 'lens' it will be replaced with 'lens' just because i get annoyed every time I see it, but then again I shouldn't care so much and should stop being such a geek :geek::schtum:
 
http://books.google.com/books?id=KLJBAAAAIAAJ&q=lens&dq=lens&pgis=1

Using the google book search, it would suggest the word lens was more common in the 1800's, both in Europe and the USA and whilst this stems from the earliest days of what we call photography, the shaping of glass or crystal to change the properties of light has been going for many hundreds of years - the first telescopes were invented in the 1700's but the magnifying glass was mentioned almost 1000 years ago in print.
 
Thats actually a great idea!, im sure the mods would give it a go. They seem nice enough very friendly :D
 
:thumbs:
BenMottram said:
just to add to the list

where/wear
its/it's

The usual excuse for being illiterate is "It's only an internet forum, I am not writing the works of Shakespeare" roughly translated that means "I CBA to make it easy for everyone to understand exactly what I am saying and anyone who complains is a <fill in expletive preferred with reasons for your choice>".

OTOH there are some for whom correct spelling is really difficult and a spelling chequer won't pick up the wrong word spelt correctly... for them I have sympathy :D

I guess that there are also some Spelling/Grammar Nazi trolls who abuse the language to get a bite from those who seem to make it their life's work to belittle people who make typos.

B.
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"Common" Abbraiveted statmemnts anonny the hell ot of me to.

Nothing personal intended Ben.
 
TimSandhu said:
Add this too.

alot/ a lot

"I like it a lot" :thumbs:

"I like it alot" :bang:
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I got a minor telling off for correcting that one today. It's more common on American forums though. Also sometimes written allot which will pass a spelling check but means something else.

One of my favourites is mixing up accept and except. I once saw an auction state "Paypal excepted".

Another one which annoys me is the mixing up of affect and effect and the old favourite of apostrophes where they are not needed. A café near me once had a sign outside for its breakfast menu. Apart from EGG'S, SAUSAGE'S and BEAN'S, they were also selling TOAS'T.

Even better than that was a sign outside a house selling off a few items. One of which was a GA'S BARBECUE.

Whilst I'm at it, another Americanism which seems to be creeping into English is the term 'my bad'. This is obviously wrong as bad is an adjective, something you can't have ownership of.

When I see the American phrase "I could care less" written by an English person, I will know there is no hope left.

Rant over (for now!).



Steve.
 
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I have to say spelling & grammatical errors drive me up the wall at work. Apparantly I work in a professional services organisation where a large number of people don't think they should have to bother using the English language correctly!

should of and would of (instead of should've, would've) are my real pet hates. Neither am I a fan of "off of", you don't get off of the bus, you get off the bus! Grrrrr!!!

Anyone fancy compiling a list of common mistakes and making it a sticky so that the grammar/spelling police can just post a link after each offending post?
 
Don't we need a grammar/spelling police first? :D
 
O.K. Lets keep going then.

I hate the use of the word and in try and do this. It should be try to do this.

If you think I'm wrong, convert it to a past or present tense instead of the future tense as stated above:

I tried and do it.

I'm trying and do it.

Doesn't work does it?



Steve.
 
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Thread like this show a lack of thought for all the people with Dyslexia.
PLEASE stop and think It might have been you or a member of your family, would you be taking about someone with a physical disability would you be talking about them like this?
One annoyed Dyslexic
 
Oh yes, don't get me started on the current Radio Four wrong pronunciation of words such as controversy.

Speaking of pronunciation, I once corrected someone at work who pronounced pronunciation as pronounciation.

Perhaps we're being a bit picky.......................... No!


Steve.
 
Chaz Photos said:
Thread like this show a lack of thought for all the people with Dyslexia.
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With respect, that may account for a small fraction of the errors posted but I think the majority of them are just genuine spelling mistakes or incorrect substitution of words.


Steve.
 
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zeugma said:
It's not as if our computers don't come with a spell-checker either.
You could better understand (perhaps) in the typewriter and dictionary days...
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How wrong you are to get a word correct you have to get it near and then there are often words very much alike
ALSO do you not know you need to know how to spell to use a dictionary?
Dyslexia is not something one wants it just is.
 
If you can't manage the correct spelling of lens then try spelling it g.. l.. a.. s.. s..
 
Chaz Photos said:
Thread like this show a lack of thought for all the people with Dyslexia.
PLEASE stop and think It might have been you or a member of your family, would you be taking about someone with a physical disability would you be talking about them like this?
One annoyed Dyslexic
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Chaz Im also dyslexic and tbh i really don't care if people have nothing better to do than moan about bad spelling. From my point of few there is no need for lazzyness just because its the internet, but i do think people get overly worked up about it.

The biggest problem is i don' think much of this stuff is taught any mroe in schools and not all those making mistakes are dyslexic.
 
Dyslexia. What a complicated word for people who have trouble spelling!

I believe that a condition exists and very many people suffer from it. I'm equally aware that a huge number of people who aren't dyslexic, but are lazy and/or ignorant and/or poorly educated and these people claim honorary dyslexia as an easy way out to cover up their own shortcomings.
 
Chaz Photos said:
Thread like this show a lack of thought for all the people with Dyslexia.
PLEASE stop and think It might have been you or a member of your family, would you be taking about someone with a physical disability would you be talking about them like this?
One annoyed Dyslexic
Click to expand...

I can't see what this thread has to do with dyslexics. The issue is non-dyslexics spelling lens incorrectly. No need to get your nickres in a wist.
 
andrewc said:
Dyslexia. What a complicated word for people who have trouble spelling!

I believe that a condition exists and very many people suffer from it. I'm equally aware that a huge number of people who aren't dyslexic, but are lazy and/or ignorant and/or poorly educated and these people claim honorary dyslexia as an easy way out to cover up their own shortcomings.
Click to expand...

your not wrong about that.
 
Chaz Photos said:
Thread like this show a lack of thought for all the people with Dyslexia.
PLEASE stop and think It might have been you or a member of your family, would you be taking about someone with a physical disability would you be talking about them like this?
One annoyed Dyslexic
Click to expand...

Here's another annoyed dyslexic who's fed up of people using dyslexia as an excuse. I've worked very hard in the past to get to grips with my dyslexia and still do every day. People with dyslexia can spell correctly it's just more difficult than it is for others and requires effort (perhaps more for some than others).

lens is one of my pet hates too as is the wrong apostrophe, their/there etc. but I've learned to just let things slide past - at the end of the day it's not within my circle of influence so why spend energy worrying :)
 
btw dyslexia not so hard to spell as it is spelt how it sounds unlike many words in the english language.

for example queue more letters than needed and who knows there there?

Chaz is right about one thing you cant use a dictonary if you cant spell.
 
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