General Chat

Before I say anything else, I'd like to quote that purveyor of wisdom - 'Anonymous'

"Never make fun of someone if they mispronounce a word. It means they learned it by reading."

However:
My youngest announced to everyone on Facebook that she has been mispronouncing the word 'Algorithm' wrong, all her life!
'So what?' You may say.
Daughter uses the word frequently at work! :-D :-D :-D
No-one has ever corrected her, which implies over-politeness; they didn't know how to pronounce it properly either (you'd have thought she'd have picked up the correct pronunciation from others) or, they daren't correct her :-D :-D :-D

So what is she saying is the wrong and then the right way?

Is it one of those words that has recently become fashionable? I must admit that, until these posts about exam results, I have never heard the word used, either at school or at work.

I know what it means (not sure how!!) and I think I know how to pronounce it. :-S

This is how I say it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApfZomWlfik

Apparently, she pronounces it (as she wrote) a-log-arthim.

Okay, the 'correct' way:
Isn't algorithm pronounced al-gore-rhythm (Al Gore's dance music! ) :-D
Or, as it's spelled, or spelt, but spelt, to me, is an old species of wheat!


...I can see a nest of worms opening up! :-D :-D :-D

Sounds like a whole bunch of homonyms to me :-D

Yes, nameslessone - Al-gore-rhythm said quickly! :-D :-D :-D

As for the homonyms - definitely!

Misspelt would be, to me, the winner of the dead animal skin competition, or the female champion thrower of missiles at a rapid pace . :-S

It's enough to make one homophobic ;-)

My friend worked in a greengrocers where, apparently, everybody knows you don't put big cauliflowers on display because they don't sell.

One day, the man from the Indian restaurant came in and he was party to this knowledge because he asked her if she had big cauliflowers out her backside.

Somebody else had to take over serving him but she is still wondering how he knew.

:-D :-D :-D :-D

Giving myself a pat on the back .... But, I have to admit thst I had come across the word before so not really worth a pat on the back eh!

Stop booing !!!

I am certain that there are words used in occupations that I haven't a clue about.

I know who to ask though. ;-) :-D


Spelt and wheat - a good one Maggie.

I am always wary of using spelt or spelled but, of course, in a different context. I use spelt, it grates on me as it seems too americanised.

Words are the dress of thoughts, which should no more be presented in rags, tatters, and dirt, than your person should. (Earl of Chesterfield).

Dermot, do you get those quotes from a desk calendar? :-D

Ah! The good old Oxford comma

Where you bin, Allan? Not poorly, I hope.

Allan, when I did my degree we had to use Oxford spelling eg z instead of s, as some papers were set by Oxford and were marked there too.

It was the devil trying to get out of it when working in the UK. Much easier in Oz which even bamboozled schoolkids by having books using s in some cases and z in others.

When we returned to England, my daughter was chastized ( :-D ) at school for using z instead of s. One teacher even told her to get it right or she'd lose marks in her GCSE exams!

Don't you wonder what kinds of lives sticklers lead? :-D

I don't actually know what an algorithm is.

Came across it in Town Planning, Sharron, but I have no idea where the education bods got it from.

JoyLouise, thank you for your concern (you're the second person to mention my lack of participation in the last few days) but all is well :-)

An algorithm is nothing much more that a set of rules which describe a process leading to a predictable outcome. They are much used and key to modern mathematics as carried out by computers using numerical methods rather than classic equations. Brute force v elegance you might say.

As algorithms may inccorporate statistical terms , which usually have bounds, it follows that the result predicted by an algorithm is highly dependent on the data fed into it. Incorrect data for instance led to the grounding of Boeings Dreamliner.

Most people have little idea of the extent to which their lives are affected by algorithms. If they were I suppose there would be a bit of a fuss. The world of Philip K Dick is already here.

For GCSE and A level algorithms have been in use for some years as a means of fine tuning the grades awarded and hence keeping supply and demand as closely matched to budgets as possible. That is why grades are awarded not a score as with USA/Canada SATS.

Under the UK system there is always a fairly large mismatch between mock A level results and the real exam. There is next to no awareness of how the grades are worked out and the small number of appeals have been easy to deal with.

As there have been no actual exams the algorithm used has been exposed to much unwanted limelight and a wholly predictable political fuss. The resulting chaos will knock on for the next several years unless the algorithms used are made totally transparent.

That would involve removing bonus points for being in the catchment area of one of the posher state schools, smaller class sizes, exotic subjects and so on. In the unlikely event that happens then the screaming and yelling will come from such places as the London Oratory and Tiffins School.

The larger picture is the infinite capacity of Johnson's government for ballsing things up. Ansolutely fabulous not.

btw algorithms can be patented and royalties have to be paid for their use.
So a few pages of calculations can be worth pure gold :-).
Think of it as performing rights for engineers and scientists.