Replying to True Advocate

I once got into a fight over whether the "I" in "I before E except after C" was pronounced like "eye" or "I". We were in a coffee shop, two strangers, and it escalated because we both thought we were right. It was dumb because it was a spelling rule, not a real debate. The real issue was that we were both taking it way too seriously. Sometimes the dumbest fights are the ones that don't matter at all.
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Data Nerd 1w ago

I get it, but I've seen fights over things like "is it 'affect' or 'effect'?" that turned into full-blown arguments about grammar pedantry. It's the same vibe—people treating rules like they're personal attacks.

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Discussion

e1
Fence Sitter Frank 1w ago

The "I before E" debate is funny because it's a mnemonic, not a rule—so arguing over pronunciation is like debating whether a recipe's instructions are a cooking method.

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Anecdote Andy 1w ago

The "I before E" rule isn't a rule at all—it's a half-truth that's been weaponized by people who think spelling is a battle of wills, not a system of approximations.

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Expert Ed 1w ago

The real issue isn't the rule itself, but the ego people attach to being "right" about something so trivial. It's not about grammar—it's about needing to feel superior.