sjn2003

Just looked this up and I am astounded to find that immigration has 2 'mm' but emigration has only 1 'm'. Anyone who can come up with a sensible (or not!) answer wins a mystery prize !!

Its damn stupid spellings like this that make me just want to pack my bag now and leave this country today !

Somebody please tell me I won't have to worry about such things when i get to Oz ?!

bawi

Just looked this up and I am astounded to find that immigration has 2 'mm' but emigration has only 1 'm'. Anyone who can come up with a sensible (or not!) answer wins a mystery prize !!

hi there

well, that is when latin studies come in handy:

emigrate = ex+migrare, meaning ex= out of and migrare= moving. therefore:'moving out of'
the x has been omitted (something to do with some letters disappearing with the daily use of the language or so)

immigrate = in+migrare, meaning in=in(to) and migrare=moving, therefore: 'moving into'
the n+m turned into a double m

that is the reason, don't know whether you understand my explanation? it is a few years since i studied languages, so if anyone knows a better way to explain please correct me.

barbara

seang

fantastic answer!!!!!

ohsohopeful

Sorry but they speak English in Oz too and you will still be expected to spell things correctly.

tennisoz

Bear in mind that someone called me a grammar snob on this forum because I corrected some spelling mistakes but this is a common one. Just as an aside there is a Google game where you try to get the most hits on an incorrectly spelled word. For example buisness throws up 150,000 results! Emmigration throws up 39,700 and so on.

Who can get the highest number of Google hits with a mispelled words? One of my pupils turned up over 3 million with Britny or something like that which is perhaps a reflection on modern society and the internet.

But getting back to your question, unfortunately you will find they use the same language as the first language in Australia so in that sense you will have to worry about spelling.

Should be an interesting thread

TennisOz

And I haven't got time to proooooof read this so plese don't bother pointing out any mistooks anyone.

ohsohopeful

"The future of the world as we know it could hang on a misplaced comma."

Taken from today's Times, very entertaining.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article...880763,00.html

tennisoz

Interesting article - I had a quick 'skeck' as they say in Scotland and will look at my paper Times this evening. 'The future of the world as we know it could hang on a misplaced comma' I thought would be about George Bus'h.

I must admit I am in the stickler school. I hate seeing accomodation (1,180,000 hits in Google would you believe) and other such things on signs.

TennisOz

An aside but the persons (person's!!!) letter in the Times yesterday tickled me (referring to the postal strike). It just said 'I wonder how many cheques are in the mail?'

ohsohopeful

Very good. Interestingly, I sent a letter from Bournemouth to Sydney which was posted late on Friday and I had an email on Tuesday morning to say that it had already arrived. Most impressive and much quicker than the packages we sent via UPS for our visa application!

I certainly agree that if you've gone to the trouble of making up a sign, it should at least be correct. The odd typo in everyday communication isn't such a big issue, but when printed the mistakes are much easier to spot and they do annoy. As the article suggests, it sends the message that the writer just couldn't be bothered to get it right.

I get sent a lot of printed sales material in my job and it's amazing how much of it is inaccurate. Needless to say it goes straight in the bin. I guess I'm in the stickler school too.

PS: I originally put 2 'n's in 'inaccurate' - OMG!
:scared:

tennisoz

Did you put 2 c's?

Cheers

TennisOz

JaneandJim

But what have you done with the other 'c'?

ohsohopeful

Er, yep

sjn2003

Must confess to doing Latin O-Level at school myself but don't remember much about it.....something about Caecelius (sp?) and Pompeii and a dog called spot or cerberus.

My Latin teacher did always say it would come in useful though. If only I had paid more attention !:lecture:

sjn2003

I'm definitely a stickler !! My wife just thinks I'm a bit sad !!

earlswood

Do people who emigrate eat less m&m's than the Immigrants?

Sorry didn't do Latin!!

Earlswood

karawara88

You learn somthing everyday. I knew this forum was educational and not just about who wears an Akubra hat.