Language Questions

ROUND ONE

#1. SCHEDULE:
Pronounced "SKED-jel" or "SHED-jool"?

#2. ADDRESS:
Pronounced "AD-ress" or "ad-DRESS"?

#3. CARIBBEAN:
Pronounced "ker-IB-ee-in" or "KARE-ih-BEE-in"?

#4. "BY ACCIDENT" vs. "ON ACCIDENT":
Which do you prefer?

#5. DARK BROWN EYES means:
Brown Eyes that are Dark? OR Eyes that are Dark Brown?

#6. GARTER Snake vs. GARDEN Snake vs. GARDENER Snake:
Which is it?

#7. OVERWHELMED & UNDERWHELMED:
Can you be just "Whelmed"? What is a Whelm?

#8. INCLUDE, EXCLUDE, CONCLUDE, PRECLUDE, ACLUDE ...
What is "Clude"? Can you RE-Clude? Can you UN-Clude or DE-Clude?

#9. AIN'T vs. AMN'T:
Which do you prefer?

#10. MOUSE/MICE & LOUSE/LICE ...
Singular form of RICE: Rouse?
Plural form of SPOUSE: Spice?
Plural of HOUSE: Hice?

#11. GOOSE/GEESE ...
Plural form of MOOSE: Meese?

#12. SECLOUTH:
It sure is.

#1. SCHEDULE:
Pronounced "SKED-jool" unless you're a smarmy Brit.

#2. ADDRESS:
Pronounced "AD-ress" or "ad-DRESS" depending on the context (I live at the former, but speak to a crowd with the latter).

#3. CARIBBEAN:
Pronounced "ker-IB-ee-in" or "KARE-ih-BEE-in" depending on the mood I'm in, though mostly it's a regional flavor.

#4. "BY ACCIDENT" vs. "ON ACCIDENT":
By. I'm pretty sure "on" is simply incorrect.

#5. DARK BROWN EYES means:
Eyes that are Dark Brown. I would expect some other expression be used to suggest one's eye's are dark, and, in this context, I'm not even certain what that might mean.

#6. GARTER Snake vs. GARDEN Snake vs. GARDENER Snake:
Ooh, good one. I've always known it as a Gardener, but I believe this one is also a regional affectaion.

#7. OVERWHELMED & UNDERWHELMED:
Can you be just "Whelmed"? What is a Whelm?
Yes, and per Meriam-Webster: to turn (as a dish or vessel) upside down usually to cover something : cover or engulf completely with usually disastrous effect...

#8. INCLUDE, EXCLUDE, CONCLUDE, PRECLUDE, ACLUDE ...
What is "Clude"? Can you RE-Clude? Can you UN-Clude or DE-Clude?
No idea, but . . . no.

#9. AIN'T vs. AMN'T:
Which do you prefer?
I prefer ignoring those who use either, preferably walking by with my nose in the air. I'm still pissed that one made it into print.

#10. MOUSE/MICE & LOUSE/LICE ...
Singular form of RICE: Rouse?
Plural form of SPOUSE: Spice?
Plural of HOUSE: Hice?
What? Are you on cough syrup or something?

#11. GOOSE/GEESE ...
Plural form of MOOSE = Moose. Welcome to the wonderful world of "you're language used to be a pidgin form of several others".
Interestingly enough, we're seeing a similar occurence with Hawaiin Pidgin. Seems to me it's evolving in a loosely similar way as modern English did (if on a much smaller scale, with only a handful of "mother tongues" involved).

#12. SELCOUTH:
Did you mean SELCOUTH? That's rather archaic, and not in common usage, to my knowledge. Thanks, Meriam and Webster!

ANSWERS:

Deltin the Arch-Mage wrote:#4. "BY ACCIDENT" vs. "ON ACCIDENT":
By. I'm pretty sure "on" is simply incorrect.

Actually, both are acceptable.
Until the 50's or 60's, only "by accident" was in use; but through parallelism (with "on purpose"), "on accident" has come into use ALSO.

Deltin the Arch-Mage wrote:#6. GARTER Snake vs. GARDEN Snake vs. GARDENER Snake:
Ooh, good one. I've always known it as a Gardener, but I believe this one is also a regional affectaion.

Again, all three are "correct."
But the animal is officially designated as a Garter Snake.

Deltin the Arch-Mage wrote:#9. AIN'T vs. AMN'T:
Which do you prefer?
I prefer ignoring those who use either, preferably walking by with my nose in the air. I'm still pissed that one made it into print.

Amn't is how the contraction for "am not" would have been formed, following the same pattern as other contractions of it's type (isn't, aren't, et.at.)
... but ain't was easier to say. Technically speaking, it has been a "real" word for hundreds of years.

Prescriptivists declared it "not a word" (a ludicrous notion, giving the meaning fo the word "word"* ... but nonetheless, "ain't" became "improper").
Oddly enough, the main objection to it has nothing to do with it's use as a contraction for "am not" but rather as catch-all contraction for all negatives.

*Strictly speaking, anything with both semantic and phonetic value is a word.

On a side note:
The dictionary isn't the "final say" on what is or isn't a word.
It is merely a reference book.

For the record, there are over 600,000 words in the English langauge (GLM has counted 988,968).
A typical dictionary only offers about 2000.
Even the 20-volume OED contains a mere 218,632 words (and 47,156 of those are now obsolete).

Deltin the Arch-Mage wrote:#12. SECLOUTH:
Did you mean SELCOUTH?

I sure did. The error has been corrected.