To think that "bhajiis" is not a terribly helpful spelling to give a 10 year old...

[MrsSchadenfreude]

...especially as there doesn't seem to be a standard spelling of this word. DD spelled it with one "i" and was marked wrong.

Tinkerbellesmum why is it not an english word? It originated from another country, but now that you can buy bhajiis in every supermarket or deli in town surely it is now also an english word.
To say it is not an english word is like saying the word "pizza" or "pasta" cannot be in the English dictionary because it is Italian food.

It is an odd list of words...ending with vowels other than "e", so we have corgis, anacondas, armadillos, cellos, dingos, dahlias...

lol

I think over the course of his lifetime "bhaji" is going to be used a lot more than all of the above word...

I don't understand the objections: it is all LEARNING about words, isn't it?

And yes it isn't a forrin word - it is an english word

it is a forrin FOODSTUFF of course but so is wine

And depending on which Asian restaurant/takeaway you go to bhaji can mean 2 different types of food.

There a re quite interesting rules for spelling the plurals of words ending in i, o, a.

If it's a fairly able group, I wouldn't mind in teh least. Agree with mp - partly about fostering an interest in words.

If spelling leads to a discussion of different spellings of a word, then that's interesting. IfI were the teacher and kids came in with queries abnout the different spellings (and, even better, packaging with the word on it) I'd love it.

You don't want him to be the ignorant idiot that can't order a meal in an indian restaurant, do you?

I pity my friends who stutter over their kormas and naans

Geekgirl - we have chapatti - with two Ts! Also Y5. Where are you?

Oh I have no problem, really, about spelling Forrin words, but it's just when there are two (or more!) versions of spelling the word and one, which is generally accepted, gets marked as WRONG!

If she went in with a copy of the page from the OED, would they think she was a bit of a Klugscheisser?

I would object to them learning these words too:

Bangle, cot, gymkhana, jungle, thug, pyjama and shampoo or and Bungalow or cash

as these words too all originate from Indian based languages

If it's marked as wrong, go in with evidence. A teacher shouldn't mind about these sort of things.

noonki, have you actually read the thread?

I think she's taking the pee VS.

Anyway I thought shampoo was a Turkish word?

I thought shampoo was Indian too

VS - sorry I should have pointed out I was aiming that at tinkerbell at her foriegn word comment !

shampoo is of Hindi origin

really depends of which takeaway one frequents...

Oh sorry, noonki, I should have read the thread better myself. This is all very educational, anyhow.

Amongst the large Indian community here in Kenya it is one bhaji and two bhajia. (actually it is rare to see less than a couple of hundred offered to you on a plate)

Of course the spelling changes totally after 6 pints of lager.

PMSL ThemasterandMargaritas

And for me a mushroom bhaji means a curry type dish and onion bhaji means thin onion rings deep fried in batter

I don't know why I'm even posting this tbh!

I'm hungry now.