So is the British spelling actually i before e in " wierd"?

[jabberwocky]

or is it just that this word is misspelled a lot? I am truly curious as I see it over and over again on MN.

It's misspelled a lot, because it's a weird word

no

Tis indeed a weird word, takes no notice of rules

spelt wrong. 'Tis weird.

I always thought that the "i before e" rule only applies when the sound is "ee". And even then there are lots of exceptions.

Thanks guys. I'm American in the US and wondered if it was just another of those differences!

Oh, and that should have read:

in the word "wierd"

Our English teacher used to say
'I before E except etc etc, SEIZE WEIRD exceptions'
I have always remembered those two! (THis was 30 years ago..........

Thanks for that poppyknot - had known they were "ei" but never heard that bit tacked on to the "after C".

I think there's a few odd ones - neighbour, foreign, height, weight, either, leisure. I'm surprised we ever learn to spell correctly!

&%$£"*& heck - thanks for pointing out so many.

Yes, they do say that learning English is quite hard, but you've shown so many which are in common use [1] and taken for granted.

I suppose it is like the way they say the brain corrects for many small typographical errors without the reader (perhaps more often the author) ever being aware it has happened.

[1] perhaps it is because we don't use Seize or Weird very often that they are difficult to remember. It almost makes the "I before E" rule redundant when seeing that long list!

well no NetworkGuy - if you look at wiki there are longer versions of the "i before e" rule, in general it works best for the "ee" sound but certainly not for the "ay" sound (As in weigh, neigh etc) or the "eye" sound (height, either).

As a general for all spellings, it is rubbish though.