It's a bastard, mongrel language, to be sure.
That's why I think it's important to follow the grammar and spelling we have got. Save making the whole mess any worse than it already is.
( Kroney, Wed 14 Sep 2011, 12:06, 2 replies, latest was 15 years ago)

She's just being lazy
If she could bother her arse to learn Latin, Ancient Greek, German, Norse, Old-English, etc. she wouldn't have any problems knowing which word or prefix to use.
( tangledupinblue hairy badge with moving eyes, Wed 14 Sep 2011, 12:08, Reply)

Even like that
I think you probably will find thousand of exceptions and I'd end up even more confused.
(Aberracion Life's getting very complicated, but a lot of fun., Wed 14 Sep 2011, 12:10, Reply)

Just remember: the exception proves the rule
Or something.
( tangledupinblue hairy badge with moving eyes, Wed 14 Sep 2011, 12:11, Reply)

Yes, I know.
I've learnt a lot about English watching QI. It seems that a lot of the rules you learn at school have more exceptions than not, which means they are not rules anymore. The "magic E" is the only one that I can remember that still applies.
(Aberracion Life's getting very complicated, but a lot of fun., Wed 14 Sep 2011, 12:13, Reply)

I love magic E's.

(Set your faces to Stunned Bigly, Wed 14 Sep 2011, 12:17, Reply)

They no longer teach "magic E" in primary schools.
It is all split-vowel digraphs now.
( tangledupinblue hairy badge with moving eyes, Wed 14 Sep 2011, 12:19, Reply)

I've been thinking about home schooling my kid for the first 5-6 years
but I'll have to pay someone to do the English, because otherwise he's going to learn nothing.
(Aberracion Life's getting very complicated, but a lot of fun., Wed 14 Sep 2011, 12:22, Reply)

I agree
But you don't have any grammar rules for those "negative words"; so I can't follow any. I have to guess. Usually I check, but I thought unpolite was right. I was wrong, clearly oxforddictionaries.com/noresults?dictionaryVersion=region-uk&isWritersAndEditors=true&noresults=true&page=1&pageSize=20&q=unpolite&searchUri=All&sort=alpha&type=dictionarysearch
(Aberracion Life's getting very complicated, but a lot of fun., Wed 14 Sep 2011, 12:12, Reply)