22 November 2005

A SHORT BREAKFAST

so i've noticed recently a plethora of spellings for the short version of BREAKFAST... i wonder which one is right?

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BREAKY - looks like it should be pronounced BRAKE-ey, as in "ach[e]y breaky heart"
http://www.touristaustralia.com.au/online/tao.cgi?ct=bnb&md=second&id=161 ...is a bed & BREAKY
http://www.cdten.com.au/product_info.php/cPath/29/products_id/2175 ...lists achy BREAKY heart

BREAKKY - this was on a chalkboard outside a cafe, and also contained the plural of coffee: COFFEE'S (the rampant apostrophe's are taking over) (i feel i should add [sic] in there!)... but mispellers everywhere have embraced it:
http://forum.weddingcentral.com.au/viewtopic.php?t=17350&start=0&sid=2ffdc63d15f39f7f9cd84414894ef693

BREAKKIE - i just think there are too many letters here.
http://www.future.org.au/news_2005/june/nanotech.html

BREKKIE - if the age epicure uses it, then it must be right, yes?
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/05/03/1083436518647.html?from=storyrhs
my only issue with this one is that it doesn't include the 'ea' of the original word... but then i guess we don't really think of BREAKFAST as 'breaking the fast' any more, so maybe it's ok... although my tinly little pocket oxford dictionary/thesaurus says that BREAKFAST is the first meal of the day... i guess that means even if the first meal is blatantly lunch?

BREKKY - random spelling? http://www.eatability.com.au/au/sydney/brekky.htm
or is it, too embraced by the age? http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/09/15/1063478120508.html?from=moreStories

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i don't know what it's going to be... i think my votes are with BREAKY (despite the billy ray thing) and BREKKIE, but i think the spelling might just be like BREAKFAST itself. BREAKFAST might be the first meal of the day, technically, but that doesn't stop you from having A BREAKFAST in the afternoon after having elevenses in the morning. i often have A BREAKFAST for lunch at a cafe (eg eggs, mushies, etc), but i don't usually have A BREAKFAST for BREAKFAST (i have leftovers - one of my fave BREAKFASTS is leftover fried rice. sometimes i make fried rice for dinner just so i can have leftovers for BREAKFAST!).

VOTE NOW! WHICH DO YOU CHOOSE?!?!?

anyway, enough with the CAPITALS! i look forward to reading your opinions.

6 comments:

  1. Breakfast, and only breakfast.
    the shortened version can only be SPOKEN but not written in a folksy attempt to be cool on blackboards.
    This is because it angered me that fruit juices were called 'breakky juice' in order to cover up that it was just a pile of leftovers in a bottle.

    also, do you have any Billy Childish?
    result!

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  2. Contrary to my usually purist attitude towards language, I've always leant towards 'brekky'. Being a colloquial word, I believe that phonetics might take priority here and remaining loyal to the original 'ea' spelling (breakky, breakkie, etc.), raises some serious pronunciation issues for me (see Rachel's original post). Also, the '-ie' ending just seems too GERMAN! There are so many German words that are identical to the English except that they end in '-ie' instead of '-y' (synergy-synergie, pedagogy-pedagogie, etc. etc.). So when I see 'brekkie', for example, I think I'm reading German! Furthermore, in the English language (the purist rears its ugly head) the only time that we ever change a 'y' into 'ie' is going from singular to plural (albeit there's also usually an 's' on the end). Although, I must say, if it were a toss up between any two of the various spellings, it would be either 'brekky' or 'brekkie'. I'm sure the editor(s) at The Age also went through a similar dillemma.

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  3. I see you opted for 'brekkie' on Esther's blogspot. Just remember this: The Age is not God! And you're not German!!

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  4. heheh!!! i wondered if anyone would notice! i posted that just as i was writing this blog myself - and it was then that i REALLY KNEW that this was one of the most important issues facing humankind today.

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  5. it's bickies for brecky every day i say...bring in the 'c' for arguments sake...or is it bikky...or bikkie...or bicky???

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  6. oh no! bickies!!! bikkies? i guess if you are talking that way, then the singular must be bicky or bikky. but then BICKY looks like 'becky' (as a new zealander might pronounce it) or 'bicker', and then that might lead to arguments... then again, the americans would say cookie (with an ie? or a y?) as would, perhaps, the dutch... i think i will stay with 'biscuit', like sam will stay with 'breakfast'...

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