An Instant Messenger exchange between my brother Jeff and me:
JEFF: [Someone we know] is very much like that [other] weiner, in that she dances from one subject to another without ever addressing the criticisms of what she says.
ME: Yeah, that’s true.
JEFF: In addition to the obvious similarity of both being idiots.
ME: And wieners.
JEFF: Is that how you spell it?
ME: I before E, my friend.
JEFF: I know that’s the general rule.
JEFF: I guess wiener is the one word in the English language I don’t know how to spell.
JEFF: I knew there must be one.
ME: Wow.
ME: I’m glad we found it.
JEFF: It used to be asphalt.
ME: It’s too bad it’s not an exception to the I before E rule… then the mnemonic device to remember them all could be, “The weird foreigner seizes neither leisure nor weiners.”
JEFF: Totally.
JEFF: For that reason alone, I propose an official change.
ME: I don’t even know who to write to about that.
ME: The Queen?
JEFF: Ms. Miriam Webster.
ME: Good one.
Merriam-Webster already has weiner as a variant spelling, presumably because so many people have spelled it wrong for so long.
That’s the problem with English, the rules are always full of loopholes. I before E is fine, except as in C, or something about your neighbors and weigh, and weird doesn’t fit any of those. I propose we all just spell/pronouce it “weenah” with a fake obnoxious boston accent.
That’s pretty weird.
weeny is ok. poohead is preferable.
Wien is the German name of Vienna, where the wiener sausage originates from. Most i before e words came to English from its German or Dutch siblings.
Was the spelling of weiners intentional in your mnemonic device? Would be more funny if it was a mistake.
Why would it be a mistake? If he’s adding it as if it were part of the list of exceptions, then obviously it would be spelled like one of the exceptions with I after E. Weirdo.
Eric B, thanks for that. I never know how to spell it, either, so I just don’t write it.
But don’t you love how my two guys work things out without fighting?
What I meant to say is that now I will remember, because of Vienna.
I before E except after C, and when sounding like A as in neighbor and weigh, and on weekends and holidays and all throughout May, and you’ll always be wrong no matter what you say!
…that’s a hard rule…
Write the people of Vienna since that’s where Wiener comes from.
I suppose I should read the other comments before I comment myself.
BeeDub, nice Brian Regan reference. I always find if there is a word I have a difficult spelling I will just opt for a synonym instead. I’m kind of a vienna/pooh-head like that.
This site needs a way to edit posts. Insert “time” in between difficult and spelling.
Does “science” count?
If you ever meet someone from Vienna, you can legitimately call that person a Wiener (veen-ah). In German Wiener is a person from Vienna.
Well, Wiener could be anything (in the right gender and case, of course) of Viennese origin. For example, “She’s a Wiener” would not be correct.
How lovely to see so many others amused by the sort of thing most people think I’m a total dork for being amused by! (And how was that for some terrible sentence structure? I’ll blame it on the late hour.)