Comments:
7
It keeps getting chopped off. The actual rule was "i before e except after c or when sounded as a like in neighbor and weigh"
Those stats about the number of words following those rules are wrong, too. But it is true than more words break the chopped off rule than not. The full rule was probably made because "i before e" words were in the minority making it hard to remember. (Spelling bee escapee here; one school I transferred to tried to make me drop most of my class electives and stay after school studying all these rules because they smelled a state championship; got so ticked at the hours They and my parents made me study and all the afterschool stuff that I actually deliberately lost first round after study program was forced on me and every year thereafter in class prequels before anyone could force me to keep studying already memorized rules).
If it is, it's extremely early pre-independence from the British American because the earliest version I've personally seen was a primer in use in 1600's. Which doesn't mean was in widespread use or that that was the earliest version. So many schools back then had their own versions of proper spellings that weren't consistent.
Primer as in hornbook.
LOL, it's a colonial era wooden bit with a handle. Books and bookbinding were rare. Sometimes paper was, so some hornbooks had skin/vellum, slate or fabric samplers/needlework attached rather than paper. Sometimes sandwiched between two hinged or laced hornbooks or a hornbook and a candle shield to protect the contents from dust and soot. I'll see if I can link to an image.
Comments don't do links well, so I'll make a post rather than hijack Sarah's i before e thread.
Post on hornbooks: http://donealrice.booklikes.com/post/713446/some-hornbook-trivia-and-images-
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