Spoil: verb - to destroy or reduce the pleasure, interest or beauty of something (Cambridge Dictionary)
All very 'that's a pity and how sad' but we all know what spoil means, when to use it and how to spell it, don't we; no matter which side of the Atlantic we stand on? Yes, probably. And why mention America - even if I didn't exactly, other than in a backhanded sort of a way? Well - this is embarrassing, so I'll get it out quickly - as with 'learnt and learned,' I have a difficulty with 'spoilt and spoiled.' Phew! Awkward (if you're hobby is writing) admission out, if not quite over - as an English speaker, I sometimes feel less native when it comes to writing things down. I know how to say my words. I know what I mean. I just sometimes don't know how to spell them. So, which is correct? Does it matter? Does anyone else care?
Is an overindulged child spoilt or spoiled?
Or both?
Actually, I think a spoilt (adjective) child is spoiled (verb, past tense). But plenty of people refer to such children as 'spoiled children.' And if a day goes down the drain, is it a good day spoiled or spoilt? Are they interchangeable?
Personally, I dislike the feeling of '-oilt' in the mouth. It's clumsy and harsh and difficult to pronounce without pushing down on the back of the tongue to expand the neck in a toad-like manner. Spoiled is much softer and much less I-want-to-audition-for-that-fairy-tale wicked-witch-turned-me-into-a-frog-Prince. However, how it sounds is seldom a reliable indicator of the correctness or otherwise of the grammar. A trawl of on-line dictionaries confirms that both spoiled and spoilt are correct - those to the West of the Atlantic (see 'why mention America' above!) tend to prefer spoiled and learned, while we, who dwell on the Eastern Atlantic seaboard, opt for spoilt and learnt.
Apart from me.
Maybe, my vocabulary is spoiled by an over-reliance on phonetics. Maybe, I listen too much to the sounds made by the little I'm-a-Scot-who's-lived-too-long-South-of-the-border-accented voice inside my head. Maybe, I'm just a pedant at heart. Very probably a wrong pedant in the opinion of other ... well, pedants.
However, I'm sticking with spoiled. At least for the duration of this blog post -
Ho hum sings the little voice ... changing the subject quickly.
Lists are in. Social media pages fill daily with them.
Here's my addition to this obsession - a list of things recently spoiled (... subject not changed that much!) -
A good walk
spoiled by the nose-tickling, eye-watering, caustic, pungent, reeking, horrible smell of oil seed rape.
A blossom ... before
spoiled by overnight frost ... after
A diet
spoiled by brioche and ginger and lime pudding and wine and biscuits.
A day
spoiled imminently by rain
A newly swept floor
spoiled by wet paws and shaken coats.
A weekend spoiled by not being long enough.
This state of being spoiled is known as spoliation. No - until a few minutes ago, I didn't know that either. So, I have given you a new list, a few new pictures and a new word. Perhaps you feel overindulged - or spoiled even?
All very 'that's a pity and how sad' but we all know what spoil means, when to use it and how to spell it, don't we; no matter which side of the Atlantic we stand on? Yes, probably. And why mention America - even if I didn't exactly, other than in a backhanded sort of a way? Well - this is embarrassing, so I'll get it out quickly - as with 'learnt and learned,' I have a difficulty with 'spoilt and spoiled.' Phew! Awkward (if you're hobby is writing) admission out, if not quite over - as an English speaker, I sometimes feel less native when it comes to writing things down. I know how to say my words. I know what I mean. I just sometimes don't know how to spell them. So, which is correct? Does it matter? Does anyone else care?
Is an overindulged child spoilt or spoiled?
Or both?
Actually, I think a spoilt (adjective) child is spoiled (verb, past tense). But plenty of people refer to such children as 'spoiled children.' And if a day goes down the drain, is it a good day spoiled or spoilt? Are they interchangeable?
Personally, I dislike the feeling of '-oilt' in the mouth. It's clumsy and harsh and difficult to pronounce without pushing down on the back of the tongue to expand the neck in a toad-like manner. Spoiled is much softer and much less I-want-to-audition-for-that-fairy-tale wicked-witch-turned-me-into-a-frog-Prince. However, how it sounds is seldom a reliable indicator of the correctness or otherwise of the grammar. A trawl of on-line dictionaries confirms that both spoiled and spoilt are correct - those to the West of the Atlantic (see 'why mention America' above!) tend to prefer spoiled and learned, while we, who dwell on the Eastern Atlantic seaboard, opt for spoilt and learnt.
Apart from me.
Maybe, my vocabulary is spoiled by an over-reliance on phonetics. Maybe, I listen too much to the sounds made by the little I'm-a-Scot-who's-lived-too-long-South-of-the-border-accented voice inside my head. Maybe, I'm just a pedant at heart. Very probably a wrong pedant in the opinion of other ... well, pedants.
However, I'm sticking with spoiled. At least for the duration of this blog post -
Ho hum sings the little voice ... changing the subject quickly.
Lists are in. Social media pages fill daily with them.
Here's my addition to this obsession - a list of things recently spoiled (... subject not changed that much!) -
A good walk
spoiled by the nose-tickling, eye-watering, caustic, pungent, reeking, horrible smell of oil seed rape.
A blossom ... before
spoiled by overnight frost ... after
A diet
spoiled by brioche and ginger and lime pudding and wine and biscuits.
A day
spoiled imminently by rain
A newly swept floor
spoiled by wet paws and shaken coats.
A weekend spoiled by not being long enough.
This state of being spoiled is known as spoliation. No - until a few minutes ago, I didn't know that either. So, I have given you a new list, a few new pictures and a new word. Perhaps you feel overindulged - or spoiled even?
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