The other day, I reminded someone of the “i before e” rule, and then today received this funny sentence:
“I before e except when you run a feisty heist on a weird beige foreign neighbor.” (Thank you, Mr. Wilms!)
I’ve included some of the exceptions here, from an article on Wikipedia. If you are interested in the specific groupings of the words by sound, root words, and more, see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_before_E_except_after_C
Exceptions
cie
· ancient
· bouncier
· conscience
· deficiencies
· efficiencies
· fancied
· fancier
· financier
· glacier
· policies
· prescient
· proficiencies
· science
· society
· species
ei not preceded by c
· atheism
· beige
· caffeine
· casein
· codeine
· counterfeit
· deify
· deign
· deindustrialize
· deity
· eider
· eight
· either
· feign
· feint
· feisty
· foreign
· foreign
· forfeit
· freight
· geisha
· height
· heinous
· herein
· inveigh
· inveigle
· kaleidoscope
· keister
· neigh
· neighbor
· nonpareil
· obeisance
· onomatopoeia
· peignoir
· protein
· reign
· rein
· seismic
· sheikh
· skein
· sleigh
· sleight
· sovereign
· stein
· surfeit
· surveil
· their
· unveil
· veil
· vein
· weigh
· weight
· weird
· zeitgeist
· Many proper names, often because they are adopted from other languages
o Keith, Neil, Sheila, Stein, etc.
o Leith, Keighley, Rheims, Raleigh, etc.
o Rottweiler, Cassiopeia
NOTICE: This electronic mail message and any files transmitted with it are intended
exclusively for the individual or entity to which it is addressed. The message,
together with any attachment, may contain confidential and/or privileged information.
Any unauthorized review, use, printing, saving, copying, disclosure or distribution
is strictly prohibited. If you have received this message in error, please
immediately advise the sender by reply email and delete all copies.
Leave a Reply