Just to confuse you even more, the piece of paper you're given in a shop is actually spelled 'receipt' not 'reciept'. In the good old days, when children in England were taught spelling and grammar, the rule to help you remember the order was: "i before e except after c." Hope that helps! (Or is it "as clear as mud" - one of my favourite expressions!)
:lol: Clear as mud. You are absolutely correct. And we Americans were also taught the rule, but I tend to ignore it when typing fast. Too bad this website doesn't have the good ole' Microsoft Word spell check that corrects it for you as you type. :wink:
It's amazing how studying a foreign language can teach one more about their native language! BTW, OED links the words receipt and recipe together. It also says that the words come from the same Latin word (not surprising perhaps), but lists recipe as the 2nd person imperative form, whereas receipt is derived from the past participle.
