Thomas Dalton wrote:
Nieve? Obsolete Scottish dialect for clenched fist? Spanish for snow?
In what way does a sarcastic comment about my spelling make a useful contribution to this conversation? It was obvious what I meant. Language exists to transfer meaning from one person to another, as long as that aim is achieved does the spelling really make any difference?
It was perfectly obvious that no rational person knew what the fuck you meant with that collection of letters. That's why I checked the dictionary. Language does indeed serve to transfer meaning from one person to another. In this case the aim was not achieved.
Some misspellings are obvious, some are completely misleading, and others are meaningless nonsense. Meaningless nonsense may be less drastic than misleading people, but in either case it is not the responsibility of the reader to divine your intent.
I can and have frequently made allowances for those with dyslexia or for whom English is not their native language, and would for other understandable dysfunctionalities in the use of language. Perhaps, as subsequent messages have suggested, you did mean "naïve". Recognizing that would be more appropriate than trying to justify a misspelling.
Ec