Quizzes & Puzzles30 mins ago
Spelling
Why do so many English speaking (writing) people attach so little importance to their spelling?
Or do they?
Answers
No best answer has yet been selected by Bohne. Once a best answer has been selected, it will be shown here.
For more on marking an answer as the "Best Answer", please visit our FAQ.Maybe the real question is why do so many people think that there must be a "right" way to spell a word.
We accept Americans use different spellings and wouldn't try to tell them they're "wrong"!
I believe in some of Shakespere's work he uses unusual spellings on occasion for emphasis or to create links to other phrases.
Not easy with formalised spelling - maybe we've lost something.
I mean we've stopped telling people in Yorkshire or Scotland that they should talk with a "proper" (Southern) accent perhaps despite the fact that it can be hard to understand.
Maybe we should let go of the idea of "correct" spelling?
Have theeze peepol not had a educashun?
I'm really paranoid about my spelling - i'm really really clever (and modest) but my spelling lets me down. I dont want to look stupid (cos i'm not) so i try and check all my spelling and have a online dictionary on my desktop at all times and a good old fashioned one next to the toilet.
To be honest though bohne it isnt fair to judge people on their spelling and you have to learn to let go sometimes (and mock them from afar!) - i know i have.
The TRUE value of a spell-checker.
So what does a proofreader really do that a spelling and grammar checker does not do?
The simplest way to illustrate this is shown in the following passage. All the words passed the spelling and grammar checks of Microsoft Word, with flying colours!
"Every gnu idea yew can think of, sum wan has probably thwart of bee fore. Bill Gates thought of developing a spelling chequer fore 'Word', hand he all most certainly bee leaves that no won had thought of it be four. Is he rite? Yew and aye no that's not true!''
If you want to lean about correct spelling - try this link
My question isn't about judging people, I am really curious why it is the way it seems to me.
I am not a native English speaker, and I have not encountered such a lax attitude towards spelling in any other language, yet.
And jake-the peg: why is it that so many people think that there must be a 'right' way to spell a word?
Maybe because spelling has been unified since the times of Shakespear (even though I have learnt recently, that there is no unique way of spelling his name).
Also you should hear me and my husband (he's American) go on about spelling... I tell him he's wrong all the time! ;o)
And if you think spelling gets no respect, you should be sorry for punctuation.
Well there's a wide range of misspelling from the occasional typo through non-standard spelling to what amounts to use of completely the wrong word (I'm thinking of 'are' for 'our' here for example).
If it reaches the stage where I am struggling to understand what they said (and Shakespeare in the original comes into this category) I give up. Skakespeare I can read if I want (mostly I don't) rendered into modern spelling; on the Answerbank I just don't bother with that topic if the poster has expressed and spelt it so badly I can't work out what they are on about. (These are few and far between by the way - I'm not having a dig)
It could be argued that the greatest threat to the English language is not the changes in spelling but the way in which punctuation is treated. It seems, in my opinion anyway, that the use of the humble apostrophe will change to reflect the current inability of a lot of people to actually know when and when not to use it. But that's a whole new rant!