Does spelling count?

[Rick Courtright]

Hi,

Yeah, I know, there's this unwritten policy on the Interwebs about keeping the spelling police at bay. But maybe there is something to be said about getting it right. Guys on the radio were talking about signs, and one of them told of the one he saw last Sunday:

"Chris is risen!"

Hmmm... maybe spelling DOES count?

Rick C

 

[DeletedMember275]

Then there's punctuation:

Let's eat grandma

Let's eat, grandma

Pick one!

 

[Bull Barrel]

You would want to help your Uncle Jack off his horse...

Capitalization is important, too.

 

[Cholo]

I don't know, Rick, but I don't think I'd be messin' with Chris' spelling :shock:

:mrgreen:

 

[bogus bill]

Screw em. Long as they know what I mean is what I care about. Language is ever developing. Who "invented" the proper spelling and meaning of words? Name me the inventor of just one word except for a new named product. You cant do it! I once in awhile misspell on purpose when I write what characters actually said in different local dialects depending on what area and race the person were that I am quoting.
My wife has dyslexia and for various reasons quit school very young. I am a very poor speller too but she is habitually asking me how to spell every time she writes. If she is writing a grocery list for me she has to know that every word is spelled right. It drives me nuts when I am on the computer at the same time.

 

[Bull Barrel]

Language evolves? Seems to me a definition is definite. Is a dog now an anvil?
The language only changes because people are too lazy to learn proper English and schools won't teach it.

 

[Bull Barrel]

Axe me if I give a damn.

 

[powder smoke]

Axe me if I give a damn.

ROTFLMAO Is that spelling?s

 

[Bull Barrel]

Caught that, did ya? A perfect example of schools not teaching the proper spelling and pronounciation.

 

[Pat-inCO]

Screw em.
Long as they know what I mean is what I care about.

Look at the examples above.

How can ANYONE knoe what you mean, iffin u don say its soz we
kin unnerstand zit?

 

[cas6969]

I think the more and more we get used to autocorrect and anticipative "auto fill" features, the less we will care about such things.

In the past I'd read something and be puzzled by near nonsense or out of place words. Now I just breeze right past them because I know more than likely, they don't even know it's there. I can't count how many times I've written a post or an email, only to reread it an hour later and think "What the heck? Who wrote THAT!"?

 

[graygun]

Screw em. Long as they know what I mean is what I care about. Language is ever developing. Who "invented" the proper spelling and meaning of words? Name me the inventor of just one word except for a new named product. You cant do it! I once in awhile misspell on purpose when I write what characters actually said in different local dialects depending on what area and race the person were that I am quoting.
My wife has dyslexia and for various reasons quit school very young. I am a very poor speller too but she is habitually asking me how to spell every time she writes. If she is writing a grocery list for me she has to know that every word is spelled right. It drives me nuts when I am on the computer at the same time.

Sounds a little bogus,Bill...arr,ar,r! :lol:

 

[Colonialgirl]

Hi,

Yeah, I know, there's this unwritten policy on the Interwebs about keeping the spelling police at bay. But maybe there is something to be said about getting it right. Guys on the radio were talking about signs, and one of them told of the one he saw last Sunday:

"Chris is risen!"

Hmmm... maybe spelling DOES count?

Rick C

Maybe some Golfer STOLE the T because he was headed for the local country club.

 

[wheelgun1958]

I'm still giggling about the "whirlpoop" tub.

 

[Robes]

Well gents,...we can agree to disagree. I won't go into it except to give this one example of the first guy I worked for. I was in Public Accounting. He gave me a desk, calculator, briefcase and a dictionary. He expected me to use them all. When writing up an annual report, back in the days before a computer and spell check, you created your report in writing. He told me that people would judge me by the way I talked and the way I wrote. He gave me, what I believe to be, some great advice/ direction. During the 45 yrs in the finance industry it has served me well AND my post retirement job as a proof reader has been very lucrative.

I do not act as the "spelling police". It is not my place. But.....some posts act as proof-positive that some folks must have been sleeping during English class.....

 

[JFB]

"Chris is risen!".

at least they used a "C" instead of the twitter trending "K"

 

[k22fan]

bogus bill without capitalization is a common style of screen name but should I have capitalized the first letter in this sentence?

 

[bogus bill]

How do I change my screen name to "kill bill"?

 

[1911fan]

Robes--I can relate. I once worked for the local newspaper as Circulation Manager. I was required to submit reports to my boss, the Publisher. He came up through the editorial side and it showed. When I submitted a report, he would correct it for spelling, grammar and syntax then kick it back to me. He would not accept my reports until everything was perfect. It only wasted my time.

I understand the need for clarity in communication but when I was reporting a 3% gain in home delivery circulation, the difference between "principal" and "principle" did NOT change the fact that we gained over one hundred new subscribers.

That being said, "They're going to park their motorhome over there."

ed

 

[graygun]

"I would not have you ignorant,brethren".

"I would not have you,ignorant brethren".

 

[gramps]

Does spelling count uh, yeah! http://www.rugerforum.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=237591
gramps

 

[Colonialgirl]

I had a boss that was a Native German and he was a real bug about correct spelling and English. I've ALWAYS spelled
it "Envelope" with an "e" on the end; He thought that was TERRIBLY WRONG, UNTIL I finally dug out a Websters Dictionary and "LO and Behold" "envelopE" is a perfectly acceptable spelling !!

 

[Rick Courtright]

I had a boss that was a Native German and he was a real bug about correct spelling and English. I've ALWAYS spelled
it "Envelope" with an "e" on the end; He thought that was TERRIBLY WRONG, UNTIL I finally dug out a Websters Dictionary and "LO and Behold" "envelopE" is a perfectly acceptable spelling !!

Hi,

Pamela, both ARE acceptable! Except that your spelling denotes a noun, and your old boss was spelling a verb. Not much difference, huh? Well...

Rick C

 

[GP100]

Well now,

Some of us are going to have to be forgiven for our lousy grammar and/or spelling.. Some of us here didn't go to spelling class, given that I never went to skool at alls.

But I did read a lot of books as a kid. And any word I didn't know, I looked up in the diktionary.

I guesses yuze can says, that "Hookded on Phoenix workded forz me."

:lol:


Seriously though. For a guy that never went to school as a child, I think I do rather nicely. And I don't use spellcheck either.

 

[Rancher Will]

This subject is always fun to discuss. I am also reminded of the famous Winston Churchill rejoinder to A British School Teacher who remonstrated to him about his "ending a sentence with a preposition" in his speeches.

Churchill mailed back, "This is the sort of nonsense up with which I will not put"

 

[FastEd]

Hi,

Yeah, I know, there's this unwritten policy on the Interwebs about keeping the spelling police at bay. But maybe there is something to be said about getting it right. Guys on the radio were talking about signs, and one of them told of the one he saw last Sunday:

"Chris is risen!"

Hmmm... maybe spelling DOES count?

Rick C

You need to get that right:
Chris is rosen!

 

[FastEd]

You would want to help your Uncle Jack off his horse...

Capitalization is important, too.

Uh OH, you're under arrest!

 

[roarindan51]

We saw a jeep in Estes Park In Colorado. rear window was painted in big letters..............

JUST "MARIED"

 

[mohavesam]

Did you mean to ask "Does spelling matter?" or possibly "Does math count?"

"Does spelling count?" - Only to the literate. :roll: :roll:

 

[NixieTube]

Grammar (or more accurately, capitalization) is the difference between helping your Uncle Jack off a horse and helping your uncle jack off a horse. And spelling matters as much or more. The only answer is really not to rely on spellcheck, though. You have to slow down, read more carefully outside the Infinite Elsewhere of the Interwebs, and be willing to edit your posts. The more you've read things written by people who know how to write, the better your sense becomes of what's really execrable. Then you don't need spell check, which is WAY fallible. Or at least you need it less.

For many years Bill Safire had a great column in the New York Times and many of those back issues are still available as compilations so you can feel linguistically inadequate all over again. But I love to read them.

So yeah, it does. It shows you care, and I know it's tougher for some than others.

http://www.amazon.com/On-Language-William-Safire/dp/0380564572

You can also have really positive learning experiences by visiting your local (gasp!) brick-and-mortar Library from time to time. You can spend a few hours reading interesting things the way people have for hundreds of years, in quiet places that are usually run by very pleasant, literate and helpful people. I support my local libraries particularly because I know what kind of uphill battle they face, but not just for that reason. I think more people should give them a second chance.

The Key to Good Spelling, Grammar and Composition is Having an Edit Button and the Will To Use It - Me