Spelling: Classic or Dud?

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Is correct spelling important? I am obsessive about it (as well as all that greengrocers' apostrophe stuff) but worry that this makes me a boring pedant at best, reactionary snob at worst. And of course it means that I can't relax and enjoy Jade's charming neologisms, for example... DOES IT REALLY MATTER? is the question.

― Archel, Thursday, 25 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

it matters when writing professionally, on the hop like posting here, it's not so important.

― jel --, Thursday, 25 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

I was hoping this would be about Tori, who is without a doubt CLASSIC.

― Nicole, Thursday, 25 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

it's my life but it's not my wife

― mark s, Thursday, 25 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

Does it really matter? Depends who yr audience is, dunnit? If you're writing for people who are bothered about spelling, it matters. If not, not. I think worrying about it on ILX is a bit mental tho, especially given the boards' collective love of neologisms and unusual spellings.

― RickyT, Thursday, 25 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

To answer seriously*, a little misspelling doesn't bother me but if it is so terrible that it is difficult to understand what the person is trying to write, then I do find it pretty annoying.

*But I do love Tori.

― Nicole, Thursday, 25 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

But how is it possible to actually *luv* Tori? Aren't you supposed to admire her like the sculpture she is?

― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 25 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

You've never seen the tv movies, have you?

― Nicole, Thursday, 25 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

I can't stand bad spelling - I don't mind if people just don't know how to spell words, but when thy're not trying, like mumbled text message type stuff (especially when on the modern interweb on a proper keyboard) ARRR.

― Graham, Thursday, 25 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

I don't really care in emails or ILX etc, unless as Nicole says it becomes an obstacle to understanding. I get very annoyed if 'professional' writers are sloppy spellers though. It seems like disrespect for your tools...

― Archel, Thursday, 25 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

I think text abbreviations are funny, they always make the message seem more cartoon to me. Or people who send text messages in capital letters, ha it just sounds so remedial like "DO YOU WANT TO GO FOR A DRINK TONIGHT?". I just get a mental image of the person as a Lenny in Of Mice and Men type character screaming the message at me while shaking me.

― Ronan, Thursday, 25 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

the capital letter texters could just be stuck with motorola phones like me. you have to shout everything. "I'M ON THE BUS".

― angela, Thursday, 25 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

I guess spelling is kind of important because otherwise it makes your message difficult to read, so in that case, I guess it's pretty classic.

But, people using the fact that someone spelt a word wrong to prove that the point they were making is also wrong is a mega-dud (I hate when people do that. ANSWER MY POINT NOT MY TYPING!)

― jamesmichaelward, Thursday, 25 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

9/10 its bad typing on my behalf (especually when half cut like what I am now). But I am also a lousy speller. I think its sorta importa (nt).

― Pete, Thursday, 25 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

I dont really mind but sometimes it annoys me a bit on NYLPM and I get anal and go in and edit it out. Mostly I dont care.

― Tom, Thursday, 25 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

Slightly unfairly, I hate the use of 'u' instead of 'you' despite my wholehearted embrace of 'yr'. I blame Sonic Youth.

― RickyT, Thursday, 25 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

y isnt gud 4 u, rkee?

― Chupa-Cabras, Thursday, 25 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

IT IS IMPORTANT.

POOR SPELLING ABETS ENTROPY AND CHAOS.

TAKE A STAND.

― nabisco, Thursday, 25 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

A few of the recent NYLPM/Freaky Trigger entries could've done w/ a little bit more proofing (eg 'techo')

― Andrew L, Thursday, 25 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

What I hate more than bad spellings is that teen mag speak: rents for parents; hangie for hangover; cuz for because. One of my best friends does it aand whatever the contents of her e-mails I always have to get past the first flash of 'Oh for God's sake, you're 24."

I am sure I have equally irritating habits, she probably opens my e-mails sees all the parenthasis and bad spelling and thinks "Oh for God's sake, get to the point."

― Anna, Thursday, 25 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

I have had the occasional dilemma when editing poems, since I can't be sure that the shocking spelling isn't supposed to be AVANT GARDE and MEANINGFUL. But even that (no, especially that) gets pretty short shrift.

― Archel, Thursday, 25 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

the grebtest poet and dramatist in the english language spelled their OWN NAME more than 40 difft ways

― mark s, Thursday, 25 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

(viz jade, jaid, jaed, jad, djayde... )

― mark s, Thursday, 25 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

I find American spelling offensive. I oppose the dumbing down of our language and I oppose the shrouding of its origins for the sake of convenience.

Oh, and I hate it how Americans say real instead of really. Actually, they're generally not very skilled with adverbs at all and the disregard many of them hold for the "g" in words ending with "ing" is just as offensive as their disregard for "ly".

― toraneko, Thursday, 25 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

Haha. I don't care how people spell their names or how they choose to render certain words, as long as they KNOW WHAT THEY ARE DOING and have bothered to find out THE PROPER WAY first.

― Archel, Thursday, 25 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

offensive? really. blimey. i have had the grammar/spelling conversation in pubs so many times and it always surprises me how extremely prescriptive people generally are.

― Alan T, Thursday, 25 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

I'm real good with the spellin'.

― Colin Meeder, Thursday, 25 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

Really, Toraneko? Really?

(Hahaha juss jokin')

― nabisco, Thursday, 25 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

You've never seen the tv movies, have you?

Are we talking the poor person's Elizabeth Berkey in Showgirls or what?

Straight-up spelling = unless I'm in an absolute rush to type something out, I will do my damnedest to spell everything on the dot, and that includes AIM conversations. Going back to correct an error derived through typing is second nature to me.

― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 25 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

For me, good spelling is like a big pair of antlers. In sociobiological analogy terms, not in other ways.

I prefer "greengrocer's apostrophe" as I imagine an idealised single greengrocer who can't spell for toffee.

― N., Thursday, 25 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

No, he can't spell (well, punctuate) for apple's, pear's or tomatoe's...

― Archel, Thursday, 25 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

I so wanted to post that exact joke. What a fruitless day I've just had.

― Ronan, Thursday, 25 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

For me, good spelling is like a big pair of antlers. In sociobiological analogy terms, not in other ways.

More impenetrable analogies. Ok, antlers - sexual selection. 'Big' antlers = good chances. 'Antlers' = exclusive characteristic of male deer (or 'buck')*. Are you saying, N., that good spelling pulls in lots of lady 'deer'? Generally or just in your particular case?

*NB except in case of reindeer and caribou.

― Ellie, Thursday, 25 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

I think N. wrote "antlers" because it would have been unseemly to write "tits."

― nabisco, Thursday, 25 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

[Personally I find good writing very attractive; poor spelling I don't find condemnable but it does immensely lower any active attraction I have toward a person. Unless said person manages to pull off one of those Victorian innocent-child-of-nature vibes -- really any strong combination of cute, childish, vibrant, twee -- in which case it's slightly less diminishing, but still.]

― nabisco, Thursday, 25 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

correct spelling is A Good Thing [even though i'm notoriously sloppy; i mainly use my dictionary as a coaster]. it brings us somewhat closer to universal understanding, the first step towards proper grammer, appropriate syntax and a shared collective understanding of the hard- to-digest concepts us intellectual types are always grappling with. so, a resounding klassik.

― petra jane, Thursday, 25 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

[afterthought] tho, at the same time, language itself is flexible and can be adapted/misappropriated as its users see fit, just as long as such adaptations are understood across the communities they're used in. ILE has, i spose, its own Cornish or Romany - a funny little pocket dialect of faux |-|4><0|2 and neologisms.

oh lookie, the sun just came up. perdy.

― petra jane, Thursday, 25 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

I used to be an editor, and I sometimes think that correcting the spelling mistakes of writers without fuss is one of the more useful things an editor can do. Less formally, it can become a problem when you have to stop and try to guess what the hell the person is trying to say, but that is rarely because of spelling - bad grammar and punctuation seem to me to cause far more difficulty. Having said that, I am the first to point at misplaced apostrophes, for example.

― Martin Skidmore, Thursday, 25 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

Bad spelling, like bad house keeping, is almost always a good sign of character. It shows confidance, individuality, and a proper sense of priority. If there is one thing I have learned, it's that there is not enough energy in life for everything. Energy spent on house upkeep and spelling accuracy could be spent elsewhere, on things worth while.

On the other hand, those who pride themselves on their "good" spelling, or worse, admonish those who do not pride themselves as such are completely bad. It's a clear sign of a need to feel superior. More so, it shows a shakey grip on reality. People who need to hold onto their "little rules" of "proper spelling" in order to stay sane.

Have you seen teh people who actually get mad when smething is spelled wrong? Why would they react this way. Because they are afraid. Anger is our natural self defense mechanism. Their anger is a sign of fear, a fear that they are not rught. That infact, you can spell something anyway you want, as long as the reader can understand it. Spelling and housekeeping are like religon, only less interesting.

I fear and pity good spellers...............................................

― Chief White Lotus, Thursday, 25 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

People who need to hold onto their "little rules" of "proper spelling" in order to stay sane.

Acktshurlei eie fayvar prawpyr speleing beekauze iat iz sow mutch kleerar enned eessiar two unddarstanid wathoutt miszintarpredation.

― nabisco, Thursday, 25 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

I mean, at some point I had to get over the spelling thing: it used to mystify me that, like, typing in the right words as opposed to words that just resemble the right words would be so hard, but as life went on I chilled out and acknowledged that it does not in fact come naturally to many perfectly intelligent people, for whatever reasons, and that while it remains unsightly it's just a fact of life.

If anything I fear that people who don't spell well are either (a) comprehending words and language completely differently than I am, or (b) just not all that interested or invested in it, hence my thing about it being unattractive, above (insofar as this is I suppose a root-level common-interest common-worldview thing for me).

― nabisco, Thursday, 25 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

I fear and pity good spellers

*studies sentence* Do have a cathartic experience whenever looking in the mirror?

― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 25 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

'Do you have'. I might spell well, grammar is another matter. ;-)

― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 25 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

What RickyT said re:'yr' (actually I want to say 'yrrrrr' like a pirate) - ha, as a small child I was a SPELLING DEMON but due to being bitten by a ~~radioactive~~ postmodern spider I tend to murk up my spelling when bored (or on 'net communities where people know me & tolerate random outbreaks of word-contortion).

(has their been a thread on people who have atrocious pronunciation? Due to a voraciously bookish & isolated childhood, I tend to fuxx0r every fifth spoken word with some sort of warped, deformed (& to my more worldy-wise friends, hilarious) sound - especially names of 20thC French intellectuals, grrr).

― Ess Kay, Thursday, 25 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

what are you implying, Ned.

And Nabisco, you prove my point. I read your "bad spelling" post quite easily. Not as easily as if it weren't intetionally spelled poorly, but thats a whole nuther kettle o' fish. Point is, spelling phone-etically is good stuff. It's logic against tradition. Logic should win.

Regardless, it's good to live a life of tolerance towards others. I retract my harsh statements in relation to good spellers. I didn't mean any harm.

Though I think I did have point.

― Chief White Lotus, Thursday, 25 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

What you don't understand, dear, is that some of us do it well naturally. It's not about 'superiority' : it's about perceptiveness. To me, it says not that you're anal retentive, but that you're interested in language and how it's put together.

― Dean Air, Thursday, 25 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

Moreover, I am afraid of bad spellers because, in my experience, they are crazy and more likely to be criminals or, at the very least, lowlifes. What's even funnier is how you claim to be logical and yet don't spot the contradiction in your own logic. I won't, um, spell it out for you. And I heard that it's not as big as you're claiming here.

― Dean Air, Thursday, 25 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

Oh god, Ned, you've really struck a Nerve here. I don't know if you have any idea how much.

― Little Petey Johnson, Thursday, 25 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

1. Chief Lotus is OTM

deux. The exaltation of form to the exclusion of content in the marketplace of ideas has driven me to seek solace in the sensible world of ba$ball.

III. Unintentionally humorous misspellings are classic!

(d) Everyone gets fatigued once in a while; it's nice to spell them when they do.

― felicity, Thursday, 25 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

My thoughts on spelling:

1) Proper spelling has a lot to do with context, and in the context of informal online communities, I like in-jokes such as "fite" or "brane."

2) I'm a certified (or certifiable?) copyeditor by trade, so outside of such communities, eye-catching spellings (not necessarily misspellings) can be a pain. And sometimes a typo can mean something very different, such as "ineffective" versus "infective," as I mistyped earlier this week.

3) Am I the only one who thinks that the more Courtney Love cleans up, the more she looks like Tori Spelling?

― j.lu, Thursday, 25 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

Skipping 26 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

I admit, I laughed.

― Chief White Lotus, Friday, 26 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

nitsuh you are a spaceman

― Josh, Friday, 26 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

Language vs. Parole, FITE!

― Sterling Clover, Friday, 26 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

haha, nabisco, I'm beginning to think that a whole lot of people are either completely misreading half of the arguments on this thread or don't know what "to the exclusion of" means.

― felicity, Friday, 26 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

Yes, being a competent speller is perhaps a signifier (to some) of mate potential.

"Oh baby, your correct spelling is really turning me on!"

Hmmm...I may have to think this one over.

― j.lu, Friday, 26 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

sooo pedantic... sooo hot...

― Josh, Friday, 26 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

No, no, Felicity, it has to be in the question or else I can pretend I didn't notice it.

― nabisco, Saturday, 27 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

for someone so proud of pedantry you sure are sloppy with the ol arguing

― Josh, Saturday, 27 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

I could go around saying "cat" when I meant "dog" but it would be confusing and ridiculous

My little nieces call my dog a cat. As you nitsuh knows, this is less ridiculous than one miight think. (I am sorry if I corrected your usage of normative -- that would have been very rude of me)

― felicity, Saturday, 27 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

'those single quotes look like little feas'

ain't it neat how we (or er I but I assume others) can read a phrase like that and not notice that it contains a mispelled word? whole word etc etc etc my ass

― Josh, Saturday, 27 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

AARGH Josh it's like you've just been following me around ILE and mocking me, which wouldn't be so bad if you weren't so often right.

― nabisco, Saturday, 27 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

I do it because I love too mush, nitsuh

― Josh, Saturday, 27 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

ten months pass...

Can i ever be forgiven for my sins against the english language? The longest i have spent in an english speaking country was a week in London summer of 97. Is that a good enough excuse? Oh, I have to think of better ones ;-)

― Jrvision (visionjr), Sunday, 8 June 2003 10:01 (twenty-two years ago)

can we talk about sunset beach already?

― di smith (lucylurex), Sunday, 8 June 2003 10:18 (twenty-two years ago)

here you go

As a result of Sunset Beach alone Aaron Spelling = classic.
However, Randy Spelling = dud

― ailsa (ailsa), Sunday, 8 June 2003 12:45 (twenty-two years ago)

ppl who are obessed abt it and go on abt it => dud.

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Sunday, 8 June 2003 13:00 (twenty-two years ago)

one month passes...

This is one of those issues I hate getting into because it's so emotional and so political. My thoughts about language are biased by the fact that I'm an extremely verbal person who's traditionally done well with spelling, grammar, and vocabulary. I've always appreciated language's constant struggle to create order -- speaking as someone who's had behavioral problems and ADD, I find the discipline of written language to be a very stabilizing influence. I'm attracted by the rules that do exist and the quest to make sense of the anachronisms. So I'm going to be defensive, and I can understand why people who have trouble with language would also be defensive, claiming that spelling and grammar aren't as important as we "pedantic" people insist. I don't want to go into who's right or wrong because I've argued this subject to death elsewhere and I swear I've gone a little grayer each time.

The question I want to raise now, having just seen the documentary Spellbound, is "What makes someone a good speller?" What does it mean to have "whole word perception," and is it something one can really develop with practice, or is high-level visuospatial perception something you have to be born with?

― Jody Beth Rosen (Jody Beth Rosen), Sunday, 20 July 2003 03:22 (twenty-one years ago)

I think I was born with some skills along these lines - I could read anything, I am told, at the age of 2, and was always top at spelling and stuff without any effort at all. I've known some extremely intelligent people who right well who are terrible spellers - one of my oldest friends used to write very well for my magazine and is now a very successful magazine editor herself, and she is a rotten speller. So it's an ability that can be unconnected with other skills relating to writing - which we have all learnt by now, now that dyslexia is well known.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Sunday, 20 July 2003 10:05 (twenty-one years ago)

OK JBR you gotta admit that waking up a thread and then beginning your wake-up call with:

This is one of those issues I hate getting into

is way funny

― J0hn Darn1elle (J0hn Darn1elle), Sunday, 20 July 2003 13:15 (twenty-one years ago)

I've known some extremely intelligent people who right well who are terrible spellers

This is also way funny (sorry Martin). I can't even tell if you meant that or not.

― ailsa (ailsa), Sunday, 20 July 2003 13:23 (twenty-one years ago)

This is one of those issues I hate getting into

that wasn't the issue i went into, though. i stated my case and moved on. i was gonna start my own thread but i knew some yutz would just link me back to this one.

― Jody Beth Rosen (Jody Beth Rosen), Sunday, 20 July 2003 13:31 (twenty-one years ago)

i can spell brilliantly - my typing is just shite, so the mistakes i make on ilx are more inputting errors than not knowing how to spell what i'm typing. when reading magazines etc, literal and grammatical errors of any kind make me crazy

― Dave Stelfox (Dave Stelfox), Sunday, 20 July 2003 14:14 (twenty-one years ago)

I have the "whole word perception" skill (and am eager to see Spellbound). How to spell a word I've seen once or twice in print has never been an issue for me. I question notions of innateness but this feels pretty darn innate. It's not something I remember ever having to think about.

I see artifacts of my brain's secret inner workings when, say, I can't quite remember someone's name. I'll remember the first letter, and the number of letters in the name: clearly I am trying to picture the word on a page. If the name has a couple of i's, I may underestimate the letter count, since i is a slender letter; m conversely.

I don't think I'm a particularly visuospatial person otherwise, though: no particular aptitude or appreciation for drawing, architecture, the "syntax of film," Web design, etc.

What really impresses me is my friends who are naturally poor spellers who LEARN to spell by memorizing rules and patterns and exceptions: that seems like tedious and difficult work, neverending and not particularly rewarding. And yet they are quite successful! Of the two people I'm thinking of in particular, neither one even considers it a possibility to just learn how words look in a reproducible way.

― Paul Eater (eater), Sunday, 20 July 2003 14:16 (twenty-one years ago)

artifacts

yr american, you spell everything wrong!!!

― Dave Stelfox (Dave Stelfox), Sunday, 20 July 2003 14:22 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm the same way, Paul -- if I see the word in print, my mind takes a photograph of it and when I'm called upon to spell it I can visualize it as an intact whole. If I'm hearing the word and not seeing it, I'm pretty quick to make associations with things I have seen spelled out.

― Jody Beth Rosen (Jody Beth Rosen), Sunday, 20 July 2003 14:31 (twenty-one years ago)

Quasi-interestingly, my word-visualization skill was not terribly helpful when I learned to write Chinese (or speak American Sign Language), but was quite helpful in learning Japanese kana and written Hebrew and Arabic. Perhaps it's attuned to linear forms...? Or perhaps those 22-stroke Chinese logograms are just too complex to mentally photograph.

― Paul Eater (eater), Sunday, 20 July 2003 14:45 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm rubbish at visualising, I'm always notice new things in everything. Not much attention to detail, I'm afraid. I guess I use my intuition, and if it looks close enough to being spelt right, then that's good enough for me.

― jel -- (jel), Sunday, 20 July 2003 15:02 (twenty-one years ago)

I guess I've got some form of whole-word perception, because I speed-read and a misspelled word will throw me utterly for a loop, but I tend to think in terms of sound and root when writing, especially to keep me on track with non-phonetic spellings. I think 'b-e-a-utiful', or 're + commend + ation', and, like Jel, leave the rest up to intuition. Except with 'wierd', which I cannot work out how to spell as it looks, uh, weird either way.

The big problem comes when I read a word wrong in the first instance, form an erroneous sound version of it, and then when I write it down am sure it's incorrect but can't work out how since it tallies with the version in my mind. "Egegrious", for example, which should be "egregious" but I can't stop thinking of it as 'e-ge-gri-ous', since I've always mentally pronounced it that way (possibly because of ending similarity with 'gre-gar-i-ous'). Even though it looks entirely wrong.

― cis (cis), Sunday, 20 July 2003 17:33 (twenty-one years ago)

(Ailsa, that was an error - and of a sort I've noticed myself making a lot lately, using the soundalike but wrong word. I always catch it when I reread, I think, but I don't tend to reread ILX posts. It is a highly ironic one.)

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Sunday, 20 July 2003 18:43 (twenty-one years ago)

one year passes...

I had a roommate who was an English major but really annoyed me, and he ALWAYS without fail spelled the verb lose as "loose" no matter what the tense was. Clearly this is a word that everyone knows how to spell, right? And yet I never saw him spell it right. This bothered me to no end. Do I have "a need to feel superior"?

He was an ENGLISH major dammit!!

― Richard K (Richard K), Tuesday, 28 September 2004 04:29 (twenty years ago)

hellbound (1:52:29 AM): he's working alot.
hellbound (1:52:31 AM): a lot.
snazz (1:52:44 AM): That's better. We will pretend that first bit didn't happen.
hellbound (1:52:44 AM): alot really should be a word.
hellbound (1:52:48 AM): hahahahaha
snazz (1:52:48 AM): NO IT SHOULDN'T.
hellbound (1:52:53 AM): hahaha
snazz (1:52:55 AM): No.
snazz (1:52:56 AM): No.
snazz (1:52:57 AM): No.
hellbound (1:53:01 AM): yea
hellbound (1:53:03 AM): yes
hellbound (1:53:04 AM): yes
snazz (1:53:07 AM): :P
hellbound (1:53:12 AM): alot
hellbound (1:53:15 AM): alot
hellbound (1:53:18 AM): alot
snazz (1:53:25 AM): >:<
snazz (1:53:31 AM): Emoticons fail me. That is the RAGE FACE.
hellbound (1:53:39 AM): LOL!

― snazz, Tuesday, 28 September 2004 05:39 (twenty years ago)

two years pass...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v134/tracerhand/AmericaFuckYeah.jpg

― Tracer Hand, Friday, 16 March 2007 11:31 (eighteen years ago)

The hell with spelling. I far prefer reading archaeic English documents from before the language was formalised and people spelled however which way they liked. It can look fairly strange, but if you read it aloud you get the gist. Let's go back to Myddle Englische!

― Masonic Boom, Friday, 16 March 2007 11:35 (eighteen years ago)

Spelling is one of the civilising factors which distinguishes humanity from the beasts of the field. We have no wish to venture down the perilous road to Pol Pot's genocidal regime once more.

― Marcello Carlin, Friday, 16 March 2007 11:44 (eighteen years ago)

There is nothing I detest more than bad spelling. Punctuation, on the other hand, can fuck right off.

― gabbneb, Friday, 16 March 2007 12:03 (eighteen years ago)

The books of Lynne Truss emphasise the narrow line which separates annoyance at the lack of minute order from the desire for fascism.

― Marcello Carlin, Friday, 16 March 2007 12:12 (eighteen years ago)

I had a Medievalist professor who tolerated and even encouraged creative spelling.

― Jesse, Friday, 16 March 2007 12:43 (eighteen years ago)

Then he is to blame for FERAL YOUTH ON THE RAMPAGE

― Marcello Carlin, Friday, 16 March 2007 13:35 (eighteen years ago)

Guys, the picture!!

― Tracer Hand, Friday, 16 March 2007 14:57 (eighteen years ago)

Her dress is caught in her knickers all the way round! That's some feat.

― accentmonkey, Friday, 16 March 2007 16:26 (eighteen years ago)

Lytil Jhon and Robyne Hude
Wayth-men ware commendyd gude
In Yngil-wode and Barnysdale
Thai oysyd all this tyme thare trawale.

Hear undernead dis laitl stean
Lais Robert Earl of Huntingtun
Near arcir der as hie sa geud
An pipl kauld im Robin Heud
Sic utlaws as hi an is men
Vil England nivr si agen.
-- Obiit 24 Kal Dekembris 1247

― nabisco, Monday, 26 March 2007 18:40 (eighteen years ago)

Goddamned 13th century hoodies

― Noodle Vague, Monday, 26 March 2007 18:47 (eighteen years ago)

Can anyone with a linguistics background talk about how much impact writing and spelling have had on standardizing pronunciation along with them? When I see English writing from this period, it always seems like plenty of the oral aspects of the words haven't been pinned down, either (like you might see "undernead" in one place and "underneat" in another, and it seems as if the two writers genuinely conceptualize the word differently). But then writing forces a decision, and it travels farther, and gets standardized, and it'd seem like a potent enemy of accent leading to dialect.

― nabisco, Monday, 26 March 2007 18:53 (eighteen years ago)

I stlil lkie taht tihng werhe you can raed smoehtnig taht's msipleled and sitll konw waht it syas as lnog as the frsit and lsat ltetres are the smae.

― Pleasant Plains, Monday, 26 March 2007 18:55 (eighteen years ago)

("smae" = "in crorcet odrer")

― Pleasant Plains, Monday, 26 March 2007 18:56 (eighteen years ago)

her fake boobs look tiny!
Also, I didn't know robots could get pregnant.
Also, the pug is saying:: "Slightly more comfortable than when she had me in the purse."

― aimurchie, Monday, 26 March 2007 19:02 (eighteen years ago)

Can anyone with a linguistics background talk about how much impact writing and spelling have had on standardizing pronunciation along with them?

provide me with a time machine and i'd happily go back and pay more attention in my first two years of university tutorials :(

still, given that i've offered my editor an 850w op-ed piece about why all writers of english worldwide should adopt american spellings, i need to do some serious swotting up. i do remember reading an argument somewhere that US english is far more "correct" than wot i write, but fucked if i know where.

good job i don't have a deadline for this.

― grimly fiendish, Wednesday, 28 March 2007 10:05 (eighteen years ago)

I'm assuming the bird in that picture is Donna Martin from 90210?

Sorry, I meant the dog, obv.

― peteR, Wednesday, 28 March 2007 10:15 (eighteen years ago)

one year passes...

http://www.theonion.com/content/opinion/historical_archives_m_websters

― nabisco, Monday, 6 October 2008 23:40 (sixteen years ago)

Spelling correctly is very modestly classic. for some very modest reasons, which I shall modestly set forth.

It should be remembered that for many centuries, writers of English didn't know how to spell "correctly", because no authority existed to establish standard spellings. Great literature was written with totally haphazard spelling. So, in many fundamental ways "correct" spelling is an arbitrary and superficial addition to English.

It is classic because it helps smooth the way for readers and writers. A block of text with correct spelling, when read by an experienced reader, connects the written words with their mental counterparts swiftly and with a minimum of effort. One doesn't have to painfully dig out the word from the rubble of treacherous orthography; it's there right away and one may easily move on to the next and the next, skimming the meaninglike an albatross skimming a mid-ocean wave.

It works out for the best. Therefore, classic, with a small 'c'.

― Aimless, Tuesday, 7 October 2008 00:43 (sixteen years ago)

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