Years ago, while on a trip to Hawaii, I sent my parents a postcard. I don’t know what it said, but I do remember that when I saw my mother next, one of the first things she said was, “I can’t believe you wrote ‘chose’ instead of ‘choose’ on your postcard.” That was how I was raised. In high school I had one of the strictest English teachers in the history of the world. We learned the RULES. For the past 16 years a large part of my job has been writing and proofreading professional communication (between physicians). If I’m reading resumes to pass on to the boss, the ones with spelling errors won’t get past me. Some are so horrendous, we post them for all to see. I’m not perfect, I make mistakes, but I was raised to believe that spelling is important.
All living languages, including the orthography of each one, change over time with usage. No Academie Francaise or other such body can “control” a language’s evolution or say what is “correct” or “proper,” though of course they try (and largely fail). That’s just the nature of language(s).
Misspellings bother me, too. But I have known people who would be great
writers if they didn’t spend so much time worrying about their spelling (or
getting marked off for it). There was a time when English spelling wasn’t
regularized (Chaucer wasn’t even internally consistent), and civilization
marched on anyway, so I guess as long as you can understand what is
meant, it’s probably not going to kill us all. Though, having to slog through
someone’s misspellings slows down my reading dramatically.
The #1 reason that I never got into comic books as a kid was because it
kept bothering me when I’d encounter a glaring spelling error. I’m such a
dork.
Too many variant spellings could play havoc with the Scrabble crowd.
And think of the problems with crossword puzzles.
I think we should simplify some spellings.
We certainly MUST start spelling Chinese names the way they sound. Who came up with “X-u-e”? It’s not even close to how it sounds and since the Chinese don’t use our alphabet then why would it matter.
“People who spell a lot of words incorrectly either aren’t paying attention or don’t care,” says Barbara Wallraff, who writes the Wordcourt column on language and writing problems for the Atlantic and King Features Syndicate. “Why are we changing our language to accommodate — with two m’s — them?”
As a diehard spelling maven, I object to this. Some people just don’t have it; you can’t say that every one who has spelling issues is fundamentally lazy. The premise itself is lazy.
Take writers of books, for example: authors with spelling difficulties are not news. The content is paramount, and spelling is a peripheral detail. That’s what editors are for. I see nothing wrong with this; the issue of spelling gets addressed in the end. Not always successfully, but still.
I can’t address matters such as résumés. The culture of one hiring entity to the next will vary on what each deems important. I lean toward substance and coherence over giftwrapping, to be honest, although spelling will grab my attention. Putting it simply, a good speller, as such, is not necessarily a good catch.
That said, I see no good reason to “back off” altogether about spelling when it comes to education. That’s lazy, too.
If you expect to have your resume taken seriously, every word should be spelled correctly. “Variant” spellings might be part of a living language, but they won’t help you to learn a living wage.
If you ever hope to publish anything, learn the correct spelling and usage of words.
If, fates forbid, you ever find yourself having to write a client a formal note of apology, you’d best spell like your job depends on it, because it does.
The common thread here is that spelling is only as important as the documents that you write. If what you write doesn’t matter, feel free to spell your words however you wish.
James, I agree with you. Best to put one’s best foot forward, and have someone edit one’s résumé if that’s what it takes. But the only thing is, once the orthographically-challenged is hired and the cover blown, what then? Even if that person is the best qualified despite spelling issues, does this constitute lying on a résumé?
Yes, there’s that. I’m not disagreeing. When it comes to client contact, spelling is absolutely important, at least in high-level situations. Medical? Absolutely. Down-home auto mechanical? Maybe not so much, although personally I’d like to see that, too.
In-house communications might be less an issue, I think.
There are on-line dictionaries. There are automated spell-checkers. While I don’t get too hairy about type-oze I think this subject of spelling really comes down to how much you care about your audience/intended reader. No matter how illogical some of the spellings are in English, the simple fact of having a standard allows room for more communication between us than does allowing everyone to cook up their own spellings.
Chaucer is a poor example, as the percentage of the population capable of reading anything in his day was so minimal as to make the written word almost mystical to the general populace.
One can swoon over the value of content all day, but if it is illegible or unintelligible, the content loses all value. You have to be able to communicate your meaning. The quality of one’s ability to communicate with others is at least as important as the message we wish to deliver, as far as I’m concerned.
Hiding ignorance or laziness behind the label of “language evolution” wears thin pretty quickly. You will be taken for as big a buffoon as you choose to portray yourself in your method of communication as much as your intended content.
What we’re discussing is neither ignorance nor laziness. I spell (in English, at least) well, and that is not the point. What we’re discussing is the way that languages change, plus a related matter: how the cultures, societies, and individuals use language. The English language of five hundred years ago was different in many ways from the English of 2008. That’s not because anybody said it “should be” different, and it’s not because any organization made up “rules.” It’s because the people speaking the language changed and grew and so did their language.
I don’t think an “anything goes” attitude is sensible or helpful. But, I do think we fail to recognize, as natives speakers/writers of English, that we have a very messy system of writing and spelling. I think it’s much easier to give someone a pass on argument/arguement versus, say, someone who confuses “lose” with “loose.”
Last year, I got a letter from a new professional in town who had sent out a letter to many people in the community, introducing herself and her new clinical practice. Here’s the opening sentence:
“My name is (Jane Doe) and I have opened a new practice in Birmingham, specializing in working with families as they go through the downward spiral of addition.”
For a split second, before I realized she had written “addition” for “addiction,” I thought to myself, “What an incredibly narrow market. Maybe she should expand her practice to include the downward spiral of ‘take-aways.’”
For a split second, before I realized she had written “addition” for “addiction,” I thought to myself, “What an incredibly narrow market. Maybe she should expand her practice to include the downward spiral of ‘take-aways.’”
This is an example of why spelling software on computers won’t always be of much help.
To a spelling checker, this sentence is fine:
Ah went two the game an watched hymn as he through.
I think this subject of spelling really comes down to how much you care about your audience/intended reader. No matter how illogical some of the spellings are in English, the simple fact of having a standard allows room for more communication between us than does allowing everyone to cook up their own spellings.