Y’all know about spell check.
Y’all know you should use it.
We’ve all been nagged about spelling since we began school. Friday didn’t feel like Friday until the weekly spelling quiz was over.
Spelling is telling, and it might be telling secrets about somebody.
Somebody was not paying attention to those little red squiggly lines that show something is spelled incorrectly. Or maybe they’re color blind? Or don’t know how to right click?
Somebody’s boss may need to hire someone else to write eye-catching headlines.
Somebody was not paying attention in second grade when contractions and apostrophes were taught.
Do you think somebody still has a job as MSNBC?
wrighting table – $250 (milton)
Somebody might be confusing what they learned in history class with what they learned in English class.
The Wrights flew, but not a desk. Authors write about the Wrights at a writing desk. And $250 is way too much for an old desk, unless it was owned by the Wrights. But, even if it was owned by the Wrights, it still wouldn’t be a wrighting table, it would be a writing table. Right? Right!
Somebody read Hansel and Gretel a few too many times as a child.
Nobody will hear people yelling “What hath God wrought?” if you found children in these wrought iron bird cages.
I knew what somebody meant, but it still made me laugh.
Using my trusty BING Translator I discovered somebody used a Swedish word to sell a German figurine.
Cool thing for a reasonable price, but didn’t somebody listen to all the VCV and VCCV lectures?
“THIS IS A EXIT DOOR ONLY”
Technically, this is a grammatical error, but is still funny. The laughing only increased when I was so busy criticizing the sign, I didn’t read the sign and walked right into the door. It wouldn’t open, ya’ know, because it was an exit door only. My dear mother had to console me with an ice-cream cone.
As much as poor spelling catches my eye and makes me laugh, the fact is, we all misspell words.
Sometimes we’re in a hurry.
Lack of sleep or illness makes our brain fuzzy.
It might be a keyboard error.
Or, you might be a good writer who can’t spell. After homeschooling and reading about spelling curriculums for years, I discovered a shared conclusion.
You can either spell naturally or you can’t.
The general opinion is that a spelling curriculum can improve your spelling, but can’t make you a great speller.
You don’t have to be a good speller to be a good writer, but your inspired writing can’t have spelling errors. I read on an an editor’s website he’ll turn down a book proposal if it has incorrect margins and two spelling errors. His guidelines are posted and he expects you to follow them. He also assumes if you aren’t serious about your spelling, you won’t be serious about your writing.
You don’t want someone to disregard your writing or use it for blog fodder.
I love your sense of humor, Mindy!!
You are too clever and funny!!
I am not a great speller but I DO pay attention to the little red line that appears under words.
I agree completely with the editor who had guidelines and would put down a book if he saw the mistakes right away. It takes away your credibility if your final text has all kinds of mistakes.
Spelling and grammar are only getting worse as people text their fingers off!! Good grief it kills me!
A reason why I love homeschooling is I am re-learning when I have forgotten in grammar. Mia’s grammar curriculum is awesome and I actually care about it this time around. 😉 I am not great with punctuation and can’t wait until next year when they get into that more.
I agree, Tandis, I have learned SO much homeschooling my children. I learned to read with the whole language concept and was always a good reader. Now I’m learning all those cool phonetic rules and get so excited. I thought I was good with punctuation until I had a few editors look at the last two articles I wrote. Now I KNOW why you hired an editor. 🙂
I’ve always been great at spelling but the longer I’ve been out of college the more mistakes I make! Hopefully blogging with help with spelling practice 😉
And I hate to tell you, it only gets worse. I’m pretty sure having kids kills brain cells, or is it the lack of sleep from having kids?????? Blogging is a great place to practice because it’s a more understanding environment. I loved reading your about page and hearing of your plans to serve the Lord overseas. Blessings to you!
I am a terrible speller!!! Have been my whole life. Which is strange considering I am an avid reader, you would think I could spell….and certain words I am just never going to learn to spell properly. Like inconvenience. I realize how frequently I must inconvenience people, because I am ALWAYS right clicking to correct that word!
Thanks for your true confession comment! It proves that intelligent people who love to read and write might not have the gift of spelling. I have a list of words I can never spell, too. I misspelled SEPARATE in the fifth grade city spelling bee, ya’ know on stage in front of all those people, and I’ve been scared of that word ever since. I’m also afraid since the comment box doesn’t have spell check…