Me and My Lousy Spllng
Noting one of my many spelling mistakes earlier today, Ricochet member "genferei" very understandably made this comment:
[A] pet (very minor) peeve of mine: the lack of proof-reading by (for?) contributors. We members pay $3.58 a month to be able to misspell, but it is rather jarring to read an extended piece by a professorial contributor (in their voice, of course) and be brought up short by repeated mistakes...)
I thank you, "genferei," for the gentleness and solicitude with which you made your point, plead guilty to frequent misspellings, note that adding more proofreading is on the long (very long) list of items we'll be getting to as Ricochet grows, and offer, for your amusement in the meantime, this:
Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde
Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the
olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit
pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a
porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by
istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh?
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Comments :
Dec '10
Re: Me and My Lousy Spllng
Yes, the human mind is amazing. Keyboards, however, really need some help. Mine inserts the wrong letters all the time. It's either that or BSA has inserted some malicious code into the site that rearranges letters after I hit the post comment button.
Re: Me and My Lousy Spllng
Spelling and grammar mistakes haunt me here too.
When I get an idea for a post, I sometimes jump right on, type it out and hit the "post comment" button. I want to get it up so badly I forget to spell check.
Afterward I start thinking about editing. I've been trying to fix my bad habit lately by typing in Word first to take care of the spelling, then letting it sit for an hour to come back and take care of grammar, syntax and cadence.
Edited on Jul 15, 2011 at 12:30pmMay '10
Re: Me and My Lousy Spllng
I leave out words. I re-read it and I see what I mean not what I wrote.
Oh, and don't post at 1am, either.
Jan '11
Re: Me and My Lousy Spllng
Remember: It's always Gooder English Weak.
Jul '10
Re: Me and My Lousy Spllng
Are You advocating "whole language[?]"
Oct '10
Re: Me and My Lousy Spllng
Peter Robinson:
I thank you, "genferei," for the gentleness and solicitude with which you made your point, plead guilty to frequent misspellings, note that adding more proofreading is on the long (very long) list of items we'll be getting to as Ricochet grows... (emphasis mine).
Peter, this was a topic brought up at the DC gathering earlier in the week. Not the spelling but growth. One of the reasons Ricochet works so well is the coupling of open discussion (within CoC) and a smaller, engaged community. However, as Ricochet grows in popularity due to bargain membership and indispensable podcasts, how do you maintain the feel of Ricochet with an influx of more members? At what membership size does the discussion cease to function in the way intended? And how far are we away from that point or major changes to accommodate?
Aug '10
Re: Me and My Lousy Spllng
I always assumed that there were accountants and lawyers commenting, both professions share an inability to spell particularly well. On the other hand, the english majors in the bleachers have too much time on their hands and we post too frequently.
Nov '10
Re: Me and My Lousy Spllng
Not only can you rearrange the letters, you can randomly drop approximately half of them and we can still usually understand it - human languages are ~50% redundant in an information-theoretic sense [Campbell, Grammatical Man].
It so happns that th lttr '' is not working on my mac kyboard - but I don't car.
Apr '11
Re: Me and My Lousy Spllng
Forget the spelling. Where's the fifth installment of the UK interview with Yuri Yarim-Agaev?
He's AWESOME (you're not bad, either).
So? Where is it? Huh? Come on, cough it up!
Edited on Jul 15, 2011 at 12:53pmDec '10
Re: Me and My Lousy Spllng
A friend posted on facebook the other day: After reading this sentence you will realize that the the brain doesn't recognize a second 'the'.
Same guy that also posted : I recommend you chickens learn to talk. Nobody ever said, "Let’s go get a bucket of parrot."
Mar '11
Re: Me and My Lousy Spllng
Spelling is not a problem - the Ricochet spell-checker is not bad, and there is always Google.
I have trouble with grammar and punctuation (I never mastered those) - but I figure that on the Internet it don't matter, and at least it ain't Twitter.
May '10
Re: Me and My Lousy Spllng
Peter Robinson: Me and My Lousy Spllng
Not too mention you're bad grammer: it's "My Lousy Spllng and I".
Jul '10
Re: Me and My Lousy Spllng
As a professional writer who does editing chores as needed, I think the quality of posts here with regard to typos borders on the miraculous. Most of the time when a post of mine has been edited, I have either adjusted the wording or corrected a typo. I would rather have posts timely and cleaned up later than later and pristine. I am as vain as any writer and beat myself up for every mistake, but I know from painful experience that the perfect is the enemy of the good and that even with editors, I can find at least a mistake per page in any newspaper. (Do this for money in a bar, if you don't believe me.)
King Prawn's (#10) gambit doesn't work with me because my brain starts my hand for the touchpad to go up and correct the 2nd the before I consciously register that it is there. Pure reflex. Too much working big problems with hard deadlines.
Edited on Jul 15, 2011 at 1:11pmOct '10
Re: Me and My Lousy Spllng
I bag yur parden
Dec '10
Re: Me and My Lousy Spllng
Sisyphus: As a professional writer who does editing chores as needed, I think the quality of posts here with regard to typos borders on the miraculous. Most of the time when a post of mine has been edited, I have either adjusted the wording or corrected a typo.
King Prawn's (#10) gambit doesn't work with me because my brain starts my hand for the touchpad to go up and correct the 2nd the before I consciously register that it is there. Pure reflex. Too much working big problems with hard deadlines. · Jul 15 at 1:04pm
I knew someone with editing experience would pipe in on that one. Once a person learns to read for editing it seems impossible to miss the easy mistakes. I find it makes it harder to read merely to read at times.
Jul '10
Re: Me and My Lousy Spllng
The King Prawn
Sisyphus: As a professional writer who does editing chores as needed, I think the quality of posts here with regard to typos borders on the miraculous. Most of the time when a post of mine has been edited, I have either adjusted the wording or corrected a typo.
King Prawn's (#10) gambit doesn't work with me because my brain starts my hand for the touchpad to go up and correct the 2nd the before I consciously register that it is there. Pure reflex. Too much working big problems with hard deadlines. · Jul 15 at 1:04pm
I knew someone with editing experience would pipe in on that one. Once a person learns to read for editing it seems impossible to miss the easy mistakes. I find it makes it harder to read merely to read at times. · Jul 15 at 1:08pm
For me, the reflex hits, then I laugh because it's not my problem. But because I work with all phases, the only time a mistake or typo really bug me is when the intent isn't clear on a topic I am interested in. That nearly never happens to me here.
May '11
Re: Me and My Lousy Spllng
Ebonixs are always welcomed at Ricichet.
Oct '10
Re: Me and My Lousy Spllng
The Founders were bad spellers too so don't feel bad. Since we're on this pedantic track I thought I should mention there was a mistake in the recent episode of Uncommon Knowledge in which you said, Peter, "IRS" when you meant to say "IRA." It was a bit amusing, I have to say, only because the question still made sense, except for the Ireland part. I usually don't correct people because of the irritation it causes but since we're already talking about it. Great interview, anyways, to end on a positive note.
Jul '10
Re: Me and My Lousy Spllng
I'll throw Peter a lifeline and point out that while the post in question had a typo, "Realty" being a real word would not have been caught by a spellchecker.
A more interesting point is how the mind processes information. I've seen text displayed like that before, but it also works with images. There was some research published in the late 90s about facial recognition. One of the images had Clinton standing next to Gore...except when you looked more carefully it was Clinton's face on both bodies. The mind initially recognized Clinton and made the immediate association of Gore with him even though it wasn't Gore's face. Fascinating stuff.
Jan '11
Re: Me and My Lousy Spllng
The [rscheearch at Cmabrigde] quote is great in that it not only makes the point, but proves itself, all in one swoop.
I often refer to that same study, to make points in philosophy. Especially in an argument or debate, the human mind doesn't have time to dwell on individual elements, and often sweeps everything together into a general picture. That's where the [Cmabrigde] misspelling is rectified.
The crush of time, and the need to simply sweep things together, applies to more than just spelling. It's an essential tactic in all thinking. We don't have time to dwell on every item, so we ... smudge ... ideas into hazy concepts, which are usually governed by prejudice or bias.
Now I know that the terms "prejudice" and "bias" have a negative connotation, but human beings couldn't survive without them. We need them. A bias is no different than a "conviction" or an "axiom," which you take as true without trying to prove them. Sure, we think our prejudices are respectful and fair, but the mechanics are the same. Intellectually. a prejudice and a conviction serve the same purpose.
One man's prejudice is another's axiom.