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?
- Comment (42)
- · Quote
- · UnfollowFollow (3)
Comments:
Re: Me and My Lousy Spllng
Me two.
Re: Me and My Lousy Spllng
Thanks for the kind words--and for the correction. My worst television blooper? In a show on the Middle East that lasted almost 45 minutes, I said "Iraq" every time I meant "Iran" and "Iran" every time I meant "Iraq."
Sep '10
Re: Me and My Lousy Spllng
Peter,
You've compounded your spelling hiccup with appeal to a borderline internet hoax / urban legend. Don't worry; we value you for your genteel nature and keen insights. It doesn't matter to us Ricos that you flunked spelling. We understand. I've heard say that Albert Einstein couldn't balance his checkbook.
Dec '10
Re: Me and My Lousy Spllng
I am always in a horrible rush, when it gets to reading for pleasure, much less commenting. I just let things slide, as the only alternative is never to feel I can comment, at all. That being said and having been brought up with half English and half American education, I am hopeless with most words that have double consonants.
I also don't bother with spellcheck and rely upon a single, paper, dictionary, instead. I have had many problems with spellcheck, over the years, probably the worst of which involved a lengthy discussion of preparing fish samples for laboratory analysis.
A new employee went above and beyond the 4 or 5 edits I had left in a 3-inch thick environmental impact statement and spellchecked the entire document, without asking me. As I watched the pages of the multiple copies roll off the printers I hollered, "Stop!", when my eyes fell across a word I rarely encountered in the workplace. Apparently, MS Word did not recognize the word "fillet" and he accepted the suggested replacement of "fellate", which had not taken place on that boat. That I know of.
Dec '10
Re: Me and My Lousy Spllng
Oh! And for UK fans (and I am), I never use Rico-links or those from the Hoover Institution; Powerline's video player always has nice, complete editions of Uncommon Knowledge.
Dec '10
Re: Me and My Lousy Spllng
I do lkie tihs approcah. I tihnk it has itnersetnig rmaficiatoins for the coed of cnodcut . . .
Edited on July 16, 2011 at 1:28amMay '10
Re: Me and My Lousy Spllng
The coed of conduct? I hope she shows up at the next Ricochet soiree!
Dec '10
Re: Me and My Lousy Spllng
I hate to do it, but if you really want to look like an illiterate pervert, just let autocorrect get away from you on your iphone. There's a website dedicated to it. Warning, much of it is not wholesome.
Dec '10
Re: Me and My Lousy Spllng
Mark Wilson
The coed of conduct? I hope she shows up at the next Ricochet soiree! · Jul 15 at 4:29pm
She's a Taffy, you know . . . .
Oct '10
Re: Me and My Lousy Spllng
Peter Robinson
Thanks for the kind words--and for the correction. My worst television blooper? In a show on the Middle East that lasted almost 45 minutes, I said "Iraq" every time I meant "Iran" and "Iran" every time I meant "Iraq." · Jul 15 at 2:13pm
That's funny. It reminds me of my mom, who says Mr. Pepper and Dr. Pibb every time. In fact, every time she calls me she uses my brother's name and every time she calls my brother she uses my name, every time.
May '11
Re: Me and My Lousy Spllng
I know I work hard at keeping my spelling and other mistakes to a dull roar, when I was a kid I was dyslexic and had a really hard time getting through grades one to four, mostly because in Canada at the time, the local school district had bought into the ITA reading system, (Initial Teaching Alphabet) we had 42 letters in our alphabet!! at the end of grade two, my family moved and the new school I attended did not do the ITA method, in fact they had no idea what it was, add that to my dyslexic problems and I was in real trouble. Thankfully in grade four a kindly teacher figured it out, and she gave me lots of help, and so did my mother and father, but I still thank the good Lord for spell check!
I hope that if my spelling is not perfect, I can get my ideas across, I think that nothing is worse than a grammatically perfect essay with zero spelling errors that does not make any sense.
I'll take the spelling errors and a good idea any day!
Domo!
May '10
Re: Me and My Lousy Spllng
Here's an example of what you're talking about, grammatically correct but meaningless:
Colorless green ideas sleep furiously.
Apr '11
Re: Me and My Lousy Spllng
Mark Wilson
Peter Robinson: Me and My Lousy Spllng
Not too mention you're bad grammer: it's "My Lousy Spllng and I". · Jul 15 at 12:58pm
Dang! Mark, you beat me to it. :-)
Apr '11
Re: Me and My Lousy Spllng
Tommy De Seno: 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. · Jul 15 at 12:29pm
Edited on Jul 15 at 12:30 pm
That there, is how it's done.
Oct '10
Re: Me and My Lousy Spllng
Tommy De Seno: 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. · Jul 15 at 12:29pm
Edited on Jul 15 at 12:30 pm
Now all you need, Tommy, is a double-entendre-check function!
May '10
Re: Me and My Lousy Spllng
dittoheadadt
Tommy De Seno:
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.
Now all you need, Tommy, is a double-entendre-check function! · Jul 15 at 9:06pm
One thing I've learned is that you really need to stay on top of things, or else you'll find yourself screwing up.
Oct '10
Re: Me and My Lousy Spllng
Charlotte
Mark Wilson
Not too mention you're bad grammer: it's "My Lousy Spllng and I". · Jul 15 at 12:58pm
Dang! Mark, you beat me to it. :-) · Jul 15 at 6:56pm
Oh, no no no, grammarketeers! It all depends on context.
"Curse me and my lousy spelling!" [me for the direct object]
"My lousy spelling and I are targets for English majors everywhere." [I for the subject]
Though John McWhorter, a senior editor at City Journal who happens to be a linguist, says that this rule simply shouldn't apply to English, which has outgrown its connection to case.
(Somewhere, a militia of white-haired grammarians is stockpiling torches and pitchforks.)
Edited on July 16, 2011 at 9:13amMay '10
Re: Me and My Lousy Spllng
J. D. Fitzpatrick
Though John McWhorter, a senior editor at City Journal who happens to be a linguist, says that this rule simply shouldn't apply to English, which has outgrown its connection to case.
Your examples are right, but what does this have to do with case? It's the distinction between subject and object.
Apr '11
Re: Me and My Lousy Spllng
You should have written "bugs" instead of "bug".
Jun '10
Re: Me and My Lousy Spllng
It surprises me how often I encounter "dangling participles" in the work of professional writers. ("Having passed both the House and Senate, the President signed the bill.) My 8th grade teacher Sister Margaret, may she rest in peace and not turn over in her grave, considered this error particularly egregious.