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Bad Spelling 'should be accepted'

chainer

chainer

Member
Joined
May 5, 2008
Messages
821
Read this article on bbc.co.uk. Reminded me of CP and thought I'd share, maybe a few of you would like to weigh in on this topic.

Common spelling mistakes should be accepted into everyday use, not corrected, a lecturer has said.

Ken Smith of Bucks New University says the most common mistakes should be accepted as "variant spellings".

He lists the 10 most commonly misspelt words, which include "arguement" for "argument" and "twelth" for "twelfth".

Mr Smith says his proposal, outlined in an article in the Times Higher Education Supplement, follows years of correcting the same mistakes.

Mr Smith, a criminology lecturer, said: "Instead of complaining about the state of the education system as we correct the same mistakes year after year, I've got a better idea.

"University teachers should simply accept as variant spellings those words our students most commonly misspell.

"The spelling of the word 'judgement', for example, is now widely accepted as a variant of 'judgment', so why can't 'truely' be accepted as a variant spelling of 'truly'?"

Mr Smith also suggested adding the word "misspelt" to the list and all those that break the "i before e" rule - weird, seize, neighbour and foreign.

He said he was not asking people to learn to spell words differently.

"All I am suggesting is that we might well put 20 or so of the most commonly misspelt words in the English language on the same footing as those other words that have a widely accepted variant spelling," he added.
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-http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7546975.stm

:laugh:
 
I wish those policemen would accept my 15mph over as an "accepted variant"... :sign: :sign: :sign:
 
Well, suuuuuure...

...and let's just round Pi off to 3, call a whale a fish, and substitute opinion for fact whenever it suits us. Close enough, right?

The trouble with "close enough" is, a new generation will come along that doesn't even want to meet that standard. What's next? Close enough to close enough? Low expectations and low standards result in low quality and low performance.
 
I didn't read the whole article because I'm lazy, but which words are acceptable, alternative spellings, and which aren't?

Anyways, to blow this out of proportion and for dramatic effect, THIS CAN BE A VERY SLIPPERY SLOPE!
 
It's the continued dummying down of youth.

"It's ok if you can't spell, they still need people to count change from behind the McDonalds counter."
 
If we can't educate the dummies, let's just come down to their level. Or perhaps "thier" level... :rolleyes:

Paging Bill...
 
I'll tell you exactly what this is, a lazy professor who is sick of having to correct misspellings in the papers he grades. If misspellings are accepted, he doesn't have to pay as much attention when grading. It's straight bs.
 
Spell the way your little heart desires - don't even listen to any of these naysayers!!! I'm pretty doggone sure there's PLENTY of opportunities with "close enough" writing skills! For some strange reason, "Price check on register 3" seems to come to mind... :D
 
I think we should except bad speeling wearever it shows up. Afterall, if we accpect kids to speel wurds corecly, thay'll be wrong sometimes and thair is nuthing wurse for a child's selph asteam then being wrong.


What the hell is this world coming to? Words mean things, spelling matters, and the ability to communicate effectively is one of the things that makes a society work. For f*ck's sake, this kind of stuff makes me mad...
 
This is the English and the BBC. They are responsible for this language and perhaps (even though they are down on the list in terms of the total number of English speaking people) they feel they can do what they wish with the language. :laugh:

The largest English speaking country is India with some 350 million people speaking "English". Just think of the possibilities. We speak with them every day. Computer techs with names like Randy, Bob and Bill. An observation, sometimes it is easier to understand those folks than those "Cockney" accents from the east end of London. We should not accept slop from the founders of our language!
 
It used to be just horse shoes and hand grenades, but now in the age of thermonuclear weapons, close enough just keeps getting further and further away.
 
mmburtch said:
It used to be just horse shoes and hand grenades, but now in the age of thermonuclear weapons, close enough just keeps getting further and further away.
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ther-mo-nuke-yuh-ler... had to sound that one out.
 
What a heap of CRAP!

If you can't take the time and effort to use the language correctly then you really should be relegated to register number three!

We have trouble enough understanding each other correctly here in this tiny community. (Witness some of the turmoil generated here by minutely ambiguous usage of the language.) It's no wonder that nations go to war over misunderstood words and meanings.

If we fail to use language precisely we can only expect to reap more of the whirlwind.
 
This subject reminded me of the text messages i receive every once in a while. Ur for your as an example, the younger set seems to be gravitating to the lowest comman denominator. I remember a Public Network program that seem to come to the conclusion that all English speaking peoples would speak like the people of New Guinea. Everyone would gravitate to the lowest comman denominator. Sort of sad, really. :(
 
The responses were, for the most part, what I expected. I just wanted to remind some of you older guys at CP that not all of us teenagers use crappy shorthand in any real documents or outside of texts. I find it funny that I am 18, and often have been known to spell commonly used words incorrectly, but still feel depressed after reading this article. Pretty ridiculous notion, if you ask me. I mean really, who can't use spell check for an ENGLISH PAPER?? Where I live, peer editing still exists...
 
chainer said:
The responses were, for the most part, what I expected. I just wanted to remind some of you older guys at CP that not all of us teenagers use crappy shorthand in any real documents or outside of texts. I find it funny that I am 18, and often have been known to spell commonly used words incorrectly, but still feel depressed after reading this article. Pretty ridiculous notion, if you ask me. I mean really, who can't use spell check for an ENGLISH PAPER?? Where I live, peer editing still exists...
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Proofreading is much more accurate. I think spell check has led to a lot of problems as it doesn't catch the wrong words, only those that are misspelled. A lot of people (not just teens) think if it passes spell check the writing must be fine. That's not always the case. It's a valuable tool, but it's no substitute for attentive proofreading.

I'm not an old codger by any means, but poor writing really irks me. It's an indicator of laziness or an indicator that the writer just doesn't care. Either way it's insulting to a reader.
 
LilBastage said:
chainer said:
The responses were, for the most part, what I expected. I just wanted to remind some of you older guys at CP that not all of us teenagers use crappy shorthand in any real documents or outside of texts. I find it funny that I am 18, and often have been known to spell commonly used words incorrectly, but still feel depressed after reading this article. Pretty ridiculous notion, if you ask me. I mean really, who can't use spell check for an ENGLISH PAPER?? Where I live, peer editing still exists...
Click to expand...

Proofreading is much more accurate. I think spell check has led to a lot of problems as it doesn't catch the wrong words, only those that are misspelled. A lot of people (not just teens) think if it passes spell check the writing must be fine. That's not always the case. It's a valuable tool, but it's no substitute for attentive proofreading.
Click to expand...

As an employee in a field where "attention to detail" is paramount, this is ridiculous. A judge would throw you out of his damn courtroom let alone your sergeant would make you re-write your report if it contained any type of spelling or grammatical errors.


I think it is silly and foolish to accept "second best" mistakes from the current generation as well as the upcoming generation, and re-tool our own system of values based on our reasonable ability to entertain mediocrity. Just foolish.
 
Academically, proper spelling should be the goal. There are a lot of factors that contribute to this trend. Speed is king in todays world.
We all heard the story of the Tortoise and the Hare; "slow and steady win the race". Yet we are always in a hurry, we always rush one another, and we speed in our cars. I have to ask, is it all laziness? I think not. Pressure, impatience, and a good dose of neurosis all contribute to this. We frown at the laggers, the meticulous, the detail oriented because they are taking too much time. Not enough time to do it right, but plenty of time to do it over.

Everyone of my siblings have learning disabilities. Impatience wasn't the cure. Patience and support helped the most.

If we want a better world, we have to start with ourselves and approach this subject with helpfullness and patience.
Publicly correcting and berating only serves our own ego. Reacting positively will carry much more cure than reacting with anger.

I seriously doubt that anyone revels in an inability to spell. And perhaps, what is viewed as laziness, is some other learning difficulty.

Just a differant view.


Edit for spelling :D
 
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