Spelling

[Barryeye]

As one who could never spell to save his life I take solace in knowing that Winston Churchill had the same problem. However, I was under the impression that the so-called I before E rule was long defunct because of far too many acceptations to it. I could be wrong. It is not unknown.

[DarylBruce]

I was told that you can make a good teacher excellent, and a poor teacher good, but you will never make a poor teacher an excellent teacher. I think spelling works the same way. (words of wisdom for the guy that was always first to go down in a spelling bee.)

[IditarodJoe]

Over the last few years I've noticed our local newspaper, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, contains more and more incorrect spelling and word usage. Discouraging to say the least.

In my high school journalism class (early 1960s), we were told that most newspapers and magazines instructed their writers to write at a 4th grade level as an accommodation to the reading skills of their subscribers. These days, I'm convinced that most journalists lack the skill to successfully write at a competent 4th grade level.

[n64atlas]

How about...."A historic........". It is "AN" historic whatever, NOT A historic whatever. Look at Canfield's Garand tome. EVERY "A M1" should be "AN M1". It's simple elementary school spelling and grammar. And by the way, I'm an old guy too.
Jon

http://writingexplained.org/a-vs-an-difference

[IditarodJoe]

Although I personally agree with the article linked by n64atlas, there is no single definitive source for English language word usage. "Style guides" abound, some being more widely used than others. Back in the day, it was common for larger companies to adopt a particular style guide and employ professional proof readers. An engineering firm I once worked for used the New York Times style guide, and every major report and proposal had to pass through the proof readers before it went out. I wonder if proof readers even exist any longer.

[bruce]

Got through school inspite of poor spelling skills. Only time ever failed a class... Money, Banking and Credit. Research paper. Misspelled "having" 18 times in 40 pages. Three points each. Cost me big time. Professor had a problem with my adding a "e" to "having." Next time through (like I said... cost me big time), whited out "haveing" and inserted "having." Big difference... Would have kept my A and not had to repeat the class if I'd not added at little "e" to the word. Thank God for Spellcheck! Sincerely. bruce.

[Dan Shapiro]

I wonder if proof readers even exist any longer.

Judging from what I've seen, that would be NO! And the Big 3, WaPo, NYTs and LATs are the biggest offenders. Evidently they don't push spelling or grammar in "Journalism School" any longer.

On another note, punctuation is also important, as shown below:

Not getting any better, come home soon.
Not getting any, better come home soon.

[n64atlas]

In my case, I was good at spelling, then had a blood clot stroke. The stroke was brought on by a bad heart valve. It messed up my eye sight, my short term memory and my spelling.
I add letters, start with the wrong letter and draw a blank on how to spell some words. Some words never look right which makes reading them difficult. If it wasn't for spell check, I would be lost most of the time. As has been said many times, getting old id no fun