Poor spelling 'a gravy-stained tie'
The title for today's lesson comes from a column by James Kilpatrick, a longtime syndicated columist and expert on language. His column, appropriately, was called The Writer's Art.His entry on spelling mentioned a financial consultant who sent a careless, error-riddled letter to a potential investor. Kilpatrick highlighted some of the more egregious goofs, then wrote:
"What impression do you suppose this illiterate letter made on the prospect? Not much. The prospect sent it to me with a note of incredulity."
Lest we forget, writing is simply a form of communication. It's a message you're trying to send, in whatever form, to another. What possible advantage is there to sabotaging the message with misspelled words, incoherent phrases, poor grammar and the like? For those who say we're being too snobbish and persnickety, how do these errors improve your communication in any way whatsoever? What do such errors tell the world about your education, your intelligence, even what you think of them when it's not even worth your time to check your message for proper spelling?
Even worse, what if it's a situation in which you are trying to impress someone? What if it's a letter you're sending to apply for a job? Kilpatrick addresses such concerns in his column after pointing out several examples of atrocious writing and spelling:
"There's no need to rub in a moral to the stories. In human and in business relationships, first impressions matter. If a first impression is poor, there may never be a second chance to make a better one. A poorly spelled letter is a gravy-stained tie."
Let's hope you agree with Kilpatrick and not the next two famous men:
"It is a damn poor mind indeed which can't think of at least two ways to spell any word."
-- President Andrew Jackson
"I don't give a damn for a man that can only spell a word one way."
-- Famous American author Mark Twain
Those sentiments (I think they're joking but it doesn't matter) might have made some sense in the 19th century, when spelling still was perceived by many as a way to make your writing more individualistic. But they make no sense today, unless you're an unabashed anarchist and contrarian.
Much closer to the truth about today's Twitter-warped generation are the sentiments of these two women:
"Sometimes, reading a blog, which I do infrequently, I see that generations of Americans have been willfully crippled, and can no longer spell or write a sentence."
-- U.S. author Alice Walker
"I'd like to run for office someday, but I'm afraid my ability to spell might give me an unfair advantage."
-- April Winchell, U.S. actress, writer and talk show host
****
Check out this individual's horrendous attempt to maintain some dignity after getting fired (courtesy of Media Bistro):
Fired KTVU Producer in Asiana Gaffe: 'My Hard-Earned Reputation Is Intack' (TheWrap / MediaAlley)
Three producers at the KTVU Fox affiliate in Oakland have lost their jobs over a racially offensive report of Asiana pilot names on a newscast about a crash landing that left three dead, and one of them insisted to TheWrap: "My hard-earned reputation is intack [sic]." Reached by TheWrap via email, investigative projects producer Roland De Wolk wrote: "My hard-earned reputation is intack. There are lawyers, so eager as I am to anser [sic] all questions, I must refrain." FishbowlNY Still. Of all the times to calibrate two separate sentences with two separate typos ... TheWrap's Sara Morrison goes on to write: "TheWrap presumes the spelling errors were unintentional." Ouch.
Anyone want to lie to me and tell me his or her impression of Mr. De Wolk became MORE favorable after reading such atrocities???
This is perhaps a bit extreme as an example, but "close enough" doesn't exist when it comes to spelling, as this Connecticut eighth-grader learned the hard way when he put an extra t in an answer that otherwise was perfect on an episode of the TV quiz show "Jeopardy!":
His answer was ruled incorrect. Unfair, the boy whined to his local newspaper. Totally fair, a spelling bee expert countered.
"Spelling absolutely counts," Paige Kimble, executive director of the Scripps National Spelling Bee and the contest's 1981 champion, told USA Today. Indeed, in Thomas' case, spelling counted to the tune of thousands of dollars. "What we know is that good spelling is a tremendous reflection on an individual's overall knowledge and attention to detail. We love that 'Jeopardy!' took a stand."
Other experts weigh in with comments in the same recent USA Today article about spelling, which I urge you to read at http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/people/2013/08/05/does-spelling-still-count-jeopardy-thomas-hurley-boy/2619957/.
1) "Spelling is as important as it's ever been," says J. Richard Gentry, an expert in reading and spelling education and the author of Spel is a Four-Letter Word.
"I'm all in favor of treating spelling as seriously as it should be. It
matters when a doctor writes a prescription and, apparently, when you
have to write an answer on 'Jeopardy!'
"Principals tell teachers you don't have to teach spelling because it's not on the state test," Gentry says. But "kids not taught spelling are not likely to do as well on the state reading and writing tests."
Moreover, he says, the latest neuroscience research suggests that the way young children learn to read and write might be constrained by the new ways of teaching, including the downgraded emphasis on learning to spell.
2) "We still evaluate people based on how we present ourselves in writing," says Mignon Fogarty, aka "Grammar Girl,"
an author of books on
grammar and spelling and the founder of a popular website, Quick and Dirty Tips. "It suggests how detail-oriented you are, how rushed, how much care you put into your writing."
Spelling influences who Fogarty reads. "I follow a lot of writers of fiction and nonfiction on Twitter, and if I see a fiction writer who misspells a lot, I'm much less likely to give the books a try."
And even if the rules don't necessarily apply to texting teens, grownups are paying attention. "Employers are checking your Twitter feed and Facebook accounts when you apply for a job," she says.
3) "If you read the (official form) you signed, spelling really, really matters there," says Sandra Wilde,
a Hunter College education professor and the National Council of Teachers of English elementary section chairwoman. She knows: She competed on "Jeopardy!" about 15 years ago, coming in second.
The contestant's error was arguably more about bad proofreading than bad spelling. During Final Jeopardy's 30-second answer window, "When the 'Jeopardy!' music is playing, that really is plenty of time. You can make a mistake and cross it out again," Wilde says. "It really is forgiving."
His answer was ruled incorrect. Unfair, the boy whined to his local newspaper. Totally fair, a spelling bee expert countered.
"Spelling absolutely counts," Paige Kimble, executive director of the Scripps National Spelling Bee and the contest's 1981 champion, told USA Today. Indeed, in Thomas' case, spelling counted to the tune of thousands of dollars. "What we know is that good spelling is a tremendous reflection on an individual's overall knowledge and attention to detail. We love that 'Jeopardy!' took a stand."
Other experts weigh in with comments in the same recent USA Today article about spelling, which I urge you to read at http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/people/2013/08/05/does-spelling-still-count-jeopardy-thomas-hurley-boy/2619957/.
1) "Spelling is as important as it's ever been," says J. Richard Gentry, an expert in reading and spelling education and the author of Spel is a Four-Letter Word.
"I'm all in favor of treating spelling as seriously as it should be. It
matters when a doctor writes a prescription and, apparently, when you
have to write an answer on 'Jeopardy!' "Principals tell teachers you don't have to teach spelling because it's not on the state test," Gentry says. But "kids not taught spelling are not likely to do as well on the state reading and writing tests."
Moreover, he says, the latest neuroscience research suggests that the way young children learn to read and write might be constrained by the new ways of teaching, including the downgraded emphasis on learning to spell.
2) "We still evaluate people based on how we present ourselves in writing," says Mignon Fogarty, aka "Grammar Girl,"
an author of books on
grammar and spelling and the founder of a popular website, Quick and Dirty Tips. "It suggests how detail-oriented you are, how rushed, how much care you put into your writing."Spelling influences who Fogarty reads. "I follow a lot of writers of fiction and nonfiction on Twitter, and if I see a fiction writer who misspells a lot, I'm much less likely to give the books a try."
And even if the rules don't necessarily apply to texting teens, grownups are paying attention. "Employers are checking your Twitter feed and Facebook accounts when you apply for a job," she says.
3) "If you read the (official form) you signed, spelling really, really matters there," says Sandra Wilde,
a Hunter College education professor and the National Council of Teachers of English elementary section chairwoman. She knows: She competed on "Jeopardy!" about 15 years ago, coming in second.The contestant's error was arguably more about bad proofreading than bad spelling. During Final Jeopardy's 30-second answer window, "When the 'Jeopardy!' music is playing, that really is plenty of time. You can make a mistake and cross it out again," Wilde says. "It really is forgiving."
****
Now that we all agree that spelling is important, what are some ways in which we can become better spellers?
1) Read. 
Let me qualify that by saying read books, newspapers, most magazines, even SOME of the Internet (but certainly not 90% of what people post as replies to blogs or articles and 99.999% of what anyone scrawls on Twitter). Exposure to words is the way to learn how to spell them. Without a single exception, every classmate I knew in elementary, middle and high school who hated to read -- and boy, were there plenty of those -- was a poor (usually LOUSY) student and a horrible speller.
Let me qualify that by saying read books, newspapers, most magazines, even SOME of the Internet (but certainly not 90% of what people post as replies to blogs or articles and 99.999% of what anyone scrawls on Twitter). Exposure to words is the way to learn how to spell them. Without a single exception, every classmate I knew in elementary, middle and high school who hated to read -- and boy, were there plenty of those -- was a poor (usually LOUSY) student and a horrible speller.
2) Think. Study. Reflect. Don't just blindly accept idiotic words like donut, nite, lite, etc., as correct and then parrot them, the way so much of the world does. Go at least two steps better than village idiot, please.
3) Avoid constant exposure to misspelled words. The reason I advocate voracious reading is that our brains are wired to acquire the ability to spell words by seeing them -- over and over -- and making a mental catalog. That's largely how we develop good spelling habits -- we see a word that doesn't match what is in that catalog and our brain says, "That looks wrong!"
But constantly seeing words mangled (the way they are so frequently in tweets and those reply posts at the end of articles or blogs on the Internet) warps the catalog and confuses our brain. As an example, I'd strongly urge using only lists of correctly spelled words to improve your spelling, not a list of commonly misspelled words. Or at least have that list contain only the correct versions of such commonly misspelled words.
But constantly seeing words mangled (the way they are so frequently in tweets and those reply posts at the end of articles or blogs on the Internet) warps the catalog and confuses our brain. As an example, I'd strongly urge using only lists of correctly spelled words to improve your spelling, not a list of commonly misspelled words. Or at least have that list contain only the correct versions of such commonly misspelled words.
4) Saying the word out loud and being sure to pronounce it correctly also help form an indelible image in your mind via another sense (sound). I'm always amazed by the number of people who confuse words and spell atrociously because in their mind the word they're using has a sound different from the reality. If you somehow think the proper way to pronounce the word is "nuke-a-lerr," (sorry, Mister President!), chances are good you may not know how to spell nuclear correctly, either.
*** Although I recommend you do so sparingly and with caution, there are times when intentionally changing the pronunciation (for your own internal use, not in conversations or writing!) can help you spell a word. For example, I always pronounce sergeant as "serge-eee-ant" because phonetically the word sounds like "sarge-ent." I pronounce vegetable as vedge-eh-tayble, not vedge-
tuh-bull, Chihuahua
as "Chee-who-a-who-a" and not "Chee-wah-wah" and colonel as "koll-oh-nell" and not the insane pronunciation "ker-nell" and bologna as "bow-logg-nuh" and not the even more insane "buh-lone-eee."
tuh-bull, Chihuahua
as "Chee-who-a-who-a" and not "Chee-wah-wah" and colonel as "koll-oh-nell" and not the insane pronunciation "ker-nell" and bologna as "bow-logg-nuh" and not the even more insane "buh-lone-eee."
If that confuses you more than it helps, ignore that advice. But I find it very helpful for words that don't sound the way they are spelled.
5) Use ... a... DICTIONARY! You'd think this would be obvious. If you don't have one, get one -- at a used bookstore if you must, but have one at your disposal. Or at the very least consult a reliable online dictionary such as Merriam-Webster.com.
And be sure to use that dictionary often! Kilpatrick concludes his column on spelling by urging just that and also by making a similar plea to avoid what I have dubbed Parrot's Disease:
And be sure to use that dictionary often! Kilpatrick concludes his column on spelling by urging just that and also by making a similar plea to avoid what I have dubbed Parrot's Disease:
"When in doubt about the spelling of a word, look it up! And stay in doubt!"
6) Learn associations that help you remember. Some of those are called mnemonic devices. I'll always spell accommodate correctly because someone taught me this: It's big enough to accommodate two c's and two m's. There are many, and you can invent your own. Just a few worth noting to give you an idea: Super Man Helps Everyone as a way (I like using HOMES better here) to remember the Great Lakes
Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie and Ontario; 30 days hath September, April, June and November; I before E except after C or when sounding like A in neighbor and weigh; KISS (keep it simple, stupid); and RICE for the instructions for treating a sprain (Rest the injured area, Ice the sprain, Compress with a wrap or bandage, Elevate the injured area).7) Learn a foreign language, or even better more than one. We first learn our native language by hearing it as children. We don't learn it by first studying rules and such. When you learn another language in school, however, or even on your own, you learn proper forms of conjugating verbs, of making words plural, of handling irregular verbs, of using correct grammar in structuring sentences, etc.
You then can apply all that to your native tongue. It will give you a much, much better understanding of how to speak and write properly, and the key to learning anything is to understand what you're learning. When you learn other languages, you then learn a lot about your own language. And that can only help in efforts to spell correctly.
8) Study the roots of words and common prefixes and suffixes, the way spelling bee contestants do, and words that used to be bizarre and strange to your eyes will become familiar and easy to remember. It's like cracking a code of sorts. For example, once you understand endings (suffixes) like -ous, -ible/-able, -ious, -ology, -tion and -ity, you'll be able to spell words with such endings and understand what they mean much better.
Etymology also can be very helpful. I find it fascinating exploring the origin of certain words or phrases, but even if you think it's boring it still will help you learn to be a better speller if you learn how words came to be. I extremely highly recommend it. One fun place to start is at
http://www.etymonline.com/index.php.
Just a few examples that I hope will spark some interest:
* Did you know that a "chauvinist" wasn't originally some person with a bias against the other gender (as in "male chauvinist pig") but simply someone especially devoted to a certain cause or person? It stems from Nicolas Chauvin,
a soldier in the French army who was particularly devoted and attached to Napoleon. Many expressions come from similar derivations of proper names: slave, bohemian, platonic, manila, pasteurization, quixotic, mesmerize, etc. * Yet another reason to learn foreign languages: Many common words and expressions used in English originate from other languages: shish kebab, coup, hors d'oeuvre, loco, bona fide, doppelganger, hoi polloi, pro bono, nota bene, zeitgeist, kayak, squash, toboggan, haiku, origami, etc.
* Many common expressions in English come from either the
Bible
or the works of William Shakespeare,
9) Learn from other good writers as well as Internet sites that promote spelling, grammar, writing, etc. For example, I highly urge you to read the syndicated columns of Pulitzer Prize winner Leonard Pitts, 
who works at the Miami Herald. I think he is easily the best columnist in the United States as far as writing ability is concerned (I'm not talking about viewpoints or power of persuasion but merely his skill as a superb writer). James Kilpatrick 
died three years ago today (I didn't know that when I started this post, but it makes the post a nice tribute), but you can find some of his work on the Internet. He also wrote several books, including "The Writer's Art," based in part on his columns of the same name. It's probably at your library.
who works at the Miami Herald. I think he is easily the best columnist in the United States as far as writing ability is concerned (I'm not talking about viewpoints or power of persuasion but merely his skill as a superb writer). James Kilpatrick died three years ago today (I didn't know that when I started this post, but it makes the post a nice tribute), but you can find some of his work on the Internet. He also wrote several books, including "The Writer's Art," based in part on his columns of the same name. It's probably at your library.
There are plenty of others. And plenty of good Internet sites. Here are just a few worth exploring:
http://www.grammarly.com/
http://grammar.yourdictionary.com/
http://www.grammarly.com/
http://grammar.yourdictionary.com/
10) Above all, recognize that it DOES matter. Just as you'd be foolish to attend a job interview in dirty, torn pants, a shirt missing several buttons and that gravy-stained tie, it's equally foolish to not even care how uneducated and
ignorant you come across
when you can't spell basic words and/or put their when you mean there or your when you mean you're.
ignorant you come across
when you can't spell basic words and/or put their when you mean there or your when you mean you're.
It's time to wrap it up. My next post won't center around anything and will highlight past, not last, mistakes. If you don't know what I mean, you'll just have to stay tuned
...
For twenty years I was in a position to hire people. I can assure you that any job application with misspellings, or with bad grammar went to the great trash can in the sky. If someone was not interested enough to provide a good letter and resume, I was not interested in hiring them. It really does matter. This blog is well thought out, as usual, and I am impressed with all the outside citations and references.
ReplyDeleteIt's very helpful for news room
ReplyDelete