For the Spelling maniacs...

The question remains, whose responsibility is it to encourage an interest in correct spelling, usage and grammar when societal forces pull so strongly in favor of carelessness?

I know not everyone can do this, but I can actually visualize the correct spellings of words. If a word is questionable to me, I look it up.

I guess you're a word person, because biz math doesn't count. I'm way up there in applied math as well.

Poor spellers of the world untie!!!!

...and lysdexics!

It needs to come from all sides: parents, teachers, and society as a whole. A lot of teachers no longer teach for spelling/grammar accuracy, a lot of parents no longer help their children with their work, and society is showing them that it's not important. I DID count off for spelling and grammar and my kids knew it and I constantly pointed out mistakes and ways to fix them, but most of the kids showed little to no improvement because it simply wasn't important to them, and a lot of teachers don't do that anymore because in our technology-laden society, it's just too much work.

the proper names

Tamera vs Tamara they always say it wrong lol

I am very much a traditionalist and would much rather prefer the way things "used to be said" than today's updated vernacular the vast majority of the time. I guess I'm showing my age.

When it comes to proper names, you never know, but the rule is it's said how the owner of the name says it is regardless of what it looks like. I once had a class with three girls with the same name and all three spelled it differently. And then there's always the classic: "La-a". Ladasha.....you pronounce the "dash".

LOL! La-a ~ I'm sorry that one is actually....LOL!

Anyway, thanks for saying that about names. My daughter hated that no one would say her name properly ~ a spanish name & pronunciation. Marisa, which rhymes with Tereesa. It was always Marissa like Melissa. So after college she changed it to her nickname, Mia. (Me-ah). Even then, it was pronounced (MY-Ah) when she was in England.
Oh well ...

Grammar, not spelling-wise: Impact is a noun! It really bothers me when people use "impacted" or "impactful" which are just not words, but you see them used more and more frequently.

I am in the medical field, believe me--you do NOT want to be impacted!

Really if people knew the mind pictures this word brings to mind! Makes me wonder if that's why they use it!

I hope some found some humor in what I wrote, -- just some times when i come across this topic (this isn't the first thread on the topic on PC), some people seem to be rather upset about it all and it does remind me of my dad and how upset he was with his "dumb sounding" kids

Looking up words is something I do often, this due to either I question what I have been taught and wonder of the actual meaning. I did that a few months ago with "excuse" and broke it down.

It is an interesting topic of "language" and "what is right or wrong", PBS has an article on this very topic:
Do You Speak American . What Speech Do We Like Best? . Correct American . Prescriptivism | PBS

I find it funny with aint ain't
^^^I took a screen shot of that ^^^ I will attach my picture as well.

Chrome seems to think ain't is a word, as well as these websites that claim to be dictionaries.
Ain't - Definition and More from the Free Merriam-Webster Dictionary
ain't - definition of ain't by the Free Online Dictionary, Thesaurus and Encyclopedia.
Ain't | Define Ain't at Dictionary.com

The PBS Article also mentions "who put 'ain't' in the dictionary".. does that still not make it word?

I wonder if one day I can get my word "fooey!" in the dictionary

I think the more important thing to remember is that speaking/talking, whether you want to accept it or not, is a part of culture. That is one thing that I am surprised that "this thread my offend someone" hasn't came up yet.

The English language is hard anyways, even for the native speakers.

Not that I am perfect, but my nephew that is (I believe 12) in middle school, he wrote me back a letter not too long ago..... I had a terrible time trying to understand it all, this due to that dreaded "text talk", several misspellings and incomplete sentences. And he, himself is part of a group in school that is advance. I at first thought it was one of my nephews in grade school that wrote me back, but nope.

Funny thing with Text talk, I thought LOL was Laugh Out Loud, but I guess it is also a game.. And I always Loved the LOL joke that the person thought it meant "Lots of Love" and kept typing that when they had the news of a death.
Lots of love (LOL))

's ok that damn Beauflow needs to get off this thread, because I am not one of the elite

My mother-in-law taught in the 40s and loved it. She went back to teaching in the 70s and felt she had to interrupt the class for two weeks to give the kids a brush-up grammar course, but was reprimanded by the school for doing so! She finished out the year then quit. Such a shame.

That said, my grandmother couldn't spell worth a dime and had terrible grammar. I loved her beyond all measure and would take her brand of wisdom and experience over my fancy-pants-educated one any day. Love is better than spelling (but spelling is good too).

I double checked to make certain before opening my mouth about this one. Someone (don't feel like looking back ) complained that they don't like it when people use "spelled" instead of "spelt". In the U.S. , "spelled" is correct. In Canada and England, it's "spelt". Just one of those differences we need to recognize "recognise" and be tolerant of. (and a preposition at the end of a sentence isn't a preposition...it's an adverb).

Based on what Beauflow said, "ain't" was considered a "real" word in medieval English and meant one thing and one thing only....a contraction for "am not". It was actually a word that was common with royalty. Then, the "commoners" got hold of it and started using it incorrectly "he ain't", "she ain't", "they ain't" etc, to where it became slang, what it is still considered today.

I am knowledgeable kinda-sorta of the origins of language...I guess slightly more than the average. "Q" was the last letter in the alphabet that was officially adopted in most places. Rather, people used "kw". In Old English "queen" was spelled "kwene". Also, it is said that "qu" is the result of an error in a major printing press in the very early days of such devices, where, when a "q" was printed, the press automatically, and erroneously for the time, automatically followed with a "u". Before they knew it, it was a standard part of the language.

Cuz it's currently spelled phooey but you kids are trying to change it to fooey?? First you change fat to phat - you're conphusing me!!

"impacted" can be an adjective, such as an "impacted tooth". A lot of words can change part of speech depending on ending. For example, "book" is a noun, while "bookish" is an adjective, "booked" is a verb. Sorry.....it's not very often I can "play teacher" anymore.

It's when it's used by a suit with a straight face saying "impacted work schedules" that i start squirming in my seat I'm thinking, how does he know when I get constipated?! I got no class!! Just none!

Oh Geez another learning lesson for me-- "F" and "PH"

Thank you Hankster

I agree, in that case, it's incorrect big-time, unless you have a really good imagination.

You just reminded me of an episode of Wife Swap a couple of weeks ago. One set of parents "unschooled" their children, instead relying on experiences in the world to teach their children. They felt children should learn about what interests them, not the all-around education you're given in schools. Whatever you think of that, my jaw dropped to the ground when the parents said their kids were learning how to spell through texting! I kid you not!

Something that annoys me is when I'm reading a book, and I can tell the publisher has fired the proofreaders because words are misspelled all over the book. Oh, they're spelled correctly..."their," "they're" and "there" (for example) are all correct spellings, but misspellings when the wrong one is used. I see a lot of books these days like that, and what it tells me is, the publisher uses spellcheck to edit the book, and we all know spellcheck knows how to make sure you're using the correct spelling of the word in the right context, right?

Some of you have been talking about how education and speech has changed. This is sort of on topic, but not exactly: I've been going back to college (I will be going again in the fall), and I notice a lot of students addressing professors by their first names. I was taught you always refer to them as "Professor [last name]." I hesitate to call a professor by their first name, because I don't want them to think I'm being disrespectful.

And there's another thing I do, and a lot of us do: Using "their" instead of "his" or "her". That last sentence should read: "I hesitate to call a professor by his first name, because I don't want him to think I'm being disrespectful."

Someone brought up gender neutral terms. I'm all for them. It's about equality. I use "his" and "her" when a gendered pronoun is called for and I don't know the gender of the subject. Sometimes I say, "his or her," but usually, I choose one or the other, because it's clumsy to read, "He or she went to the party, but he or she didn't drink alcohol."

I just spotted another one that gets me: "Regime" vs. "Regimen."

Regime:

a : mode of rule or management
b : a form of government <a socialist regime>
c : a government in power
d : a period of rule

Regimen:

a : a systematic plan (as of diet, therapy, or medication) especially when designed to improve and maintain the health of a patient
b : a regular course of action and especially of strenuous training <the daily regimen of athletes

I always thought it was miniscule. My miniscule dictionary says:

The standard spelling is minuscule rather than miniscule. The latter form is a very common one (accounting for almost half of citations for the term in the Oxford English Corpus), and has been recorded since the late 19th century. It arose by analogy with other words beginning with mini-, where the meaning is similarly ‘very small.’ It is now so widely used that it can be considered as an acceptable variant, although it should be avoided in formal contexts.

One of my main objections to poor spelling and/or grammar is that it really interferes with my understanding of what is being said, or what is trying to be said.

I seem to have an instinct for when something is misspelled, but that doesn't mean I always know what the correct spelling is. I have to look that up sometimes.

Here's another one I see: no = know. It seems people cannot tell the difference if it sounds the same.