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Age is Just a Number - by dswhite

Is Spelling Important?

January 28th 2007 00:16
spelling
What will happen to Spelling Bee's?
All my life, I've been told about the importance of correctly spelt words. It would convey my level of intelligence. It would convey how much pride I put into my communication, after all a mind is a terrible thing to waste ... right?


Well today, after wading through numerous emails (AOL has been inadvertently censoring my time online for the past week or so), I came across the following post from one of my online groups:

fi yuo cna raed tihs, yuo hvae a sgtrane mnid too. Cna yuo raed tihs? Olny 55 plepoe out of 100 can.

i cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno't mtaetr in waht oerdr the ltteres in a wrod are, the olny iproamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it whotuit a pboerlm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Azanmig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt if you can raed tihs forwrad it.

So now... do we have to hide this bit of information from our kids? Or do we go on saying that spelling is important?

(Filed under: Things that make me go hmmmmm)
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Comments
14 Comments. [ Add A Comment ]

Comment by David

January 28th 2007 01:41
dswhite ...

I was sent a similar email once ... and it came attached with a uni study that said we could put the letters out of place in words and yet they would still be recognisable ... (wish I'd kept it now ... I would have posted it for you ...

David ...

Comment by katyzzz

January 28th 2007 01:50
I could read that but how much more enjoyable it would be with correct spelling.

And children may not be able to and some others, too.

So I guess you've made the point that spelling IS important and there is nothing short about my IQ.

An interesting post, well done.

katyzzz




Comment by Damo

January 28th 2007 04:31
I could read it.
It was spelt encorrectully
Some think must be wrongk
with my iii's

Creative spelling works

Comment by Lilla

January 28th 2007 07:22
dwhtise,

tihs is a vrey inretinsg atclire...hmmm, mkaes me tnihk?

... wluod we sitll be albe to raed tehse wrods, if fro emxlpe, we had nveer laernt them porlepry in the fsrit instncae???

That is to say, what if we had never learnt them properly? Would we still be able to make sense of the above? Somehow I think not, what do you think?

TO me, every word I ever learnt is a poem, sheer genius, with a history - a past - a character. Each creates a meaning that makes meaning of my existence... I am glad that we do not abandon them, completely ... not before I learn to spell them all properly, anyway... *giggle*

I am in the 55% who can read it - what d'ya know?

An Interesting post,
Lilla

Comment by Brenton

January 28th 2007 08:02
Shake Spear Wazza Terry Bill Spellar.

Whotai Thin Kisif Yewkan Understan Dit, itsall Good.

Comment by Ahmed

January 28th 2007 08:17
I think spelling is important, I *was* always good at spelling but my handwriting is what you would call terrible.

Right now my Achilles heal as it where would be my left arm, I dunno whats wrong with it but it has a habit of aching after a few minutes of continuous typing leading to lots of stupid typos. Bleh, spelling is important, but like my English teacher said 'it doesn't take a spelling test to be an English teacher'. Good thing too, she couldn't spell words very well



As for that email you got, oooold, I first read that about two years ago (I think ), it is a classic email people forward to each other

Comment by Mrs M

January 28th 2007 09:37
Hi Dee,

I think spelling is important. How else would we learn how to read?

Cool post.

Love & stuff
Mrs M

Comment by Ash

January 28th 2007 21:29
Interesting question Dee,
I think spelling is important, especially for credibility. There is nothing worse than walking into a store and seeing words all over the place that are misspelled.

Ash

Comment by KylieW

January 28th 2007 22:50
Bad spelling is a real bug bear of mine.

But I think it's amazing how you don't need the letters to be in the right order to understand words (though you probably have to know how to spell in the first place to be able to read the jumbled words).

Comment by Joanna

January 29th 2007 02:09
I'm pretty sure Lilla is on to something when she suggested that if you never learned to read properly spelled words you would not actually be able to understand words when they have been re-arranged.

It might be a fun game to play with kids in a classroom though. If you have a group of confident readers at a third or fourth grade level, you could mess around with them and see if they can do it, and if its as easy for them as for adults who have been taught how to read when words are spelled properly.

pretty cool how the brain rearranges things into recognizable sequences once its learned something...

Comment by Brenton

January 29th 2007 02:46
There is nothing worse than walking into a store and seeing words all over the place that are misspelled

What about wealking into a store and being attacked by a giant Tiger?

Comment by Ash

January 29th 2007 03:28
mmmmm, never having encountered a Tiger in a store before I have not given that much thought to be honest.

Comment by Francis

January 29th 2007 06:00
Yes, the human brain can unscramble words, just like we can do logarithms with Roman numerals. It ads anotehr level of difficulty and complexity- but a major problem in the world is how easily and clearly we are all communicating with each other.

One advantage of clear spelling is that you can find a second use for your dictionary (the first one, of course, being the traditional doorstop).

Once we decide that spelling is optional, then soon words will mean whatever one wants them to at the time. Once words have no meaning... a planet with six billion politicians...

Comment by MaaUpma

January 29th 2007 10:42
This is fantastic. I never believed that I will be able to read this text, but I was.

New Learning for me. Thanks...

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