Nerds of the world, unite.
I've decided to undertake a one-woman mission to eradicate what I have now learned are called 'kr8tiv' spellings. My goal? To encourage all peoples throughout the world to spell things properly, and to punctuate accordingly. However, I'm limited in that I only speak English and can read and write a bit of Latin, so the billions on this earth who speak other languages will have to police themselves, I'm afraid.
In any case, this applies to e-mails, billboards, bumper stickers, and the like (damn people with their extra apostrophes), as well as anywhere else the written word must be read by me. (This also applies to names, but I swore not to discuss that anymore.) Most of us have only one language, folks, let's respect it!
In the interest of full disclosure, I am one of the dorks who tends to spell out things in full, properly punctuated and correctly spelled sentences, even on IM and text messaging. According to the bestselling grammar book, Eats Shoots and Leaves, many people claim that they, also, cannot bear to misspell things, even for the sake of expediency. I don't know what fact more strains credulity: that there are others as picky as I, or that there actually IS a bestselling grammar book. But as long as I'm disclosing, I should tell you I didn't get past the first chapter of said book, because...I found grammatical errors and couldn't continue. Perhaps they were the result of the differences in British English and American English, but I'm not certain. I normally copy-edit magazines and newspapers as I read them, but can't bear to write in books and couldn't bear not to, either, so I stopped reading.
I'm not a perfect grammarian, myself, and while a good speller, I do have to look things up often. The point is, does anyone else even bother? Hence, my one-woman crusade. (There are others like me, many of them, but fate has made my quest a solitary one, for some reason. I am, as the US military would tell you, an Army Of One.) I will make mistakes myself, and don't mind being informed when I do.
What will I do to spread the gospel? I don't know yet, but I'm open to suggestions. Perhaps I can convince all text-based programs to perform automatic spell-check before printing, sending or publishing can take place. Perhaps I can create a banner and ask others to put it on their websites, proclaiming "Good Speller." Or maybe even, "I Spell Real Good." Any ideas?
In any case, this applies to e-mails, billboards, bumper stickers, and the like (damn people with their extra apostrophes), as well as anywhere else the written word must be read by me. (This also applies to names, but I swore not to discuss that anymore.) Most of us have only one language, folks, let's respect it!
In the interest of full disclosure, I am one of the dorks who tends to spell out things in full, properly punctuated and correctly spelled sentences, even on IM and text messaging. According to the bestselling grammar book, Eats Shoots and Leaves, many people claim that they, also, cannot bear to misspell things, even for the sake of expediency. I don't know what fact more strains credulity: that there are others as picky as I, or that there actually IS a bestselling grammar book. But as long as I'm disclosing, I should tell you I didn't get past the first chapter of said book, because...I found grammatical errors and couldn't continue. Perhaps they were the result of the differences in British English and American English, but I'm not certain. I normally copy-edit magazines and newspapers as I read them, but can't bear to write in books and couldn't bear not to, either, so I stopped reading.
I'm not a perfect grammarian, myself, and while a good speller, I do have to look things up often. The point is, does anyone else even bother? Hence, my one-woman crusade. (There are others like me, many of them, but fate has made my quest a solitary one, for some reason. I am, as the US military would tell you, an Army Of One.) I will make mistakes myself, and don't mind being informed when I do.
What will I do to spread the gospel? I don't know yet, but I'm open to suggestions. Perhaps I can convince all text-based programs to perform automatic spell-check before printing, sending or publishing can take place. Perhaps I can create a banner and ask others to put it on their websites, proclaiming "Good Speller." Or maybe even, "I Spell Real Good." Any ideas?
posted by tp at 3:41 PM
1 Comments:
I'll sign up to your spelling/grammar campaign! Poor spelling irritates me, but I realise that not everyone has a natural aptitude for it. However, people who use text speak shorthand when they are writing on a computer just make me see red!! How hard is it to type in a real word?
I've enjoyed reading through your blog by the way - it sounds like we have reasonably similar attitudes to life.
Best wishes,
Tamsinbh from FF (TTC with donor sperm)
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