Spelling: My Part in its Downfall!
First of all, Dear Reader, in this case ‘spelling’ has nothing to do with witches and wizards. No, it is everything to do with how we spell our words. It is something that I have been brooding about on my daily walks around the neighbourhood. OK, friends, stop muttering and shaking your heads, maybe I do need to get a life. But, to me, spelling has always been important. I do realise that it is far more relevant, perhaps, to do the laundry and wash the dishes and have the car serviced on a regular basis. But the price one pays for making one’s living in a certain way means that we can never escape from what we do or did professionally. Engineers will look at bridges, dieticians at obesity and truck drivers at vehicles. I am an English/History trained teacher and can never escape from my past or any other past for that matter. Which of us can? Looking around at the abundance of spelling errors appearing on official signs I am not proud of what I have failed to achieve as an English teacher.
So when I pass manicurists whose shop sign tells me that a pedicure is ‘availible’ rather than ‘available’ or a bakery which serves ‘sandwhiches’ rather than ‘sandwiches’ then I am pedantically concerned, it is, however, a peripheral moment. I shrug and move on. But the railway crossing here in North Vancouver is a different matter.
“Pedestrians and cyclists stop at flasing lights’
blazing what should be ‘flashing’ to all and sundry, a substantial air of important officialdom about the sign as befits its health and safety message .This particular spelling error is a special concern to me. It should be a concern to all of us. Why? Well, Dear Reader, the pedicurists and the bakery are unlikely to compromise safety with their errors, my safety is not threatened by an errant toenail or a cinnamon bun. But the official signs of the CN Rail Company must not have spelling mistakes. This negligence on the simple matter of spelling, makes one wonder what other acts of carelessness are being perpetrated in their name. As we know all too well, errors on the railways can lead to death, destruction and pollution. If the CN railway company cannot be bothered to have their spelling checked before going to the expense of creating a very important sign then why would they bother checking frozen points on a cold day, excessive speed around a bend. And, moreover, this company has as its parent company the Government of Canada! I have seen it written that ‘attention to detail is the finest discipline’. I don’t entirely agree because sometimes little issues get in the way of solving the big picture. But, but, Dear Friends, how difficult is it to have somebody proofread your work before it sallies forth into the public eye? Particularly when the buck stops with a national government.
Who can blame the Head of Department at a school who discards hundreds of resumes for the simple reason that the grammar is wrong, a punctuation mark is in the wrong place and the spelling is a creation too far? Well, she has to start somewhere and, who knows, in that process of early winnowing, the teacher who was destined to set the world alight in a classroom of fascination and joy has fallen at the first hurdle. To me the fault in this case is never with the potential employer. If the job seeker really wants the post then he will get a friend, a professional, an expert eye to fine tooth their way through her letter of application. In that covering letter lies the first impression that is so important.
Wen eye right this blog, ewe will sea that there are never any such errours. I have red through my scribblings several thymes and maid sure that everything is purrfect.
Now finally before I become accused of possessing too much old fogeyness, an excess of ‘it wouldn’t have happened in my day’ claptrap, let me demonstrate how when I was in my salad years I was ahead of my time. Yes, my peers and I knew about ‘Bitcoin’ 45 years ago! “Hmmm,” you will mutter to yourself, “Now the plot is completely lost. Impossible”. But, yes, on Saturday nights in the London Borough of Hounslow when we had a bit coin in our bit pockets we often went out for a bit beer, a bit fish ‘n chips, and a bit of football on the TV late at night. And on Sunday morning as we rattled the remnants of change in our pockets we were a bit broke.
Thinks for reeding, pleas let me no if there are any spilling mistakes in the righting of this peace ‘cos in my last few years of teaching I abandoned doing the Friday morning spelling tests. It is all my fault.
16 Replies to “Spelling: My Part in its Downfall!”
I started up the Friday morning spelling tests again because the errors in my class are out of control!! If they don’t learn it from us, they may never learn it!
Thanks for reading, Lisa. I remember an erstwhile Head of English talking about spelling being very low down on her list of priorities. I sort of understand that a child who writes very creatively might feel insecure in putting her ideas down on paper because he was a bad speller. I think we all experienced the learning of the 20 words for the Friday spelling test and then forgetting them when it came to using them in a different context! But, I think, like you, I do think that an adult who is writing a sign for a business owes it to the potential success of the venture to have it proofed before going to press! I am still shocked to this day when I heard a local Global Newscaster refer to ‘the anals of power’ rather than ‘the annals of power’ although looking at some governments her first description may have been a better one! News readers owe it to their employer and the public to practice before appearing on camera particularly when they are dealing with a person’s name which may be difficult to pronounce. Good for you for trying to right the good ship ‘Spelling’ with Friday tests. I would be grateful if you would keep an eagle eye on my blogs to ensure that I practice what I preach! Hope all is well with you and yours.
One reason why I cannot spell,
Although I learned the rules quite well
Is that some words like ‘coup’ and ‘through’
Sound just like ‘threw’ and ‘flue’ and ‘who’;
When ‘oo’ is never spelled the same,
The ‘juice’ becomes a guessing game;
And then I ponder over ‘though’,
Is it spelled ‘so’, or ‘throw’, or ‘bow’,
I mean the ‘bow’ that sounds like ‘plow’,
And not the ‘bow’ that sounds like ‘row’ –
The ‘row’ that is pronounced like ‘roe’.
I wonder, too, why ‘rough’ and ‘tough’,
That sound the same as ‘gruff’ and ‘muff’,
Are spelled like ‘bough’ and ‘though’, for they
Are both pronounced a different way.
And why can’t I spell ‘trough’ and ‘cough’
The same as I do ‘scoff’ and ‘golf’?
Why isn’t ‘drought’ spelled just like ‘route’,
or ‘doubt’ or ‘pout’ or ‘sauerkraut’?
When words all sound so much the same
To change the spelling seems a shame.
There is no sense – see sound like cents –
in making such a difference
Between the sight and sound of words;
Each spelling rule that undergirds
The way a word should look will fail
And often prove to no avail
Because exceptions will negate
The truth of what the rule may state;
So though I try, I still despair
And moan and mutter “It’s not fair
That I’m held up to ridicule
And made to look like such a fool”.
Brilliant Ian. Viktor, the head of maintenance at the junior campus at my last school, is Ukrainian and used to pop into my classroom early in the morning to check on the spelling and meaning of English words. I seem to remember ‘wind’ meaning a breeze and ‘wind’ meaning what one does with a clock as being a particular shaking of the head for him. He described the ‘rules’ of spelling in English as being ‘crazy’. I think that you and I agree with him, Ian. Thanks for reading.
I loved this Pete. Like you, I am fussy about correct spelling on signs. My particular beef is the misuse of apostrophes. Every day, I drive past The Brownie’s Garden at the school entrance and wonder which Brownie was responsible. I am glad to hear that Lisa is giving out lists of words to memorize. The poor spelling issue has been exacerbated by the fact that new teachers were educated in the “no rote learning” era and didn’t learn to spell themselves. One of them, no name mentioned, was at Collingwood in my day.
Maybe only one Brownie now lives there because all the others moved out over an heated argument on how to use the apostrophe? Do you remember the T-Shirt:-
“Lets eat Grandma. Lets eat, Grandma. Commas save lives.” Thanks for reading and responding.
All indications show that it don’t matter no more !
Now then, John, there ain’t no reason to say that! Where are you at? You should of checked in with Rose first before making rash exhumations about we who taught. Spilling can still be taut affectionately. Thanks for reading and thank you for your comment.
This small business owner has never printed and laminated so many signs as this last year! You are hired! Please let us know if we miss!!
Et tu, Marie! Fallibility should be my middle name! Great coffee this morning as ever with wonderful service. Thanks for reading.
As an ardent pedant,I like this a lot.Yet I think you are too lenient on the government over the rail crossing warning: the lack of appropriate punctuation is as bad as the misspelling.
As it reads,unpunctuated,it’s a statement,whereas it’s intended to be a command,an arresting instruction.’Pedestrians and cyclists stop at flashing lights’.Oh good (do they all ? that’s ok then) But what if they don’t ? Ah: Pedestrians and cyclists – STOP AT FLASHING LIGHTS is what you mean.Or even Pedestrians and cyclists must stop at flashing lights.
My favourite subconsciously misleading nuance is a Covid sign at the local hospital that
reads: ‘Wash hands more often for 20 seconds’.Which to me was a direction not to wash my hands more often,but to wash them for longer (20 seconds) when I do,.Whereas I believe the authors actually had both in mind,i.e. more often and for longer (although i may be wrong).But if i’m right,it’s a punctuation error.You only appreciate the power of the mighty comma by its absence.
Your paragraph of deliberate misspelling read like a west country riff,just a normal Devonian talking on the street,or the shore.
Ahhh, George, you are hitting the nail on the head with your Covid warning whereas your older brother here missed the boat slightly with the railway crossing. My excuse is that I was so enrapt with the blatant misspelling that I failed to note the punctuation.On the same tack, Rose, who also writes here, is not alone in standing up for the poor wee apostrophe. I have coffee with a fellow retiree who is also campaigning to keep the little guy. She is, however, unlikely to join the “Extinction Rebellion” on behalf of a very useful piece of punctuation. But she and I are both agreed that the exclamation mark is overused. Indeed it can be read as an insult to the reader’s intelligence because it assumes that he or she does not have the nuanced mind to recognise that the context is enough of an explanation. One of my weaknesses has always been the use of the semi-colon and its full equivalent but then there is less of excuse these days even more because Google is so handy. Friend of mine who is a Deputy Head over town told me of teacher who had applied to his school, explaining in rapturous terms why he wanted to work there. Only trouble was that he was naming a rival school in his application. Didn’t make it to interview, letter of application in the recycling bin. And so it should be. We all make mistakes which is why we always need another set of eyes. We also have our little irritations. One of my nails-scraping-down-the-blackboard bugbears is the ‘moment in time’ ‘cos I have always worked on the basis that a moment must by definition be in time. Is that an oxymoron or tautology? I will check in a minute. Thanks for reading and writing in George.
Nothing worse than a pedantic git. My friend and neighbour who has invited me to use his gym for the past decade or more has kept me firmly isolated in the village with hardly any need to leave it, as we have, since Covid, had deliveries of all essentials. So nothing has changed, yet everything has changed. Well, he too is a pedant of a high rank. Retired head teacher at a school in Brig, but not a retired physicist. My gym lessons are more than physical exercise as i am didactically put through all the theories imaginable. Needless to say, most of it flies above my head and i just cycle, treadmill and row on. David puts across his arguments powerfully and i try to balance that with some alternative views of the human condition. Boils down to physics v. metaphysics. I remain open minded and inquisitive but David rejects alternatives and sticks firmly to the science script. So, like spelling, keep your options open. Yes of course, encourage exactitude, but allow for creativity. After all language is and always has been evolutionary and every year we see the OED debating neologisms which by and large enrich us all. The spelling tests
remembered from school days in 1959 when we were the first year entrants to South Tynedale Secondary Modern. Brand new to cover the s.w. corner of Northumberland. None of were particularly good at spelling in this school, but we did have a wonderful view from the top floor classroom, overlooking the town from atop the Fair Hill, with the Alston Arches spanning the river beyond and the last of the steam trains puffing across the viaduct and up the incline to Alston, England’s highest market town. It was so easy to day dream, so different from those prison cell like, single roomed structures, the product of Foster’s Elementary ED. Act of 1870, which had windows high enough to avoid distractions. Back to the tests. Can not remember the words but have no doubt we would not have been given the three words that still confuse me and which need to looked up every time they are needed. diahorrea, naievity and Pharoah , point made.
Help. Your near neighbours, or should that be neighbors ? They have been misspelling for years, another word often written in error. Think of it as your favourite teacher Miss Pelling . My color catalog at the theater, with a program and dialog about The Pajama Game. And on a different slant but related to words, this blog reminded me of an attempt made recently to engage granddaughters in wider reading than Harry Potter and Tolkien. I learned by heart Lewis Carrol’s “The Jabberwocky” in an attempt to impress them and hope to encourage a bit more creativity in their writing. After all, playing with words is fun. Not sure it went down that well with the girls, aged 13 and 8 at the time. They listened politely and when it came to the explanation of the portmanteau words my son chipped in , “oh nice try dad, but not yet”. At which point they both shot off to do something completely different. I enjoyed it. “Twas brillig, and the slithy toves……., all underlined in red on my spell checker. Love the tum tum tree, frumious, jub jub bird and tulgey wood. nonsense but brilliant. I’m rambling Peter. But thanks again for your blog and i do enjoy reading all comments. No offence meant by the way, in my comment of ‘pedants’. We are all pedants and cynics at times.
he breaking down of the portmanteau words
On reading through your latest comment Geoffrey, I have to say ’twas brillig’. I do really try to avoid the realm of pedantic gitdom if possible but also try to make the statement that if the decimal point is in the wrong place on my pension cheque then it makes quite a difference. So I refer you back to Rose’s comment about the ‘Brownie’s Garden’ which should read the ‘Brownies’ Garden’
because presumably more than one brownie was responsible for creating it. Imagine the chaos that would ensue if the fire service was called out to a fire at the ‘Phagiash’s House’ rather than the ‘Phagiashs’ House.’ Fire chief would say something along the lines like, “See the apostrophe, lads and lassies, only one Phagiash lives here, just one person to rescue.” Whoops a daisy, if the Phagiash family consists of Ma, Pa and the ten children. Mind you I am lucky enough to know several firefighters who live in our area. With all due respect to them, fine fellows all, only the wonderful Curtis is likely to recognise an apostrophe let alone whether it be single or plural. But Curtis is the exception that proves the rule, that most physical of professions does have room for the metaphysical. Incidentally, Geoffrey, does not your personal trainer know with whom he deals? You, who have coached and played to outstanding levels man and boy, you, of all people do not need to be taught how to suck eggs!! On another point, Geoffrey, I never thought that high windows in schools were designed to prevent pupil distractibility but it seems somehow logical given the times. I do love your description of the view of the highest market town in England from your classroom. And to your three bugbear spellings, I suppose that a reasonable challenge might be to somehow write diarrhea, naivety and Pharaoh in the same paragraph with relevant connections. OK I think I’ll stop now as I thing I’m being a bit of a githy tove and that will not do. Thanks again for your excellent, thoughtful comments, Geoffrey/
A Pharaoh lived upon the Nile
But suffered from the shits
Yet still he travelled with a smile
And always kept his wits
About him – as with doctors near
Who called his problem diarrhoea
He longed to end his misery
And find that panacea
But what to use in by-gone days
To mend his troubled rear
A search for peace, ease and piety
Would take some thousand years
Of never knowing what to do
While steeped in such naivety.
At the risk of some ridicule and apologies to all – especially William Topaz McGonagall the master of doggerel. Once again Peter you set me a challenge with your subtle hint regarding my spelling and excess use of that exclamation mark ! Once a teacher, always a teacher. You are a natural. Thanks again, Geoff
As I read this a beaming smile crossed the Davidson chops plus a loud guffaw at its ending! Excellent, Geoffrey. I can almost hear you saying it. You’ve made my day.