Are you any good at spelling?

Are you a good speller...(honestly!)

  • Yes - i'm practically a walking dictionary

    Votes: 39 72.2%

  • No - Mee am kno gud att speeling

    Votes: 15 27.8%
  • Total voters
    54
mikelyons

mikelyons

Supporting Member
The occasional slip in the use of apostrophes can be forgiven, but using them just for the sake of using them makes my teeth ache.

Many signs on shops use them in completely inappropriate places. No wonder the kids don't know the difference between possessive apostrophes and omission apostrophes.

It's and its are among my pet hate words. Wigan borough's website is appalling for both spelling and grammatical errors. No one seems to proof read things either, these days. I know I'm not perfect, but I try very hard to get things right.
 
T

TIMBONE

Active Member
mikelyons said:
When I was little my aunty used to make me sit with a dictionary and write out all the words and their definitions. She was trying to improve my hand writing and failed miserably. However, a side-effect was that by the age of 7 I had a reading age of 21.
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When I was little my aunty used to mix pages of the dictionary with my porridge, she felt that 'inwardly digesting' the material would improve my spelling. A side-effect was that by the age of 7 I had a waistline of a 21 year old.
 
PeterBale

PeterBale

Moderator
Staff member
bigmamabadger said:
. . . I don't care if I am a BOC, grammar is important!BMB
xx
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. . . .and Grampa's quite special as well :)

Seriously, I reckon my spelling is pretty good, although there are a few words where I'm never quite sure, and am always grateful for the spell-checker when writing my reviews ("apologise" is one I always have to check, for example :-? ). I would agree with those who've mentioned other areas of grammatical usage, although I think in time the "official" way may eventually catch up with "common usage" in some aspects, as thas been the case down the years.
 
Hornblower RN

Hornblower RN

Member
Spelling mistakes just jump out and hit me right in the eyes....can't help it!! I can't go anywhere without commenting on a spelling mistake in an advert etc. There was probably more emphasis on the three Rs when I attended school.
 
Dave Payn

Dave Payn

Active Member
PeterBale said:
. . . .and Grampa's quite special as well :)

Seriously, I reckon my spelling is pretty good, although there are a few words where I'm never quite sure, and am always grateful for the spell-checker when writing my reviews ("apologise" is one I always have to check, for example :-? ). I would agree with those who've mentioned other areas of grammatical usage, although I think in time the "official" way may eventually catch up with "common usage" in some aspects, as thas been the case down the years.
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I seem to remember straightmute saying on a similar topic that he was more interested in WHAT people had to say rather than how they spell it. Have to say I agree, even as someone whose spelling is generally OK.

To follow on from one of the points Peter made, my girlfriend (excellent at English and a fluent Russian speaker) is of the opinion that whatever we consider are mistakes NOW may become such common usage to the degree that they will become the accepted part of the language in the future. Think about how English words in the 16th, 17th century etc. were spelt compared with now. (A lot of them had an 'e' on the end, like 'earle', 'marche', 'booke' etc. Good thing they never applied that rule to the word 'pub'..... ;-) :))
 
akwarose

akwarose

Active Member
i'm like that. it really annoys me - they've just put in a new height sign on the cycle monorail at work and it says: gully mouse says check your height! except it actually reads:


gully mouse say's check you're height!

it drives me mental coz i see it every time i'm on that ride now! i'm quite good at spelling. not so good with punctuation, but then they never really put that much of an emphasis on it at school until i hit year 11 (when we had a really crazy teacher who went mental over punctuation mistakes) so i'm still learning on that bit!
 
lynchie

lynchie

Active Member
Unfortunately, he ruined it for himself by forgetting the full stop at the end of his sentence.

:p
 
mikelyons

mikelyons

Supporting Member
Being a teacher means that I usually 'proof-read' things written by other people automatically. I find it amusing when people who are supposedly higher up the ladder of success than I am make a complete balls of something simple. Especially when that something is distributed to a wide audience.

We currently have an assistant head who signed a memo to the entire staff as Rat. (His name is Ray) He couldn't even be bothered to read what he had written before it went out. I find it difficult to have any respect for someone so stupid and/or careless.

That's not to say I'm perfect :) but then I'm not in his exalted position! (Or on his exalted salary)
 
Nuke

Nuke

Active Member
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 deosn't mttaer inwaht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae.The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm.Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.Amzanig huh? Yaeh and I awlyas thought slpeling was ipmorantt!
 
mikelyons

mikelyons

Supporting Member
I take my hat off to you you scary little elf!

:clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap:
 
Nuke

Nuke

Active Member
I have also explained my avatar now. If it still doesnt make sense i still appologise that its scary and am currently in the process of finding a new one
 
flugelgal

flugelgal

Active Member
Nuke said:
I have also explained my avatar now. If it still doesnt make sense i still appologise that its scary and am currently in the process of finding a new one
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I don't think it's scary at all, looks like a cute little elf from some game or other!

Back on topic, I made a typo in the description of an eBay item recently. I didn't notice until AFTER someone put in a bid, so I'm stuck with it now and I am so embarrassed because I'm (apparently) such a spelling BOC! :oops:
 
lynchie

lynchie

Active Member
flugelgal said:

I don't think it's scary at all, looks like a cute little elf from some game or other!

Back on topic, I made a typo in the description of an eBay item recently. I didn't notice until AFTER someone put in a bid, so I'm stuck with it now and I am so embarrassed because I'm (apparently) such a spelling BOC! :oops:
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Ah, how the mighty have fallen!
 
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