More than a few times over the years, I’ve filled this space with “Facebook Fails” or “Autocorrect Accidents,” a collection of unfortunate misspellings. These word mishaps are caused by technology, confusion, a lack of spelling smarts, or all of the above.
I have earned a reputation in my workplace as a stickler when it comes to spelling.
As one of my colleagues boasted to me in an e-mail a few years ago, “I spelled everything right in my story today. I’m telling you because I herd you could be a pain in the butt about spelling.” Well, you “herd” right!
The funniest ones are those in which an extra letter, or a few missing letters can change the entire meaning. For instance, I have to laugh when restaurants ask us to “try our bottomless salad bowels,” or when a church bulletin includes an invitation to choir practice “to all who enjoy sinning.” (I wonder if they had a good turnout that night?)
These spelling mishaps are good for a cheap laugh, and I’ve proven I’m not above that. But it begs a serious question: Does spelling even matter anymore?
The fact that you are reading a newspaper tells me your answer is most likely, “Of course it does! I took pride in my education! When I was in school, Mrs. Wigglesworth DRILLED the basics into us. We couldn’t pass from fifth grade to sixth without learning the foundations of proper spelling, reading, and writing. Why aren’t they teaching that these days?”
Let me assure you, those basics are still being taught. It’s not exactly like we learned them in the horse and buggy days, but they’re still a part of the curriculum.
So why are we seeing so many embarrassing mistakes on social media, on signs, and even on the news? A recent newspaper headline asked, “Is Your Child’s School To Easy?”
The next day, I saw an elected official on TV. He was complaining about the proposed budget for the next “physical” year.
And if you’re telling me about a “tale as old as time,” please do not spell it “tail.” It never ends, does it?
So I’ve been talking to veteran teachers about the kids they’ve been teaching and promoting in recent years. I said, “We had to learn your, you’re, there, their, and they’re. What happened to all of those lessons?”
One educator said when he was growing up, his “out of school” reading material consisted of the newspaper and a couple of news magazines. He said, “Good writing was ingrained in me. It’s what I saw every day.” Now, he says, kids are overwhelmed by social media sites, many of which use slang words. He says some teens read very little outside each other’s texts and posts, which are often filled with grammatical errors. “They have their own language,” he said, “and they truly believe words should be spelled like they sound. They know the difference between ‘ketchup’ and ‘catchup’ but, as far as they’re concerned, either one is correct.”
A teacher who is also the mom of a sixth grader told me, “With so much pressure on meeting the necessary benchmarks and getting ready for the dreaded state test, spelling is just not a priority anymore. I have high school students who can’t read. Capitalizing the beginning of a sentence isn’t important to them. Some teachers just overlook it. It’s frustrating.”
In ninth grade, students once analyzed “Romeo and Juliet” and “The Odyssey.” One high school English teacher said such assignments are increasingly out of her students’ grasp.
She added, “Laziness is a big contributor. Students just want to complete their work quickly, so they can just sit there and do nothing for the rest of class.”
She concluded, “I’m not really sure when the collapse of good spelling, capitalization, and punctuation began, but it is a massive problem with this generation. It is truly bewildering that I have to cover elementary level grammar standards with so many ninth grade students.”
Teachers are trying, but they need help. If parents emphasize good reading and writing habits at home, it builds a good foundation. But if they don’t, their kids may never “ketchup.”
