For crying out loud, if we learn nothing else, let’s learn to spell.
Newspapers, magazines, even television commercials, are all fraught with misspellings. It’s about to put me over the edge.
When we were in a position to hire new employees, I gave a spelling test. I wasn’t going to trust people to write marketing plans, conference reports, correspondence to clients, and be unable to communicate intelligently.
If they didn’t pass the spelling test they didn’t get the job. Seemed harsh to some but not to me.
There are simple rules and we should not be too lazy to learn them.
There means put it over there.
Their means it belongs to them, it’s theirs.
You’re means you are. Your does not mean you are so let’s stop using it to indicate that.
There’s a Merriam-Webster spelling bee website that we should all be visiting now and then, if for nothing else than to brush up.
Check it out: myspellit.com
My spelling words, by the way, were:
Conscientious, conference, intelligence, lactose, alloy, bacteria, simonize, convenience, altruistic, and replacement. More than one wrong and don’t let the door hit you on the way out.
Tough room.
Thank!!!!! Love this!!
Hilarious! A good friend of mine once wrote an email to me that summed up his frustration about misspelling and misuse of grammar, and I still crack up thinking about it. So true. Thanks for sharing and reminding us all to check our P’s and Q’s! And to dot our I’s and cross our T’s while we’re at it.
Great post, Jo Ann. How about punctuation? Are you familiar with the book “Eats, Shoots & Leaves” … A panda walked into a cafe. He ordered a sandwich, ate it, then pulled out a gun and shot the waiter. ‘Why?’ groaned the injured man. The panda shrugged, tossed him a badly punctuated wildlife manual and walked out. And sure enough, when the waiter consulted the book, he found an explanation. ‘Panda,’ ran the entry for his assailant. ‘Large black and white mammal native to China. Eats, shoots and leaves.’ (Yikes, I’m afraid some of my punctuation in this reply isn’t right, but you get the picture.) BTW, we featured your post on the home page. Thanks!
Thank you Jo Ann! This is my pet peeve as well. When I see a television commercial or read the newspaper and see misspellings, I go nuts. There is absolutely no good excuse for it, none! And don’t get me started on to, two and too! Holy cow! Besides a spelling test, I think people should have to write sentences using a set list of words. I can only imagine what you would get!