Spelling and technology

[D&T]

Looking back on the thread I posted on, I find myself to be a terrible speller now. I used to be a spelling bee champion of my grade school three years in a row and have always gotten 100% on my spelling tests and now have a master''s degree, yet, I somehow feel like I''m in grade school again learning how to spell all over again, I hate to blame techology for spell checks and text messaging. Do you find yourself thinking this, or is it just me

? maybe its the constant communication with 4 year olds or something.

 

[April20]

My spelling has taken a nosedive in the last ten years or so. While I don''t fully blame technology for my deteriorating spelling, I do think that having the autocorrect function turned on has handicapped me to some extent. I am definitely worse off now than before email and using a computer to type/communicate most things was the norm.

 

[MichelleCarmen]

My spelling has also gone down hill. When I was in college and working, I HAD to spell correctly, but now with pumping out mass amounts of posts, often I just skip checking dictionary.com and just let the errors slide. If I email my MIL or friends, I proofread, but it''s just general chit-chat on forums that I don''t worry too much about.

It''s funny that one of my friends with a high-paying job spells constantly makes errors, but when at work, she is focued and her communication is impeccable. When she is sending emails to me and other friends, she writes more from-the-heart and the meaning is more important than the spelling

 

[diamondseeker2006]

Oh, I am the same! I used to be a really good speller! But I cannot type well at all! Since I don''t think this forum has spell-check, I am sure I have many errors, both typos and misspelled words. I just don''t worry about it on a forum or in a casual email. But I''d never be careless with a business letter or report.

 

[Sabine]

I actually love that Firefox puts the red line under words spelled incorrectly in posts because I try to be conscious of spelling words correctly. I don''t think technology has made my spelling worse. I believe that most of my errors are actually typos (like typing teh instead of the and being too lazy to fix it) or actually thinking too quickly and typing the completely wrong word or missing a word when I''m going to fast. I also love programs that will autofix my little typos.

 

[swimmer]

Ditto Sabine, firefox makes me think about spelling. My English gets better by typing in it and seeing what I have mistakenly done. I am annoyed when people use the wrong word, or type all crazy misspelled so their meaning is lost. It is so hard to keep up with English, so many words that mean almost the same thing, but a slightly different flavor. Slang changing every day. I will never master it.

 

[Haven]

I''m with Sabine and Swimmer--I think spell-check technology can improve an individual''s spelling if they pay attention to it. Without the technology, you are never made aware of your errors, so it''s likely that you''ll keep on making them.

 

[VRBeauty]

I think technology is partially to blame for the nosedive my spelling has been taking, but not necessarily because of the spellcheck and autofix features. When I get "in the zone"... where my thoughts are going straight from some deep part of my brain to the keyboard without internal editing... I find a lot of words being entered fonetically (

). I''m sorry to say that when I find myself doing that I tend to slow down, rather than just going with it and trusting that I''ll find all of the errors and correct them later.

But them, I do mostly business writing, so the world isn''t losing too much when I put on the breaks

.