Do you have spelling OCD?

[Car-Guy]

Spell checkers enough said!

[ERD50]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bjorn2bwild 15/15 - I'm sure a harder test would yield different results. Of course the imperfect speller might have other talents, like...politician. Taters anyone?

There's more to the potato/potatoe story than most people know (like so many topics these days - people live by the sound bite):

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_Quayle#.22Potatoe.22

Quote:

"Potatoe" On June 15, 1992, Quayle altered 12-year-old student William Figueroa's correct spelling of "potato" to "potatoe" at the Muñoz Rivera Elementary School spelling bee in Trenton, New Jersey.[19][20] Quayle was widely lambasted for his error. According to The New York Times[21] and Quayle's memoirs, he was relying on cards provided by the school, which Quayle says included the misspelling. Quayle said he was uncomfortable with the version he gave, but did so because he decided to trust the school's incorrect written materials instead of his own judgment.

I had also read that he thought it would be bad form to try to correct the school, so he just went with what the spelling they provided. While there might be some general correlation between capability and spelling ability, I'm sure there are very many very capable people who are poor spellers. Dan Quayle may or may not be one of them

-ERD50

[ERD50]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Car-Guy Spell checkers enough said!

imoldernu posted this a while back:

Quote:

Eye halve a spelling checker It came with my pea sea. It plainly marks four my revue miss steaks eye kin knot sea. Eye strike a quay and type a word and weight for it to say Weather eye yam wrong oar write. It shows me strait a weigh as soon as a mist ache is maid. It nose bee fore two long and eye can put the error rite. Its rare lea ever wrong. Eye have run this poem threw it, I am shore your pleased to no. Its letter perfect awl the way. My checker told me sew.

-ERD50

[Car-Guy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ERD50 imoldernu posted this a while back: -ERD50

[harley]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rosie I got all 15, but in a couple of instances, I chose the correct spelling because the other two looked more wrong.

Yeah, I'm a pretty good speller, but mostly I think it's because I read so much, so I just visually recognize correctly spelled words. However, I've noticed that these days many books have incorrectly used words, I think because they count on spell checkers instead of proof readers. The spelling of the word is correct, but it's the wrong homonym.

Also, in writing this post I used the word recognize, but I used (as I always have) the British spelling with the s instead of the z. The word processor changed it to z, even though in my opinion either should be acceptable. I'm becoming decidedly annoyed by know-it-all computers.

[Gumby]

On a related note - does anyone still use a real paper dictionary? I keep one in my office, and just last week used it to look up an unfamiliar word in The Economist (griot).

[harley]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gumby On a related note - does anyone still use a real paper dictionary? I keep one in my office, and just last week used it to look up an unfamiliar word in The Economist (griot).

As a kid I would look up a word in the dictionary, then end up reading the entire page or two. Good way to learn words, and you don't get that from googling a spelling/definition. I used to do the same thing with encyclopedia entries. I would end up reading multiple pages after I looked up whatever I was after. I sort of miss that from the paper versions.

Having said that, I got rid of my paper dictionary and thesaurus when I cleaned out my cube 10 years ago. I might have one somewhere in a box, but I couldn't find it if I wanted it right now.

[rodi]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rosie I got all 15, but in a couple of instances, I chose the correct spelling because the other two looked more wrong.

This was me, also.

[Jack_Pine]

Can't spell worth a krap and really don't care that much.

[ERD50]

Quote:

Originally Posted by harley As a kid I would look up a word in the dictionary, then end up reading the entire page or two. Good way to learn words, and you don't get that from googling a spelling/definition. I used to do the same thing with encyclopedia entries. I would end up reading multiple pages after I looked up whatever I was after. I sort of miss that from the paper versions. Having said that, I got rid of my paper dictionary and thesaurus when I cleaned out my cube 10 years ago. I might have one somewhere in a box, but I couldn't find it if I wanted it right now.

For me, that seems to be even more of an attraction with on-line sources. If I go to an on-line dictionary, or more likely wiki, or even youtube, there are all the links to related content. For a dictionary, the derivation of the word, synonyms, antonyms. For wiki I might look up an item, and they list the countries that produce that item, so I click on that country, and they mention x,y,z and an hour later I don't even remember where I started.

I used to have a paperback dictionary on my desk, I also haven't seen it in many years.

-ERD50

[braumeister]

I'm one of the dinosaurs that still has two dictionaries on hand. One is the compact edition of the OED (needs a magnifying glass to read) and the other is Webster's Third unabridged. I still enjoy leafing through them, and when I look something up in the OED I thoroughly enjoy all the history and etymology.

[Nemo2]

Quote:

Originally Posted by braumeister etymology.

The study of insects is quite fascinating isn't it?

[nvestysly]

Hmm... I missed two on the test. Had I gone with my first choices on those two I would have been 15/15. Even at 13/15 the test score indicated spelling OCD.

Fun test but most of these words were clearly spelled incorrectly! OOPS - there goes my old-school spelling background.

I always liked the following spelling/grammar phrase:

They're going there in their car.

[ERD50]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nemo2 The study of insects is quite fascinating isn't it?

I'm always afraid I'll make that error, hence I tend to avoid it, and use terms like:

'the derivation of the word'

I may not be educated enough to remember the proper use of entomology versus etymology, but I'm smart enough to know I don't know!


Hmmm, 'ent' sounds like 'ant' - maybe I can remember it going forward!

-ERD50

[38Chevy454]

15/15, but it could have been harder. In school as a kid, spelling correctly was taught as important. Most of my spelling errors now are because of my bad typing, not because of my knowledge for the correct spelling of a word. Spell-checker does help catch mistyped words, assuming the mistype is not another real word. As imoldernu's paragraph states.

[Jack_Pine]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Car-Guy Spell checkers enough said!

NO doubt. I know I have really messed up when it comes up with no choices.....................

[Walt34]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gumby On a related note - does anyone still use a real paper dictionary? I keep one in my office, and just last week used it to look up an unfamiliar word in The Economist (griot).

I have one on the bookshelf here but rarely use it. If I'm sitting at the keyboard it's just faster & easier to search on the word rather than go through the rigors of getting up out the chair, taking a step to the bookcase, opening the dictionary and looking it up.

[Lsbcal]

Proud owner of 12/15 for this test. Wouldn't want to be too perfect.

[pullmyfinger]

15/15. I had high hopes that my excellent spelling would take me far in life.....

[Gumby]

Quote:

Originally Posted by harley As a kid I would look up a word in the dictionary, then end up reading the entire page or two. Good way to learn words, and you don't get that from googling a spelling/definition. I used to do the same thing with encyclopedia entries. I would end up reading multiple pages after I looked up whatever I was after. I sort of miss that from the paper versions.

A man after my own heart. When I was a kid, my brother and I fished an old set of Funk & Wagnalls encyclopedias out of the dumpster. I spent hours and hours reading them.