Spelling? You 'herd' it here first
Thursday, March 07, 2013 2:56 AM
"I have had an aversion to good spelling for sixty years and more, merely for the reason that when I was a boy there was not a thing I could do creditably except spell according to the book. It was a poor and mean distinction and I early learned to disenjoy it. I suppose that this is because the ability to spell correctly is a talent, not an acquirement."
-- Mark Twain
Twain's "aversion to good spelling" aside, we think spelling does matter, and to more than just teachers and newspaper editors. What you write, how you write it and how you spell say a lot about you -- sometimes as much as what you're trying to communicate.
Misspell a word and the consequences can range from humorous to embarrassing. The Journal over the years (as we've noted previously) has written about a "wench" used to pull a vehicle from a ditch, and a man who was accused of "wreckless" driving.
There have been, to the consternation and amusement of our readers, many more. Not long ago, we had a story where a reporter wrote "herd" when he meant "heard."
Most of us are not good spellers. That fact remained largely hidden until we were exposed by our use of smartphones and the Internet. Suddenly, everyone could join the conversation, conversaytion, or even the converrsashun.
However, not only could most people figure out what others were trying to say, but we'd guess that very few knew or cared if someone's writing was pockmarked with misspellings.
The irony is that with spellcheck on computers, it's never been easier to spell words correctly.
In some places proper spelling still matters -- job applications and rÃ©sumÃ©s come to mind. That's why we continue to sponsor the Salina Journal Spelling Bee and were thrilled that Salina fifth-grader Gracie Schroeder won that contest and the regional bee and is now heading to nationals.
Her sisters Hannah, Abigail and Isabel all have done well at spelling bees. Their mother, Shelley, said the girls naturally seem to be good spellers, which speaks to Twain's contention that good spellers are born, not made.
For the rest of us, there's studying ... and spellcheck.
-- Ben Wearing