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MistressNoName -> RE: General Internet Question (12/23/2007 1:17:32 PM)
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quote:
ORIGINAL: slavekal
I love Seinfeld. I do understand shorthand and informal speech and writing. I use them myself. I'm gonna do it now. But when people just make up a semi phonetic spelling for a word they know they don't know how to spell, it makes me nuts. If you are unsure, just look it up. Takes about two seconds.
Well, slavekal, again. Good point. However there is still a practical difficulty in what you are suggesting. If you're not sure of the spelling of a word, sometimes trying to look it up in the dictionary is of no use, esp. if it's a word you really have no idea how to begin to spell or the way you think it should be spelled is completely wrong. And that happens a lot with English. Case-in-point: phenomenon...why doesn't it begin with "f"? I can honestly see an instance where someone uses the word but has no clue where to begin to look for it's proper spelling. The other issue is sometimes, esp. with some younger people or people with poorer language arts educations, they sometimes have not heard or learned the correct pronounciations of words and therefore, have nowhere to go in terms of trying to sound words out - again making looking stuff up in the dictionary an exercise in pure frustration. Now here's an example of that - and this is a true story: I knew a woman who actually had a college degree who used the word "phantom" when she actually meant "fathom." And here was an otherwise well-educated, professional woman, well-versed in the issues of the day and respected in her field. Now if someone writes something that is not even close to an English word, most spell-checkers will pick that up. The one we use here on CM message boards is a pretty good one, for example. But again, if the proper English word is just used improperly, and they just are not aware say because of some learning disability or deficit they may have, what are you gonna do?
I've come across this issue with several subs I've been in contact with and I always have to make a judgment call as to whether or not to make a big deal about it. Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't. And btw, there is at least one word misspelled in this post and durned if I feel like looking it up. Which is another issue. Sometimes it truly does not matter if the word is misspelled here or there on a public message board...However, if I were writing a paper for a class or a report for work, you're durn-tootin' I would check and re-check. But that's me.
MNN
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