I am thankful that my spell check is fixed.
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| The old-fashioned spell check my mother used. I still like to look in it sometimes. |
I was enlightened, when I had kids, that spelling was not so automatic for everyone. When Wally was learning to write, we thought he was just writing gibberish. That was until we got a program that read what he had written. And by golly, it was full of words, sentences, and stories. However, my mind that spelled most things correctly couldn't comprehend Wally's way of spelling. He helped me understand that spelling was something that was easy for some and not for others. But it was easy for me.
Jump ahead a few years to when word processing, including spell check, was widely available. Then I no longer had to remember how to spell everything, but I was still pretty good at it. Spell check was mostly catching my typos.
Leap ahead more years and the "use it or lose it" principle was starting work. I got used to spell check spelling for me and I wasn't so good at spelling anymore. I knew that I just had to approximate the word and spell check would take care of the rest.
And now today, I don't know how to spell most complicated words and especially get mixed up with all of the short vowel sounds in words. Is it an e, i, or a that goes in that syllable? I don't always get it right. I have come to depend on spell check for that.
So when a couple of weeks ago, the spell checker on our email program stopped working, I was at a loss. The checker never found any problems, but I knew that wasn't right. I certainly hadn't sent out a weeks worth of emails without one spelling mistake. After some investigation, I figured out that the dictionary had been deleted. I fixed that and I'm back in business again.
So for the fact that the spell checker on my email program is fixed and I don't have to depend on my poor spelling skills, I am thankful.
Note: There is certainly a lot of discussion to be had about the pros and cons of how technology is changing our brains. Specifically in this case, whether or not it's good that spell check has taken away many of our spelling skills or that it has relieved us of spelling hassles so we can concentrate on other parts of communication. But I'll save that for another time.
(And we won't even go into auto correct, the old grammar rules we are losing with texting, etc.)
I've experienced the same thing -- auto-correct has caused my own spelling abilities to decline and I'm caught off-guard when I'm using a program that doesn't have an auto-correct. Then I have to look words up that I once always knew how to spell.
ReplyDeleteAnd I used to be a champion at doing math in my head. As calculators have mostly taken over that job, I'm not very good at that either. Oh well, I hope all of this means, two steps forward and only one step back.
DeleteI often message my mom in Greek using English letters/phonetics, and autocorrect goes wild. We avoid autocorrect when doing this by typing in all caps. That way, the computer thinks it’s an acronym and won’t try to change it.
ReplyDeleteI also loved spelling as a kid. I was in a spelling bee in 8th grade
Sounds like you have your own language with the combination of Greek and English. I'm sure autocorrect goes wild with that. Do you speak Greek?
DeleteOnly about half fluent
DeleteI'm still pretty good at spelling (I won the middle school spelling bee in 8th grade and have the trophy with a bee wearing a diploma to prove it) but my grammar skills are waning. Spelling and grammar always came naturally to me but when I volunteered with kids in elementary school, I was amazed (and humbled) at how much of a struggle it can be for some. It's interesting to me how different brains interpret the same bit of information.
ReplyDeleteAkasha's story is interesting! I never knew that typing in all caps would bypass autocorrect--thanks for that tidbit!
Oops, I meant to say that the bee was holding a diploma and wearing a mortar board. See how important proofreading is???? Hahaha.
ReplyDeleteI've talked about the changing grammar world before here and you may remember how I feel. What I learned as the "right" way is not necessarily what is in use today. And I don't like it. I want the rules that I learned to be the "right" ones. For several years now, I have been noticing things that I thought we "wrong" being used in formal publications. I have no idea what to do many times.
DeleteCongrats on you Spelling Bee win! I was only runner up.
I was thinking that the spelling and grammar geeks have all come together on your website. :)
DeleteI won by a fluke against a very skilled sixth grader (I was in eighth grade) so don't be too impressed. I also won first place in my second-year baton class but that was because there were only 3 or 4 kids in the class and I was the oldest one, not because I have any gracefulness. Sometimes these awards are misleading.
My baton class consisted of practicing with my older sister's baton when she wasn't looking. She was majorette and pretty good. I learned a couple of basic things, but never mastered throwing it up in the air and catching it.
DeleteI was not a good speller when I was first learning English. My first language (Sinhala) is a phonetic language and, while there are some letters that are written differently, but, sound the same, you learned how to spell those words and you were fine. But, English was a whole different kettle of fish! Then, I came over here and had to unlearn some spellings (I had learned British English, growing up) and relearn the American way of spelling! But, I am a pretty good speller, now, although I do have to look up how to spell certain words and I tend to consult an online dictionary, rather than a regular, printed one.
ReplyDeleteGoing from Sinhala to British English to American English sounds hard.
DeleteI use the online dictionary, too. I don't think we have a paper one anymore. I got rid of it when we moved.
I can't imagine trying to learn American English if it isn't your native language. Bless, I never would have guessed that English wasn't your birth language. Thanks to you, I Googled Sinhala and now I'm curious about more of your story. :)
DeleteThank you, Kris. :)
DeleteI should turn on auto spell check, mainly because I can't see that well, unless I go somewhere find my glasses, so I go by what comes out of my brain and my fingers type, without checking really. That's not so smart with auto correct and either my spelling lacks or my fingers slipping to wrong keys.
ReplyDeleteI hate it when my fingers get on the wrong keys and I have to go back and fix everything. I can't do anything without my glasses so I almost always know where they are--on my nose. :)
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