Spelling Bee should have been compulsory

[Ontheedgeofit]

Just a little light hearted post to seek out fellow spelling nerds…

I have been scrolling through a second hand clothing / preloved items app and the number of times somebody has explained that an item has sequence and not sequins is mind blowing.

Such a lovely blue sequenced dress…. 😳🤣

Any other favourites?

PS I’ve had to double check my own post for any faults of my own 😂😂😂 but besides for my iPhone auto correcting favourites to favorites, I think I’m safe!

I used to think I was superior because I found spelling easy.

But DD is very bright and very dyslexic and I have realised how grotesque it is to look down on people because they struggle with spelling. Her vocabulary is amazing, her understanding of the world and her drive is amazing. And she feels so embarrassed as she knows she will be judged on her spellings

Isn't a spelling bee a thing where kids have to stand up in front of everyone and spell words? Sounds like a good way to humiliate kids who struggle with spelling, children who are dyslexic for example.
Teaching spelling - fine (I think it is taught in most schools anyway)
Compulsory public humiliation, not so much.

Yes I’ve noticed that a lot lately too. Yourself and myself used instead of just you and me.

Luckily success overshadows any shortcoming in spelling ability unless her future career actually requires spelling. My DH is very successful and cannot spell very well. When I read our work group chats I just shake my head. Think rite instead of right or write. He does ok and given just about everyone’s spelling is questionable these days, no one should judge her too harshly.

It's the never-ending race to the bottom with our current education system. Everybody is brilliant, everybody is top of the class, no issue should ever be addressed or that would be "shaming" a struggling child, his parents, and their ancestors.

Then you end up with people absolutely flabbergasted they didn't get a job because it could not occur to them that not only a minimum is required, but mainly you need to be the best to get it.

Oh my god! The idea of a compulsory spelling bee terrifies me. I genuinely have chills at the thought of it. Flash back to year 1 spelling tests, the highest I ever got was 4/10, and my grandad was so proud he took me for a carvery dinner! When I used to do the order for the pub I worked at, the delivery guy would always comment on how he knew Cat had done the order because it was spelled wrong. I truly am in awe of people who can spell.

Abit and alot. Why?

It is a skill!

My post is genuinely light-hearted (don’t forget the hyphen!) and I really don’t believe that any child should be subjected to any sort of humiliation in front of a group of people. But I do believe that schools should focus a bit more on these sort of things before it’s a skill lost in a sea of slang and made up words.

Ps now I’m wondering if the hyphen a PP referred to in my initial post is for pre-loved or light-hearted? Someone enlighten me and let me learn!

The English language doesn't alway make this easy!

"Bureaucracy" always used to give me problems, and words like "diarrhoea" and "rhythm" look like they were put together from throwing darts at an optician's wall chart.

@Ontheedgeofit Very true. Schools should definitely focus on it more. I remember I was impressed on my first date with DH because he could spell “arachnid”.

And the American spelling also causes confusion.

I am not in the UK so the confusion here is even worse and the more American words are infiltrating our language (via iPhone autocorrect for example) and so now we have two spellings both potentially correct.

favorite vs favourite
color vs colour

I really don’t believe that any child should be subjected to any sort of humiliation in front of a group of people

why does everything has to be reduced to be "humiliating"? It's a life skill. Sometimes you are not the best, either you need to try harder or you concentrate on something else.

Can you imagine if every sportsperson threw a tantrum everytime they are "humiliated' because they didn't win a race? That would be the end of sport.

The lack of resilience for completely non-embarrassing and random even is depressing.

I’m just being kind. I love winning!

And it would only be fair if it was an actual competition. I don’t think schools teach spelling like they used to or value it as much so to put all kids up on stage would be very unfair. If it was something that was taught and necessary to test then by all means let’s do it!

Aw sequinces annoy me.
But so does "Anyone got a set of draws they're giving away ?"

I once, drunk, made a comment about sequinces on a FB selling post. It did not go down well.

It’s not really about spelling, is it. (I also have always found spelling easy but have a son who just can’t seem to do it, despite reading a lot and being able to get 10/10 on spelling tests!) It’s mixing up similar words or ising words that have been misheard/not seen written down (or only seen written down on e.g. social media rather than in books, etc.).

Some others I’ve read on here quite often:
It was defiantly (definitely) the red one she wanted.
I just needed some restbite (respite) from them.
We love all of them accept (except) the pink ones.
I couldn’t be bothered to cue (queue) up for the coffee machine.

You’re correct! Sophie invited ‘me’ for tea. Sophie invited me and my friend for tea.

Only now everyone seems to write myself and yourself, which I hate and makes no sense.

My husband asked me to spell queue for him a while back and he just looked at me like I was crazy
…. Why?!?

Yes, feeling superior because you had better access to eduction and a family who were able to help you with it, or didn’t have to cope with dyslexia is a bit of a weird flex.

I think it comes down to how much you read really.

I've always been an absolutely massive reader. I'll generally get through a book a week, and that's down from probably two a week when I was a kid.

DP on the other hand just does not read for pleasure. She's not dyslexic or anything, she doesn't struggle to read at all, she just doesn't enjoy it and would rather spend her free time making something clever with her hands instead. She does however listen to a lot of podcasts, audio plays etc,

As a result, she's just got far less exposure to the written word, whereas I have far less exposure to the spoken word. She regularly has to ask me how to spell something, whereas I'm far more likely to require help with the pronunciation of something.

To give an example from last week. I mentioned something that had happened in Arkansas, and she promptly fell around laughing at my pronunciation, asking why on earth I was sticking an s on the end of it. I googled it and pointed out the ruddy great s on the end of it. She of course was right about the pronunciation, but had no idea how it was spelt, whereas I was the other way round.

Absolutely! I've had to write for an American audience for my work so much lately, its made my British spelling worse. Differences like defence vs defense keep tripping me up.

It is strange isn’t it. I think there are a number of people (particularly here on MN where the communication is the written word) will see a post with poor spelling or grammar and will either make an assumption on the social class of the person or that English isn’t their first language and they are therefore an immigrant.

I’m not sure using sequence instead of sequin can be put down to either dyslexia or English being a second language especially if sequence has been spelt correctly. But I’m no expert so I stand to be corrected.

Yes good point!

I avoid saying a word if I am absolutely not sure! I can understand a little of our other languages here but I am not confident enough to actually speak them as I’m sure I would absolutely murder them.

I actually just wrote in a previous post… In my defence and then deleted it because I was not sure.

We used to have spelling tests at primary school many years ago but they were written, i.e. the teacher would say 'spell favourite' and you'd write it down. No humiliation involved.
It would usually be 10 words, written on paper, collected and then marked. If you got some wrong you'd be tested on those ones again.
But I was an avid reader as a child and started reading adult books quite young, (eg Neville Shute) which definitely helped with spelling.

People misuse pronouns in all sorts of strange ways. I think it's because English has so few inflections and nouns don't have different cases, they don't have an understanding of the way that pronouns work.

I: nominative
Me: accusative
Myself: reflexive

"Myself" is used in all kinds of inappropriate places because "it sounds better" (according to my old boss). I once refused to send a letter out over my name because he insisted that I use "myself" rather than "me" ("Please contact myself"). The only time it's appropriate is when talking about one person/thing acting upon itself. (I wash myself. You embarrassed yourself. He got himself out of a tight spot).

The number of posts on here that start "Myself and my partner..."