Spelling-bee protesters 'thru with through'

Seattle Times ^ | June 3, 2004

[Arthur Wildfire! March]

With spell-check and increasing use of keyboards and computers, this issue is moot.

[Straight Vermonter]

Based on the evidence on FR it's not just the tough ones like "phyllotaxy," "triboluminescence," "ziphioid" and "dacquoise" that people have trouble with.

[Begin]

This is very series.

[MegaSilver]

No thanks.

[cyborg]

hehehehe

[DustyMoment]

With spell-check and increasing use of keyboards and computers, this issue is moot.

Actually, it's not. There are still too many words that sound alike but have very distinctly different meanings; wood and would are prime examples. Which word wood you use?

Spell-check can't distinguish proper usage; it only knows whether a word is spelled correctly or not.

[DustyMoment]

Two important things strike me about this article - 1) it is San Francisco, which should say quite a bit about the topic, in general; 2) this is the reward for the NEA's failed program of "creative" spelling that they pushed many years ago in which they ignored incorrect spelling in hopes of encouraging more students to read and write. All they achieved was a group of morons protesting the national spelling bee.

[LibWhacker]

I guarantee you these folks are democrats. They just aren't happy unless they are on the attack against every aspect of our lives. Or am I reading too much into this?

[KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle]

Carrying signs reading "I'm thru with through," "Spelling shuud be lojical," and "Spell different difrent," the protesters drew chuckles from bee contestants.

The genuinely tragic aspect of all this, however: those weren't intentional misspellings, on the parts of said protesters. :)

[elmer fudd]

Somehow I don't think it's the fault of the written English language that people are illiterate, but rather poor education. Japan has had close to a 100% literacy rate for decades now and look at their written language. It's much more dificult than English. If our schools were schools and not pathetic daycare and indoctrination centers then illiteracy wouldn't be a problem.

[the_Watchman]

Freepers, notice the tone of this article? The protesters are the story. The spelling bee contestants, who put in far more effort than the idiots with the signs, barely get mentioned.

In other words, come out counter-culture (or anti-Bush) and get all the newsprint you want.

[JoeSixPack1]

Eyes wantsa my krayons and knowkabody kan deeenIe mee kawz iman edjewkated usa poisin hue paaaz taxez Nd haz riitz!

[xJones]

The protesters' complaints: English spelling is illogical

Somewhere subterranean, George Bernard Shaw must be cheering. That was one of his many favorite causes.

Of course the spelling is often illogical because the English language keeps evolving, borrowing words from other languages and making it's own rules as it goes. The purist French, for example, can eat their hearts out, English is THE international language, clumsy as it may be.

[Fresh Wind]

u b whack

[wolficatZ]

Spelling bees claim two in Brazil
Sydney Morning Herald, Australia - May 3, 2004
... people who were hiking Sunday in the Serra Do Caraca state park about 600km west of Rio de Janeiro when they were attacked by a swarm of bees, said Sergeant ...

Spelling bees attack hikers
News24, South Africa - May 3, 2004
... a group of nine people who were hiking on Sunday in the Serra Do Caraca state park about 600km west of Rio de Janeiro when they were attacked by a swarm of bees ...

 

This IS very series

[The Raven]

[GOPyouth]

For realz....and very hugh.

[Ronin]

Not to me it isn't.

[WKB]

Actually, it's not. There are still too many words that sound alike but have very distinctly different meanings; wood and would are prime examples. Which word wood you use?
Spell-check can't distinguish proper usage; it only knows whether a word is spelled correctly or not.



And then you click on the wrong choyce and still end up looking like a dunce.