Bees Gain Buzz, but Americans' Spelling Skills Decline

Newhouse News ^ | 5/10/2006 | Vicki Hyman

[rarestia]

In all seriousness, this really is getting out of control. I see signs and emails around the office that show a blatant disregard for proper spelling. Are instead of Our, insure instead of ensure, etc. are so easy to notice contextually that no one should be unable to discern one from the other. Yet many educated adults can't get it straight.

Hell in a handbasket ping!

[Onelifetogive]

Did it run on that long?

I was traversing the sentence uneventfully until I crashed into the "also" disasterously appended to the end.

[bruin66]

REWRITING MASTERPIECES

My favorite opening line:

It was a dark and stormy night.

[VermiciousKnid]

My favorite grammatically incorrect sentence:

"To boldly go where no man has gone before."

Spell/Grammar check has a field day with that one!

Regards,

[VermiciousKnid]

That IS a great opening line! It's a shame nobody ever uses it seriously! LOL

Regards,

[southernnorthcarolina]

"It's a damn poor mind that can only think of one way to spell a word." -- Andrew Jackson

[driftless]

"government run...education system"

Here in Wisconsin over the past twenty years a disproportionate amount of winners of the state spelling bee have been home-schooled kids. I remember a few years ago when some home-schooled girl from Wisconsin won the national spelling bee, they asked a public school teacher from Wisconsin what he thought about it. He was sneeringly dismissive saying that winning the spelling bee proved nothing. I wonder if he would have said that had a public school kid won it. I doubt it.

[BnBlFlag]

Except for Homeschoolers and East Indians.

[gipper81]

Here's a related interesting story that is currently being pushed by some about the movie Akeelah and the Bee:

http://www.blogmaverick.com/entry/1234000217073686/


Akeelah and the Bee

http://movies.yahoo.com/shop?d=hv&cf=info&id=1808718529

[jennyp]

I went to a relatively small Catholic school in Detroit. They never participated in spelling bees. I'd always assumed that was because spelling bees were only for public schools, but later in life I realized: no, it was just someone's incomprehensible decision not to join in the fun.

Too bad. I coulda been a contendah!

[TXBubba]

"also" disasterously appended to the end.

I know, I have a tendency to do that also. I'll try not to append so disastrously in the future. ;)

[Onelifetogive]

I know, I have a tendency to do that also. I'll try not to append so disastrously in the future. ;)

I hope you don't think that you're the first person to catch me misspelling something while critiquing someone else.....

[TXBubba]

No. I was just impressed with my ability to catch it, seeing that it is my weak area also.