overyourhead

Reissue: Spelling be...

Is spelling important? I mean in the scheme of things. Is it really important?

The reason why I ask is because a) I hold my hands up and am the first to admit I'm rather bad at spelling myself and, b) certain people delight at pointing out my (and others') errors. They claim it provides essential clarity whereas I suspect it's smug oneupmanship. My evidence is that my bad spelling seems to bother them much more than it bothers me. Just why is that? Should I care more?

It's interesting that over the past few years my spelling has actually got a lot worse than it used to be. Spell-checker aside, I used to be rather good at it but these days I just can't give a toss. I tend to rattle off text at great speed (80 words a minute / 40 of them mistyped!) making many typos which more often than not aren't actual spelling mistakes in themselves. I simply hit a neighbouring key on the keyboard in my hurry to get my thoughts down on the screen and don't bother to watch what appears. I tend to shove my fingers in the general direction of the right key and hope for the best. Mavis Beacon be damned.

Now all this wouldn't matter too much if I actually proofread my work and corrected what I knew to be incorrect. The problem is I don't. If a spell-checker cares to pick it up fine, if not then I certainly can't be bothered to check it manually. Funnily enough I'm actually quite good at proofreading when I can be bothered. I generally know a spelling mistake when I see it - I actually used to do it as part of my job many moons ago. But I just don't think it matters anymore. Spelling just isn't important these days. Discuss.