Spelling

IT is an age thing I used to spell very well have to think now blame my phone ha ha!!

Relieved to learn I’m not the only one!

I was never great at spelling though good at English and sometimes I have to think more before being sure of a word. I blame Facebook as every day I see wrong spelling and use of words. So often people ask if something or other is aloud . We saw a corker yesterday on a reseaurant site. The poster said they offered something for every pallet .

Nope.

I might have guessed from your username Fountainpen!

The bane of my younger life was the fountain pen.
Once we started to do 'joined up' writing we were given one at school, and I spent the rest of time covered in ink!

Why do American spellings make you cringe Grandma70s?

One of the reasons Noah Webster simplified American English spelling was to make it closer to pronunciation and thus easier to learn.

He removed superfluous letters (including graphemes), reversed French word endings and effectively reinstated Oxford spelling (z for s).

travelled - traveled
colour - color
paediatric - pediatric
center - center
defence - defense
catalogue - catalog
apologise - apologize

Sounds like a good idea to me.

It was also partly political - to distance the newly independent country from its former colonial masters and to stimulate the American print industry reducing the country's reliance on imported printed matter from Britain.

Antonia. I write with a fountain pen. I find it slows my writing down which makes it neater.

Thanks for this post - thought it was just me! I do think it is a bit of a lack of confidence thing. I used to check with my DH quite often as he was a "words" man (crossword fanatic) but now when on my Chromebook I have a tab open at the top to check when I'm not sure of a spelling.

Yes! alwats checking spellings..was never great but feel like I have lost confidence!

I do think we are in danger of losing the richness of our language, and this is the fault of social media. Words are abbreviated, acronyms abound and predictive text takes over until messages become almost indecipherable. ( To me, anyway). On the plus side, fountain pens are still selling well, so who knows, we may even get back to writing letters one day!

??

* Watermeadow*

If spelling deteriorates with age whatever will happen to those on social media now when they grow old?
Those who want to sell there draws or where out las niht. Someone who text her bestie to say her Alsation was spaded.
Or she had her appendicks out and nearly past away.
In 25 years we’ll be only capable of three-letter words and no punctuation at all.

Love bananagrams, FarNorth!

I admit to double-checking a word before presenting it in a post. I was also a top 3 in spelling, but I suppose it keeps us on our toes which is no bad thing " at our time of life ".

It’s a pity there isn’t an opportunity for OP to edit the title of their thread. There have been a few badly misspelled titles which might be embarrassing to poster if they realise - but they may be completely oblivious.

I’ve always had a few words that I have difficulty spelling, but now with computer to check, it’s easier - especially since I’m a pedant??

Playing Scrabble or Bananagrams can help, I find.

Such a comfort to be in good company. Thought it was just me going to pot.

Yes. I have always been really good at spelling. Since I retired 10 years ago it has gone to pot. I had to be good at spelling really as I worked in an office, typing etc before the days of spell check. My DH is an intelligent man but his spelling has always been appalling. Some of the things he writes down are hilarious and he is forever ruining my crosswords by saying 'I'll finish this for you' and then spelling the words wrongly (is wrongly a word?). I can remember him saying to me once in a shop when he was writing a cheque 'how do you spell thirty?'

I find myself typing the wrong word with the same sound. This morning it was 'through' when it should have been 'threw' I hope I always spot it before sending but it could be I just have polite friends!

Oh the joy of spell checker.

I'm another who sometimes finds I've lost the ability to spell without it.

I've turned off predictive, I find it very annoying.

I think I’m quite good at spelling, but there are a few words I have trouble with. Words ending in -ent or -ant I sometimes find tricky - I have to think about ‘independent’. Similarly -ible and -able can confuse me. I was shocked the other day when I got ‘permissible’ wrong, spelling it ‘permissable’.

American spellings make me cringe!

I was always 100% with my spelling,now I find myself looking at a word and second guessing myself and it seems to happen with everyday words.

Strange thing about numbers, though. For years I have had to look up my library card number and pin every time I want to use it. This entailed finding a piece of paper it was written on. Recently, having lost the piece of paper for a while, I decided to commit it to ‘notes’ on my phone. Since I have, I have not had to look it up once - it jumps into my head!

Spelling has always been one of my strong points; probably because I am an avid reader. Recently, though, words which never used to present a problem are tripping me up. ‘Tomorrow’, for instance. I have sometimes taken to sticking an extra ‘m’ in it where it is not required. Now I have to think about it and it annoys me!