Attention: Good spelling is not that important
If you’re a writer, you might be gripping the edge of your desk in anger, thinking I finally cracked. Or, maybe you’re checking the news to see if hell has finally froze over. After all, it’s not every day that a blog about literature and writing blatantly says that spelling is not important – right in the title!
You can take a deep breath and relax because I think good spelling is important in any piece of writing. However, if you’re spending a large amount of time looking up large words in the dictionary while writing a rough draft for that new short story, you’re probably not making good use of valuable writing time.
My point is that there is a time to worry about good spelling, and a time when spelling things correctly doesn’t make much of a difference. I’ve seen a lot of people get this seemingly simple concept mixed up. As I dive deeper into the web and read more online content, I’m pretty disheartened to see many simple spelling mistakes that even Spellcheck can find if one takes the time to use it properly. These mistakes aren’t just on amateur blogs, but also on large corporate-owned websites.
However, just as bad as these simple spelling mistakes are, I also equally hate when people flame and challenge the intelligence of others who make spelling mistakes. I see this a lot on forums, blogs and other places where large groups of people congregate to write their thoughts. I’ll say this once: ability to spell well has little to do with actual intelligence! This tactic is usually used to attack the person, rather than the issue being discussed. It is commonly referred to as an ad hominem attack (roughly translated: against the man).
Bad spelling has more to do with laziness than anything else. But on a more practical level; mistakes happen. I’ve read countless books with spelling errors in them. I see mistakes in newspapers and magazines as well. I hate to use the old "We are all human and we all make mistakes" line, but it seems particularly true here. As long as humans write, and as long as humans proofread other humans writing, mistakes will be made. It’s that simple!
I’m not sure if the ability to spell well is a natural skill that one is born with, or just the result of paying attention and knowing how to use a dictionary when the situation merits it. I’ve mentioned in a previous posts that I’ve known some very smart people who couldn’t spell if their life depended on it. I’m talking about PhD students in English Literature.
What sets them apart? They know when to use a dictionary. They know that during a rough draft, spelling isn’t the most important issue one should be concentrating on. But when the final draft of an essay or thesis is ready to be handed in, you can bet these PhD students haven’t overlooked anything.
This might seem like obvious advice, though you’d be surprised at how many people don’t follow it: Use your resources! Keep a dictionary on your desk. Use one of the many dictionary/thesaurus websites out there. And most importantly, if you’re submitting an essay for school or that finished novel to a publisher, have a second pair of eyes read it (a third and fourth pair of eyes wouldn’t hurt).
Being a bad speller doesn’t mean your unintelligent, it just means you’re too lazy to look the word up. As a side note, I kinda enjoy looking up words. Maybe it’s the nerdish part of me speaking, but aside from the proper spelling, I also like
to read the definitions of words I think I know. You’d be surprised at how some definitions are a lot different than what you thought. But word definitions are a different topic for a different day!
Are you a naturally good speller (ie. A human dictionary)? Do you think bad spelling is a result of laziness, or maybe the result of an absent spelling gene? Leave a comment below, and remember, if you misspell a word, we’ll all laugh at you!
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- The importance of drafts
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