Education/Spelling Rant

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Just seen this news item on the BBC website:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7546975.stm

Apparently bad spelling shouldn't be corrected but should be accepted into main stream. Quote follows:

I’m concerned about the fact that it sounds like a case of “Well, if we can’t educate them properly, let’s just say anything goes. Let’s change the goalposts!”

This is not the way to educate, surely. This is bl**dy ridiculous.

What next?

Or shoud that be: Wot nex!

Sorry, this is something I feel very strongly about, rant over.

Saying all this so rapidly in rant mode, I'll probably find that I've spelt something incorrectly!

 

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I agree with you. This sounds like the contemporary politicly correct BS that has already gone way to far in many areas. While language has to move with the times, the basics have been in existence for a very long timer and should be respected. If teachers can't get kids to spell English words properly, maybe they should have some more training. If text speak and lazy spelling becomes any more mainstream than it already is we may as well forget bothering to educate our children in the worlds primary language, English...

 

its not ridiculous, its simply how languages evolve, or do you propose i go through your post and complain about everything that's not spelt the same way it was a thousand years ago?

i don't think mistakes should just be accepted, i don't agree with just passing over mistakes but perhaps common alternate spellings should just be added to the dictionary and thus they will no longer be considered mistakes, personally I'm not sure having multiple spellings for the same words with the same meanings makes that much sense, but i've spent 10 years managing both US and UK spellings of words fine

 

I agree with you regarding the evolution of language 100%, if not we'd still have connexion/connection and a multitude of other inconsistencies.

My concern is with educators changing things because of mistakes. I mean if people found mathematics difficult they wouldn’t say “Let’s make 1 + 1 = 3” (Not an appropriate analogy I know.)

Any way it’s my problem and I’ll deal with it.

Sorry for blowing up.

 

I'm really not in the correct mood for this so I'm going to keep queit.

K.

 

Are we talking about how languages naturally develop over time, or are we talking about being lazy and not wanting to adequately correct spelling errors? *If* there is a single, common spelling for a word that differs from the traditional spelling, I can see it as a developmental step relative to that word. If the word is just hard to spell and can be misspelled half a dozen different ways ("Caribbean" and "Mediterranean" make me nuts, but there's only one correct way to spell each word), why "agree" to accept half a dozen different spellings, just because a person doesn't want to look up the correct spelling (and yes, I had to look up those two words...I *always* have to look them up)?

What about words like "theater" and "theatre"? At least in the US, they are both considered correct (although my spell checker in Firefox is having a fit over the former). It's an example of a word where we *do* accept more than one correct spelling and are OK with it.

I don't have an ultimate answer. I remember when "ain't" made it into the dictionary (and my Firefox spell checker *isn't* objecting to that word), but even now, it's not really considered "proper speech", unless it's part of a Jeff Foxworthy "You might be a redneck" joke.

I write for a living and language still gives me a pain in the neck sometimes.

 

Something that often makes me laugh is that people will pounce on US spellings and call them wrong, when it is simply a case that they changed (or didn't change actually) whilst UK English went down a different route of development. When in the UK it is correct to use UK spellings and when in the US you should adapt. Both are correct, but you often have to use personal judgement (or judgment if you prefer).

We need to remember that languages are spoken, and what we have on the page your are reading at the moment is a standard representation of that spoken language. Punctuation developed as a method of showing how speech was regulated, breathing patterns, intonations.

I am more than happy to see the written language change and grow due to language changing in general, but become annoyed when it is through laziness or sheer anarchy of language (people intentionally changing language as a form of breaking the status quo of the existing lexicon for their own purpose - in this group I include those overly fond of |_337 speak when they are obviously not involved in those groups, marketing gurus who insist that there is no such thing as capitalisation or punctuation, and last but not least... journalists who think they are above it all and want others to conform to what they think and how they choose to frame language)!