Spell A Word...Doing It Right

Let me point out that until the very late 19th century and early 20th, "creative" spelling was quite accepted. So, despite Andrew "Old Hickory" Jackson's presidency and fame, poor spelling wasn't considered a problem.

Hello my friend sukumar794 Ji, Well, I hav emy own understanding on this issue, while our short stay in US in 2003 (six moths), whatever I read in dailyu NEWS paper, children were werak in English and maths. If that was so there, we stand no where, however, same thing goes here with any of our mother tongue Hindi, Urdu, Bengali, Oriya, Tamil, Telgu, Kannad, Marahati etc. etc.. It is well known facty that talikg language does differ than literary, as we are not going to appear for exams. Just watch some old pictures of TEXAS. One may point out many mistakes. Further, English language has been adopting many words from other languages. As they are local, they get mixed up. Just explain, why differenyt pronounciation for 'BUT' and 'PUT' is tehre anything governed tehre by English grammer. May God bless You and have a great time

From the Oxford English dictionary, "A more likely explanation is that the term originated as an abbreviation of orl korrekt , a jokey misspelling of 'all correct' which was current in the US in the 1830s. The oldest written references result from its use as a slogan by the Democratic party during the American Presidential election of 1840. Their candidate, President Martin Van Buren, was nicknamed 'Old Kinderhook' (after his birthplace in New York State), and his supporters formed the 'OK Club'. This undoubtedly helped to popularize the term (though it did not get President Van Buren re-elected). The only other theory with at least a degree of plausibility is that the term originated among Black slaves of West African origin, and represents a word meaning 'all right, yes indeed' in various West African languages. Unfortunately, historical evidence enabling the origin of this expression to be finally and firmly established may be hard to unearth." all the best, urban

Oh the English language! it can be very confusing at times! I learnt English as an adult and I have to say I really enjoy it...and yes by memory retention and association to old Latin words I did understand a lot! so Am I an mnemonics?

We learn to spell as children in school from spelling lists our teachers give us. How is spelling a word correctly, when you are given resources for doing so? No one is ever asked to spell a word he or she has never heard before as a student. After that there are dictionaries. If you want to learn a word in a different language, you should buy books to read and a language dictionary.

It is really important to spell words right; for two main reasons.. One the other person is more likely to understand what you are saying.. The other reason is it important to spell right is the intergry of your converstation.. Someone is less likely to listen or care about what you are taking about.. There are so many different resources to make sure that your words are spelled right... But yet some do not use them for one reason or other..

I recall reading a book on inventors that featured a section on Samuel Colt..apparently He considered the spelling of words differently each time to be a creative exercise...

Those are interesting statistics. It should not be too hard to learn just 100 words. I almost always look words up in the dictionary if there is any doubt in my mind as to the spelling. I have a horror of making a spelling mistake. Typos are altogether another thing, though.

If we misspell some words I guess we'll be criticized by some people. It's very important for us to spell words properly. That's why at school, our teachers were really that strict in our spellings. I guess we really have to remember how to spell each word correctly. Happy mylotting.

Hi, I really hate to see misspelled words, makes me see them less powerful and appealing. Good thing, I have a built-in word checker that highlights any incorrect spelling and offering alternatives to them. There is really a sense of disharmony among words not spelled right, the thought they convey also tend to lose their sense and purpose.

If English is not our first language, we would indeed always commit misspelling. However, with constant reading where we meet the same difficult word over and over again, the memory retains the correct spelling. Thus, it is just but natural if English is not your first language, to misspell some words, my dear. Besides, with the help of the computer, we are warned if our spelling isn't correct whenever we are writing using the laptop.

Hello. I remember when I was still in grade school, we had this spelling exams everyday. And I am happy that it really build not just my skills in spelling but with my vocubulary also. We all taught in English and we should speak English while we are in class..and if we speak in our dialect, we would pay a fine. It's good to know the history with spelling. I did not know about that until you've shared it in here. Happy Mylotting!

I learned new thing about 'OK' from this post. I thought it is just short for 'okay', an adjective for 'satisfactory' or 'acceptable' and a verb for 'to approve' or 'to agree to'.

Hi, you are right. The best way for that matter to train our memory is by means of associations. English is very funny language. There is a confusion about pronunciation. e,g, To and do has same pronunciation but go and so has different pronunciation. So we can remember all the spellings by practicing.

sukumar: Spelling accuracy -- i wont claim 100% perfect. but ok. I will score 90% at least correctly. it can be practised by reading, writing and also by having games with others,. I use to have problem with the following words: entrepreneur perseverance sincerely paradoxical etc. this article may be of use http://ezinearticles.com/?The-Most-Common-Spelling-Problems-in-English&id=5461957

Well, I agree with you in all that you said. Modesty aside, I can spell commonly used english words well, the simple ones I guess.

Thanks a ton for sharing the discussion. Yes u are absolutely right, most of the English words are confusing and it is pretty much annoying when u are typing a word and it shows some error or spelling mistake. I can understand that it is nearly impossible to master the spelling of each and every English word but then we can avoid this to some extent by the help of association that u have just mentioned above and that will avoid confusion and goof ups. What say?

One of those 100 words has to be accommodation. The problem being to remember how many c's and how many m's. I remember this by using the association suggestion. For those of you who, like me, hate to spell a word wrongly here is my solution to this word. Accommodation provides two double beds. This way I know that the two difficult letters are there twice. If it is any consolation native English speakers also make frequent errors and the Americans have found their own solution by simply changing the spelling to something more logical.

I think most of the words in English were created accidentally rather than with any particular plan. Language's root is in it's usage rather than planned or designed creation of word. It sounds funny but in many languages it is the same situation.