Christine the Lioness (3124)
Christopher the Pyro (1991)
ProphetJoe the Irreverent (1291)
Trouble the Pirate (604)
Keith the Director (573)
Mara the Peacemaker (535)
eric the Lil' Devil (352)
AJ the Zen Master (305)
Ben the Kingpin (214)
Haas the Addict (188)
Christine 2 the Mercenary (131) Lei the Mercenary (124) Katie the Mercenary (115)
Caxamova the Missionary (64)
GeekThug the Groupie commented
I didn?t notice the letters were jumbled up until it read half of the message, and I seemed to read it faster. Then I thought maybe since I am dyslexic, this is the way my brain truly sees things and it switches it around in my twisted brain.
By the way, I dig your site. So I linked it on mine. I live in Riverside too.
Christopher the Pyro got all philosophical
GeekThug,
Checked out your site and linked to you also.. love the video you’ve got playin where did you snag that?
GeekThug the Groupie mentioned
Thanks for the link back. Nothing like a little 951 love.
The videos come from diffent places. If you noticed it plays a random video everytime you refresh or visit the site. So I don’t really know what video your talking about. If its Dave Chappell, it stole it from Comedy Central, if its that Kung Fu stuff, its from Kung Faux. I got a million of um.
Dawn the Virgin quibbed this
From a woman with a degree in English: that’s horrible. And yes, I could read every word.
Christopher the Pyro remarked
lol dawn, I’m not sure what to say other then your comment made me laugh.. I can only imagine what your faced look like reading it.
GeekThug, I especially liked the football player office worker lol
Mere Existence the Virgin pontificated
I had a lot of trouble reading it, because I found it so annoyingly wrong, but once I let go of that to test it out, I had no problem whatsoever. I think I’ll go back to being annoyed now though.
kines the Virgin thought this
I found it to be a relatively interesting discovery, but I doubt one could apply it to everything:
I cnodult bvlieee taht I cloud altclauy udratnnsed waht I was rinadeg in ?The Peamonnhel Peowr of the Hamun Mnid. Androiccg to rareecsh at Cdgbmraie Uiesntrivy, it denso?t mtaetr in waht oedrr the ltetres in a wrod are, the olny ipntaromt tinhg is taht the fsirt and the lsat lteetr be in the rhigt pclae. The rset can be in a tatol mses and you can slitl raed it wuohtit a pbolerm. Tihs is bsuacee the hamun mnid deos not raed eervy lteetr by ilestf, but the wrod as a wlhoe. Aizmang huh? Yaeh and I ayawls toghhut slepnlig was itronapmt.
Christine the Lioness remarked
Thank God for this, or none of us would ever be able to read anything Christopher writes…
A.R. the Virgin commented
Exactly. As long as the first and last letters are correct, the brain can fill in the rest. However, you do have to know the correct spelling in the first place otherwise, there’s no way for your brain to interpret it. So, yes, spelling does matter…
Christine the Lioness chimed in with
Thank you, A.R. I couldn’t have said it better myself! 
Christopher the Pyro asserted
What the fuck.. that kind of goes without saying AR and Christine.. I mean you can’t do algerbra without being able to add and subtract, you can’t walk down the street if your missing your legs… I hope our average reader didn’t need someone to point out that your brain can’t understand the spelling trick if you can’t read in the first place.
Rob the Soldier stated
If you have a dick like mine you can hop down the street with no legs
Janet the Virgin commented
I’ve seen this before, it’s amazing how our brain works.
Vanessa the Virgin spake, and sayeth
It is amazing how the mind works. We will never fully understand all the ways that we view and process things but, i’ll tell you one thing, reading that gives me a headache!
Christine the Lioness got all philosophical
Vanessa… try reading one of Christopher’s emails and you’ll know what a headache is… not only does he spell exactly like that, he skips words altogher, and sometimes substitutes words that have a similar number of syllables for the words he actually intends to write.
John the Groupie asserted
Jeez. I really COULD read it without a problem. That’s almost scary. But not quite.
Isaac the Virgin chimed in with
I’ve seen this a couple of times now and it never gets old. I keep trying to type a whole post with the words all jumbled up, but I get lazy and quit.
Christine the Lioness hunt n' pecked this
If you were Christopher, typing an entire post like that would come naturally.
Helen the Virgin got all philosophical
That is very cool. I wonder why we bother with all the other letters, hey? How interesting.
Peace……….
Jo the Virgin chimed in with
Yeh read it through first time. Amazing, and can you believe that nobody bothered to muck up the letters in any of the comments left here - so deos it rset wtih me to be the jvneulie iodit of the bnuch? Cekriy! I had to rlaely ctnectanroe to tpye taht!!
ZETAZEN the Virgin commented
Hye, I udnretsodo eevry tingh yuo worte. Just couldn’t write it as well….. LOL
jocie the Virgin scribbled
If this is true then editors might find themselves losing their jobs….seriously though, there are still people who tend to nitpick over typos and other grammatical errors.
Christopher the Pyro remarked
Jocie,
Trust me I know they all seem to feel the need to point out when I mispell a word of don’t use grammer correctly.. like that is actually important in this day and age. 
EngLee the Virgin added
Come on, spelling is IMPORTANT!!
Gigotti the Virgin asserted
taht was gerat! It took me utnil lkie the seocnd setnence to raelize waht I was redaing. who nedes seplling?
Paul the Virgin said this
yaeh but it gveis you a hdeahcae (:
Riss the Virgin up'n wrote this
Okay I laughed out loud at the last line. I’d read something similar to the first part before in some e-mail and wasn’t expecting it.
sally the Virgin added
I heard that too! Which two points are more interesting that the brain is remarkable or a lot of people are very thankful for this fact?
Saprkling the Virgin chimed in with
It’s great, but spelling and grammer does matter. English being my second language means I missed some of the longer words, and had to re-read, and yes, it was alot harder to read.
Christopher the Pyro uttered
Just because you were unlucky enough to have to learn an inferior language as your first language does not mean spelling and grammer really matter.
paul the Virgin scribbled
Attention Christopher
Theres no “contact details” page so I had to resort ot using this form.
Please drop me an email I need to have a chat to you thanks
Paul
Christine the Lioness uttered
Don’t do it, Christopher… it’s a trap.
Jodes the Virgin up'n wrote this
Yep - I could read every word.
m the Virgin spake, and sayeth
Seems this form works just fine in IE7
Jay the Groupie spake, and sayeth
The thing you are over looking here is that you can spell in the first place. Todays children are becomming less knowledgable in reading and spelling, and therefore your statistic of 55% is very accurate.
However if you compare that percentage rate to the number of people that are lousy at spelling, you will see that 45% of people are poor spellers and there for do not have the basis for deciphering the correct spellings.
The reason people are able to read the above statement is simple. They have a basis of the correct spelling as well as a correct understanding of grammer, which allows them to decipher the meaning of the words using context as the determining factor.
Jay the Groupie stated
And one more comment.
Have your employer misspell your name and the written dollor amount on your paycheck and then go to the bank it’s drawn on, and see how hard it is to cash it out without matching ID. Then you will under stand the importance of spelling.
So imaging if your boss could not spell ans he gave you this check:
/———————————————————————–\
| ABC Corporation 1234 |
| 1234 any road |
| your town, USA 12345 Fuarebry 22, 2007 |
| |
| Pay to the oder of: Yuor Msislepled Nmae hear $224.00 |
| |
| too hdreund tetwny froe and know won hredudns ——————— |
| |
| ——————————- |
\———————————————————————–/
When the bank refuses to cash your check, your will understand the importance of spelling.
Christine the Lioness remarked
Jay makes two very good points. I gotta hand it to him.
Christopher the Pyro quibbed this
True, spelling is certainly important in some circumstances… however you won’t get your check cashed without an ID so .. I’m not sure if that is a mute point. I also think the idea that kids are spelling worst doesn’t seem to always hold water when it comes to data. I think that we are more AWARE because more people area online and typing and writing but is it really getting worst?
I also agree that it helps to know how to spell when deciphering bad spelling, but that is a manipulation because I wouldn’t be writing something for illiterate people to read and if you can read then you have a basic idea of spelling, so while your right that I couldn’t read misspelled words unless I could spell, I couldn’t spell unless I could read.
Christine the Lioness asserted
Actually, that’s not true. Decoding a word by sounding it out is a different skill than being able to think of a word and then knowing how to spell it. There are certainly people who can read, but can’t write. But there aren’t any people who can write but not read.
Jay the Groupie mentioned
As Christopher stated, “however you won’t get your check cashed without an ID so .. I’m not sure if that is a mute point” It is not a mute point. The fictional check I demonstrated could not be cashed even with problem ID, Including if you name was incorrectly spelled to match the check. The legal amount on a check is does not contain a correctly spelled dollar amount and therefore the check is invalid.
Actually spelling is getting worse regardless of the internet. My child’s school no longer teaches spelling in the fifth grade. When I ask the school why, the response was, “Since most word processors have spell checkers, and the Florida FCAT has no provision for testing spelling, we feel that spelling is of no importance.” I guess that is why my child’s reading level is 5th grade but his spelling is still at the 2nd grade level.
If for relying on a spell checker, I have one thing to say, “Dew knot trussed yore spell chequer two find awl yore miss takes.”
For example, try pronouncing these words, “eihhbbppeooa” or “Cilgnnhlaeg”. Since they are not used in a sentence you have no context as to what the words could be even though the first and last letters are intact. If you are confused imagine someone that can not spell to begin with.
Correct spelling is essential when learning to read. By breaking a word down to its base sounds we are able to learn new words. We use rules for pronunciation of a word. If the word does not follow the rules you can not pronounce it.
Even a word processor uses a set of rules to identify words that do not follow the rules, and then present possible spelling based on the rules of spelling and the context.
And finally, if you are wondering the two words are “Ephebophobia” which is the fear of youth or adolescents and the word “Challenging” which is what reading is to those that can not read.
Christopher the Pyro got all philosophical
Sure am glad Firefox has that built in spell checker..
Gary the Virgin got all philosophical
This is very interesting topic and I really liked they way Jay condemns the base logic of being able to read with just first and last letters. We need context and understand and correct the spellings in our mind. spellings are important, but at the same time I believe lots of people more importance to spelling then it deserve. Most of the time I have seen people over-reacting to spelling errors and giving them more importance then the topic in discussion.
Imagine you spent 4 hours to think of a plan for a practical problem and when you send your plan and waiting for feedback from other, the response you get is “”engine’ is spelled” incorrectly in your email. What is heck! Is pointing out this spelling error here this more important then the actual plan.
As you know 45% people are not good at spelling that does not means they cannot come-up with good ideas and you dump there ideas just because they cannot spell! Yeah, I agree that our school should do a better job in teaching spelling as they are used in every conversation. But at the same time we also need to teach the people who are good at spelling that you should not get annoyed just by looking at a wrong spelling, learn to be calm and pointing out spelling errors will not help you or other person in resolving the actual problem you may be trying to attack.
Christine the Lioness mentioned
I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone who threw out a valid idea because the words used to explain it were spelled wrong. That’s just ridiculous. We all encounter spelling errors all the time… but there is validity to the concept that if you want to be taken seriously, regardless of what you’re writing about, you should take the time to check your spelling. It gives off the impression that you put little time or effort into something if you’re not willing to give it a second glance or run a spell check.
Jay the Groupie spake, and sayeth
Gary bring up a good point that I feel need further expansion. I don’t think its a metter of people putting to much importance on spelling at all. Spelling is very important.
As Christine stated, “There are certainly people who can read, but can’t write. But there aren’t any people who can write but not read.” The problem as I see it is not that people are putting to much importance on spelling, in fact I think we all must put much more importance into spelling. In reference to people pointing out spelling error in a post or document explaining an idea, those people that point of every spelling error are more interested in the words rather than the idea. Everyone makes spelling errors, and I’m no exception, but if someone can not see the idea behind the words, then cut your losses and move onto someone more open minded.
THe important in spelling changes as we grow older and wiser. A child needs to learn to spell to impove his/her ability to read and understand concepts, and expand their knowledge. A college student need good spelling to convery they correctly understand the lessons and concepts they are learning. And the professional career oriented adult needs spelling to show level of competance, and professionalizm. To demonstrate they have thought through an issue, properly analyzed the issue and effectively explain their ideas to people, and some of those people, perhaps their boss, may be the type that judges a person based on spelling rather than ideas.
ProphetJoe the Irreverent mentioned
I love this post! I was an absolutely lousy speller in school, but I’ve worked hard to improve it through the years. We *did* have spell-check back then, but we called the book a dictionary
I work at a major University and I see “official” emails from high ranking academics who don’t know the difference between their/there/they’re or to/two/too. It is rather obvious which emails come directly from the boss and which are sent out by the secretary signing his/her name.
In the last 3 years, I’ve sat on 7 search committees and chaired 6 of them. I routinely see spelling errors on resumes and cover letters for professional positions. It doesn’t mean they won’t get considered, but it usually results in them being put to the back of the stack for consideration.
Unfortunately, the software companies haven’t developed an application to prevent lousy writing yet. And with the popularity of texting, it’s only gotten worse!
alphasapien the Virgin scribbled
just because you are all on the topic of spelling and grammar…….
There where two comments here that mentioned a “mute point” are you trying to describe a point that doesn’t talk, or one that shouldn’t be talked about? Or where you looking for the phrase “Moot point”?
And just for the record you are all spelling cheque as check. in the rest of the english speaking world check means to look where as cheque means the piece of paper that is money. So at some time over there someone got the spelling wrong and it has now become correct spelling. It happens quite often with language language is always evolving, so don’t worry too much about correct spelling as long as you can get your point across. Try and read anything written in english 2000 years ago (is english that old i dont know) and i would bet that you find it very difficult to understand
alphasapien the Virgin commented
,,,,,,,,,,,,………………
Sorry, here are the commas and full stops, that i left out of the last post.
Jay the Groupie added
alphasapien, you are correct. The proper term is “moot point”, and I stand corrected.
As for the spelling of the word “check” vs “cheque”, you are also correct to a degree. Ireland, Britain and all Commonwealth countries do use the spelling is “cheque” or the variant “checque”.
The current modern U.S. spelling of “check” is derived not from the physical document, properly known as a “cheque”, but from the process used to verify the authenticity of the document. “Let me check the signature on this cheque.” In the United States, the proper spelling is “check” as outlined in the Universal Commercial Code governing checking instruments.
As you have pointed out, launguages are constantly evolving. This evolution of language simply underscores the importance of learning to spell correctly. I’m sure that given enough time and use, the would “you” will be replaced with “u’, and “before” will become “b4″ simply as a result of its constant use as a result of text messaging. A perfect example of this is the word “ain’t”. Now I will date myself, but once upon a time the saying was, “ain’t ain’t a word because it ain’t in the dictonary” Well today it is in the dictionary. Granted it is a noted as a colloquialism, in most dictionaries today.
However, the issue is not about getting your point across or how the language will evolve. I’m sure I’m have made my point here several times and have had various spelling issues. The issue is the importance of spelling as it relates to reading, and taking the time to properly express yourself. If the reader must spend his time deciphering someones spelling errors, then his mind in not on the concept being presented in the written word. It is busy trying to make sense of spelling errors.
Granted a concept is a concept and that can not be changed. When you are writing for others to read, it is the writers responsability to get his point across to the reader. Some readers are more apt to accept spelling errors, while other get hung up on them, and others simply don’t know better.
When I write a book, I take the time to check spelling, review concepts and double check research, but for a blog such as this, we all take liberies with the language. I’m sure if you where paying me to write an article on this subject, you would be concerned with spelling. Most people would be concerned with spelling error in something they are paying for. The concept is simple, “Gee I’m spending X number of dollars and the guy can’t get the spelling right!” the same goes for a resume, or a grant paper, or any other important document. The spelling reflects the writers level of education, and time he has taken to write the document.
Jay The Gozerian the Virgin thought this
Peeple hoo spel wrong R stoopid.
Jay the Groupie stated
Obviously someone does not care for you point of view and has used my name in an attempt to discredit my previous statements.
I assure everyone that the comments by “Jay The Gozerian” where not mine. Had I made such a statement it would have been much more in line with the original statment on this blog.
Such as, “Pepole taht selpl ioernclrcty are spuitd” (This at least keeps the statement in line with the original statement that spelling does not matter, as long as the first and last letter are correct.)
Christopher the Pyro pontificated
Don’t worry Jay.. the title keeps you sfae
ProphetJoe the Irreverent asserted
One minor point, Jay: you said “As you have pointed out, launguages (sic) are constantly evolving.“. I’m not at all certain of the factuality of that statement. I believe the proper statement would be “… languages are constantly devolving.”
Christine the Lioness scribbled
Or… revolving. Like a door. Huh?
ProphetJoe the Irreverent added
I meant devolving… Huh??
Christine the Lioness chimed in with
It’s impossible for a language to “devolve.” Devolution is actually a form of evolution where language is concerned because words that aren’t used eventually become obsolete and antiquated.
ProphetJoe the Irreverent mentioned
Umm, why can’t a language devolve?
Evolution is “A gradual process in which something changes into a different and usually more complex or better form.”
Devolve is “To degenerate or deteriorate gradually“.
I simply suggest that the change from before to b4 (or you to u) is not an improvement, but a deterioration of the language; hence devolving.
At the rate we’re progressing going, we’ll be back to a series of grunts in the next 100 generations (if that). Hell, even the parrot has better grammar and spelling than most of the teens texting today….
[SQUAWWWWWKKK]
Trouble the Pirate added
Sorry guys, to evolve is simply to change state. It is not to necessarily for the better…
Languages do in fact ‘devolve’… The end result of the process is what is known as a ‘dead-language’, of which there are a few examples in modern history…
Trouble the Pirate penned this
Damn, PJ, you got in there while I was still typing [slowly]… But you are arguing two different angles… Christine is referring to efficiency, and you to accuracy… She is saying that through the word-weaning process that is intrinsic with language evolvement, the language becomes more ergonomic… You are saying it becomes less true to original concept, and more rudimentary and vulgar… ?
Trouble the Pirate uttered
If so… You are both correct IMO. As Alphasapien and Jay have pointed out, languages are dynamic.
Anything that will survive over a great amount of time is dynamic, it has to be. Language is the greatest discovery humans have made, because its very nature has allowed for every other great discovery. One day language [in whatever form it has taken] will explain the meaning of life and the existence of the universe…
Then we can all go home…
Trouble the Pirate pontificated
Metaphorically speaking, language is the equivalent of the domesticated dog… They [in their various forms] are all descendants of the mighty wolf, they have evolved through direct and indirect human influence to what they are today.
We see our languages as pets. We have differing motivations for keeping our languages. Some of us want our languages to be examples of perfect specimens, we parade it in front of judges, and train it to heel, stay and roll-over on command, in hopes that others will notice our mastery over it, we feel it needs our input to be better, and that it is an accomplishment to have the very ‘pick of the litter’… Others want to dress it up in silly costumes, applying a perceived human element to it, and carrying it around in our purses as just another fashionable accessory… Some need it more than it needs them, they derive a sense of accord when it is around, and require the validation it provides…
The truly enlightened see it as its own entity, a living, feeling animal, with thoughts and instincts of its own, and allow it the freedom to be what it really is, appreciating the very nature in its behavior, and relishing the moments where we can connect with it on a base level…
You have to ask yourself what kind of ‘owner’ you are?
Christine the Lioness mentioned
But doesn’t the process of evolution include, on some level, devolution? Words that are inherently not used become obsolete and replaced by new words, new spellings, etc. While pieces of the language are forgotten, that process in and of itself makes a language more efficient which is the definition of evolution, not devolution.
Some languages do become “dead languages” but that doesn’t mean they devolved. Languages are obliterated for lots of reasons including colonization by other cultures, lack of education, etc.
With regards to PJ’s example of before and b4, etc… is it really a devolution? Don’t you think that people might have thought the same thing about acronyms? ASAP is pronounced “A-sap” my most people. Some could argue that it’s a devolution of a phrase because in time, people may not even know the phrase that the acronym stands for, but they know the meaning. It’s easy to debate that if that were the case, the language hasn’t suffered any.
If English– which is a difficult language due to its many rules and many exceptions to those rules– were to evolve into a completely phonetically spelled language, would that be evolution or devolution? I could argue that it’s evolution because it’s become more efficient in that it’s easier to learn and there would be less misspellings in general. Right?
Christopher the Pyro hunt n' pecked this
For example.. a lot —> alot, or you —> u, or or or or
Trouble the Pirate scribbled
“If so… You are both correct IMO.” ~ I’m not arguing with you this time Christine
You said… “It’s impossible for a language to “devolve.” Devolution is actually a form of evolution where language is concerned because words that aren’t used eventually become obsolete and antiquated.”
I agreed with you in general; I was pointing out that the first sentence was inaccurate, because by dictionary definition of ‘devolution’ it was possible for a language to devolve even into non-existence… Colonization, lack of education, immigration, emigration, pop-culture, etc… All influence the devolution/evolution process. It only depends on your vantage point and attitude whether you see it as improvement or degradation… Evolution still means changing only…
Trouble the Pirate hunt n' pecked this
Take for example systems such as ’short-hand’ and ‘ASL’… One might argue that these are evolved [more efficient, specialized, or ergonomic forms] of conveying the Americanized English language… One day, a person may be able to project an idea accurately and directly into another’s mind, foregoing words or ‘grunts’ altogether… Then will we reminisce about the good old days when people like Ludacris and Miss Teen USA regaled the world-stage with phonetic excellence?
Esperanto and its myriad of counterparts and competitors have attempted to bring the world together by eliminating the ambiguities and translation issues of different languages, but they fail because they attempt to force the process, and go up against the natural evolution/devolution that has been occurring for millenia, and the patriotism to one’s language that most people feel.
Often you find that the people who are most resistant to changes in their language, are the one’s who understand it, and its history the very least…
Trouble the Pirate penned this
I’m chopping up my comments because I’m hoping they will be less boring that way…
There is a part in the movie “Akeelah and the bee”, where Kiki Palmer’s character tells Laurence Fishburn’s character that she didn’t mean to ‘dis’ him, and he tells her that she is only supposed to use words which are found in the dictionary, she then proceeds to look up the word ‘dis’, read out the meaning to him, and then tell him that every year new words get added to the dictionary… He already knew this, he had just gotten caught-up in his own vanity, and forgotten that the language was there before him, and would exist long after he was dust… Regardless of how much of it he was able to conquer in his short time on Earth…
Language is a tool. Like most tools it is a work of art in and of itself, but when we get so caught up in admiring the artwork, that we forget to dirty the tool, then the concept is distorted, and the idea is lost…
Trouble the Pirate commented
…and just so I don’t tangent too far from the original topic… Correct spelling, punctuation, and grammar are the lubricants, and polish that we use on the tool that is language… Neglect to maintain the tool, and it may still do its job for a time… But eventually it will change its form, perhaps becoming rusty or even seized… When it may no longer be useful… At that point one can always buy a new one…
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Therese the Virgin thought this
i am only 10 years old. i have no idea wat ur talkin bout
hehehehhee the Virgin scribbled
i am only 11 years old!
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