Why and HOW are people so bad at spelling?

Question

I say this with no venom, just kind of an exasperated observation…. but if you suck at spelling, I ain’t mad at ya, just curious, lmao.

But I’m BAFFLED at how poorly people spell. I just wonder how it happens. Written words are around us all day, everyday, yet it seems like more people than not can’t reliably spell the words the say. Depending on what you do that could be a big deal or not a big deal at all, I’m not saying it’s a crippling handicap, but I just wonder how we ended up here.

Some people might say it’s a fallout from the prevalence of autocorrect…. but to me, that’s HELPFUL, because I actually take note of the correction if I misspell something. And I’ve seen bad spellers my whole life, that’s not a new phenomenon, I grew up with kids who could never seem to spell well.

Again, I don’t say this to shame anyone, I’m just genuinely curious. It’s always come very easy to me, I don’t even think about it much, but I wonder if I just have especially high aptitude for it, and others don’t, the same way some people are better at math than me and are probably thinking “what don’t you understand, dumbass?”😂

Just an interesting phenomenon, but I can’t help but notice most people are ATROCIOUS spellers, and a lot of them have supposedly “smart people” jobs. Shit, I have a friend who’s a schoolteacher, and even he can’t spell all that reliably. Is this just a skill we’ve stopped caring about? I suppose at the end of the day it doesn’t matter as long as you communicate your points, but I do notice when it’s wrong, haha

HighValue · Accepted Answer

Using phones and texting quickly is one reason people have poor spelling skills.

Another reason is because in elementary school, regardless of students' actual scores on spelling tests, many teachers give students a 2 or 3 for grades regardless of what they actually earned. On a 20 word test, getting 3 words correct or 10 words correct, they still give them a 2 on the report card. If they get 14 words correct or all 20, they usually give them a 3 on the report card. They use an unfair grading system in many schools now because they don't want to hurt students' feelings for getting too low of a score (they can't fail by the way no matter the score), and they don't want to give the best students a 4 because they think it will negatively affect the lower scoring students emotionally.

We mostly have a pathetic education system now in the USA that is more concerned about feelings than actual ability and hard fork.

I score my students based on what they actually earn, but many teachers and the administration doesn't like it.

Massageman · Accepted Answer

Boy. He can't even spell ALL reliably? That IS bad.

The TEACHING of the actual process of "spelling" has been pushed aside, which is a shame. We are in a society that is more interested that the teachers have written down the names of the students who got their free government lunch or breakfast, than actually teaching something to them. If a teacher is OK with simple phonetic response, then they are not doing their job. Example- tough, though, thought, and knight- - different pronunciation of the "gh" in each. Advertisers aren't a help either. Cirkul water bottles? Come on now. I've added poor spelling as a criteria to know which products I should avoid. That or people just doing a "happy dance". That does NOT tell me the benefits of a product! Explain the benefits, please, and certainly NOT just I'll want to do a happy dance after I've used it. And- while we're on grammar issues, quit using adjectives to modify a verb when an adverb is required.

beebella · Accepted Answer

I can't speak for bad spellers because I'm a fairly decent speller, myself. 😋
But there are still some words that I have to think twice about as I'm spelling them, like "Biscuit."
For some reason, I can never remember if there are supposed to be two "I's" or two "U's" and if it weren't for autocorrect, there's a 50/50 chance that I would've spelled it wrong just now. 😂
And then there are words that seem easy for me to spell, but for whatever reason are hard for other people to spell and I'm like, "How do you NOT know how to spell that?"
Every time I see my mom spell "DeOTERant" I just 🤦‍♀️😂

purplepoppy · Accepted Answer

Phonetic spelling doesn't work in English became its a bastard language and not a phonetic one. The problem is schools tell you to write words as you pronounce them then try and correct you as an afterthought but for some it just doesn't sink in, eg kids don't understand why it's phone and not fone.

I've noticed I can't verbally spell a word, I have to write it down, even if just with an imaginary pen on my hand. I wonder if it's people are physically writing less now and just typing that's the problem.

goaded · Answer

The bigger question is: how do you stop spelling bananana?

I try to spell things correctly, although I do sometimes forget to turn on spell checking, and I've noticed a tendency to misspell publicly publically. The worst thing is I'm doing it in public!

I think I can usually tell the difference between a typo, autocorrect, and a genuine misspelling, just a missing letter, completely the wrong word, or whatever doesn't usually doesn't change the meaning.

I'll also edit sentences and occasionally miss changing the ending of a word.

Many people just don't care, I think, but at least people (the ones I interact with) have stopped using l33tspeak. Which, heaven help us, is accepted by my spell checker! It seems it ignores "words" with digits in them.

Miah04 · Answer

Many reasons.

What kinda education did they have access to when growing up?

Maybe they are rushing when typing and not checking (I'm guilty of this)

Maybe they use slang, or text phonetics.

Like i use slang a lot. And to ensure people know it's slang i spell it how it sounds.

Like i did my joke question and called my pops poppa.

People was like its papa

No it's poppa not papa. To different sounds when say it out it spelled.

I like to do it that way because it gives more of the flavor i bring to the words.

SnackTime · Answer

I'm a very good speller, it's just that my smartphone isn't very smart.

Texting with my mom

Mom: Any plans for the day?

Me: Yes, I'm meeting a girl for lunch.

Mom: You're what?

When I got my car stopped, I read the transcript. My stupid smartphone said: "I'm eating a girl for lunch."

I took that piece of crap back to T-Mobile and told them I needed a phone that was smarter!

SotiCoto · Answer

I'm just as frustrated about it... but I suspect the text-message culture of the turn of the millennium really kicked it off. People started typing in short-hand to save on characters in messages. Then as more witless mundanes started flooding onto the Internet, Twitter just made it worse with its own character limit. People got so used to typing in short-hand and skipping grammar that it became the cultural norm and they started rejecting proper communication as something for special occasions.

loveslongnails · Answer

English is a very difficult language when it comes to most parts of it, including spelling. It's got as many exceptions as rules, and it takes a lot of time and effort to become good at it.

With the onset of computers and phones with spell check programs, it stopped being emphasized in schools. When you add "text speak" to that, you can shorten everything to "pigeon English" on social media and personal communication. I've heard young kids tell me "I don't have to learn to spell. You should know what I mean even if I'm a little off, and not be a bitch about it!"

IslaTheWitch · Answer

as I am not a native speaker, I can only say  I'm sorry ... I'm mostly self-taught, so be understanding, please :D

spartan55 · Answer

White Steve I'm glad you wrote this because I am a bit of a grammar/spelling snob myself. The one I notice frequently is the attempt to spell a word how it sounds phonetically. Example: instead of 'attention', atentshun etc.

loves2learn · Answer

Me? I went to an “alternative” elementary school that encouraged sound spelling. I think I have overcome it to some degree, but I will probably always be reliant on spell check to some degree.

normalice · Answer

Autocorrect is sometimes possessed and the onscreen keyboard makes it difficult to know what you're typing unless you go back and read it, which who has time for that..

lightbulb27 · Answer

Becauhse speeling is lahrgely ovewrated, wun cahn undurstahnd whut ihs sayd witdthoudt pruper speeling.  Layzenes?

NathanDavis · Answer

for the same reason you're bad at whatever you're bad at we just don't care or we don't really need to do it better

OtterMan68 · Answer

The English language makes no sense. Some people are logical thinkers, and there is no logic to spelling in the English language. Some people spell phonetically, and that does not work in English. Take the word "certain." It's pronounced "surtan," but looks like it should be pronounced "cer-tain" ryhming with "sir rain"

bobalife · Answer

Oops I did it again, sorry for the tyos … typos* 😂 Blame it on the small key board of my mobile, how fast my brain works than my fingers can keep up when I’m typing out, or autocorrects lmao

LadyLa820 · Answer

They don’t practice or they are in too much of a hurry and don’t proofread what they write/type.

Twalli · Answer

When I spell something incorrectly on here, I feel bad because I can't edit it. Other places, I correct it immediately. Part of it is due to the touchpad being small and I try to respond as quickly as possible.

strateguy632 · Answer

on phone screen tiny buttons for letters, and hard to edit so they send

euniestars · Answer

see English is my 2nd language so uhhhhhh my spelling is a little shit but it’s okayyyyyy 💀

LiamJHayden · Answer

Younger people especially tend to be terrible at it because they have spent their lives with autocorrect.

Anonymous · Answer

my state is one of the worst in education, so that's my excuse.

Anonymous · Answer

It's not just the spelling of words, but also punctuation. (lack of periods, lack of capitol letters at the start of sentences, lack of commas when appropriate...)

Why and HOW are people so bad at spelling?

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Why and HOW are people so bad at spelling?

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