Spelling

[Ruth]

I'm an exceptionally good speller, with no effort involved. Probably comes with my bookwormish history. But then again, maybe not.

Do you think there's an innate ability to spell that some have and others don't?

But there are some words that always give me trouble. One thing that Netflix has done for me. I can now spell queue.

Do you have problem words?

[Debbie, sardonic princess of cheerfulness]

Yes. I am like you too Ruth.....have always had the knack. It is interesting seeing how my pupils rate too.....some of the brightest are the worst spellers, and some with quite pedestrian brains have the knack....
I have always stumbled with sergeant though!!

[Ken, Moderator]

In educational circles, they're called "personal demons." One of mine is de rigueur which, like amateur can get confusing on vowel order.

I've always struggled with words that have double double or double single consonant sets in them: accommodate, tomorrow, etc.

[Ruth]

Brocolli has rythm?

[Tintin]

Isn't that 'broccoli'?

I've been the resident 'best speller' since I was a kid and I've always attributed it to my being a bookworm. But from the discussion here, maybe that's not the sole reason? I'm a very visual person and can usually tell if I'm spelling something wrong because 'it doesn't look right.' In that case I try another combination until I get the right 'look.' This works 90% of the time.

Also since English is not my native language I usually encounter new words in print first which guarantees correct spelling even if my pronunciation is incorrect.

That said, I have a feeling I'll do bad in spelling bees where you have to recite instead of write. I need to see the word written first before I can decide the correct spelling.

[Jan]

I'm fortunate to have a mostly reliable photographic memory. When asked to spell a word, I just read off the letters as I see them in my head. It's also useful for finding other people's lost property. I'm the 'three second finder' in our house, because if someone can't find something, I look for it in my memory and can tell them where to find it, even though I may not have consciously made a note of the item when I saw it.
For some reason I always wanted to put a 'z' in cheese, and I had trouble with address, because I only learnt it when I was twelve, then started learning French at thirteen, where it's 'adresse'...so I used to be confused about how many 'd's to put in.

[Ken, Moderator]

Tintin and Jan make a good point -- spelling IS supposedly a visual skill and IS supposed to be improved by reading.

My problem, however, is that I see a lot of misspelled words for a living. And oddly, students often misspell the same way. Sometimes that has you looking twice at words you never gave a second thought to in olden times.

Being an English major doesn't help, either. You read all this Brit stuff where words are misspelled like "favourite," and "hypnotise." It would help if we had translators for British to American English, protecting us from the gross lexical liberties taken by the Olde Country.

[Jan]

In Australia, we follow British spelling conventions. But sometimes if I go to write 'favourite' in a post, I might start thinking about the American reader, then I look at the red line (spell check set to British) and realise that I've subconsciously adopted the American spelling, just by thinking about it, even though I hadn't actually intended to adapt my spelling. I think most people don't worry about things being different, do you? Here are some more examples:
Mum, colour
Vocabulary differences are a little more perplexing:
footpath/sidewalk
pharmacy/drugstore
We put our rubbish in the rubbish bin, but I believe you take out the trash...to the trash can, no doubt.
Who has garbage? Maybe that's British.
We also have rubbish trucks. And if we disagree vehemently, well that's just plain rubbish!

[Ken, Moderator]

Garbage trucks here. And garbage is what many politicians speak -- especially those who remind us of Shakespeare because of their poetic license with the language.

[Jan]

Sarahspeak? Sarahspeare?

[Debbie, sardonic princess of cheerfulness]

Sounds more like Shakeyspeake to me.....

[Carol]

Believe it or not I have trouble with i before e I always have , I have to think about it when I use a word with i and e

[Ruth]

Tintin wrote: "Isn't that 'broccoli'?
"

Yes, it's "broccoli" and it's "rhythm." I just spelled them at way because if I don't stop to think that's how they come out. They're two of my spelling bugaboos.

[Ruth]

Jan, I keep a market list stuck on the refrigerator. My husband likes to play little jokes when he adds things to the list, like asking for sugar3 (make that 3 a superscript) when he wants sugar cubes.

For years he wrote "cheeze" on my lists and I thought he was just playing around again. After over 30 years of buying "cheeze" I found out that's how he thought it was spelled.

[Jan]

He must be a very logical man!

[Ken, Moderator]

Many people spell "refrigerator" as "refridgerator" because of the shortened version "fridge."

[Ruth]

Newengland wrote: "Many people spell "refrigerator" as "refridgerator" because of the shortened version "fridge.""

Heehee. In my previous note I had to restrain myself from doing that very thing.

[Jana]

Spelling is not my strong thing and grammar. It has no logic as far as I can see.
Here are some that come to mind I have problem with

Wednesday
word/world
furniture
plant/plain/plan
opinion/ option ???

[Scout]

In French and Spanish, the words for sky are ciel and cielo, so it's always been difficult for me to spell ceiling with an ei.

[Jan]

At least that one follows a rule: i before e, except after c.

receipt, receive, ceiling

the i before e is the general rule:
believe, achieve, reprieve