WORD: ON SPELLING
You can't help respecting someone who can spell Tuesday even if he can't spell it right. -- Winnie the Pooh
The spelling of words is subordinate. Morbidness for nice spelling and tenacity for or against one letter or so means dandyism and impotence in literature - Walt Whitman
I don't see any use in spelling a word right, and never did. I mean I don't see any use in having a uniform and arbitrary way of spelling words. We might as well make all our clothes alike and cook all dishes alike. - Mark Twain
I have no respect for a man who doesn't know more than one way to spell a word - Walt Whitman
The spelling of words is subordinate. Morbidness for nice spelling and tenacity for or against one letter or so means dandyism and impotence in literature - Walt Whitman
I don't see any use in spelling a word right, and never did. I mean I don't see any use in having a uniform and arbitrary way of spelling words. We might as well make all our clothes alike and cook all dishes alike. - Mark Twain
I have no respect for a man who doesn't know more than one way to spell a word - Walt Whitman
posted by TPR | 12:06 PM
3 Comments:
Great futurists are Winnie, Whitman and Twain. Spelling as a discipline was a mere fad. Developed by those afflicted with OCD, it hasn't lasted two centuries. But the glory of words and meaning will live forever.
Knowing the weird and (sometimes) interesting orthographic rules in English is like knowing which fork to use. It's a social-class marker, with all the implications of that concept.
Bring back Chaucer's english. Huzzah!
Post a Comment
<< Home