"definately"...the importance of spelling

Nope, you got it.

 

I don't see why we shouldn't reform English spelling...

 

Not much bothers me other than "loose" when someone means "lose.":suicide:

 

Since communication capabilities are one of the major traits that distinguishes human beings from other animals I would agree that spelling is important for us. For many cavemen that still inhabit the planet this issue is definitely undermined. It is also a matter of caring about your language and respect towards others (the readers). There are some countries whos majority of inhabitants are extreme nationalists and will brag about their super-puper nation among themselves and with foreigners every other minute, only to continuously mortifying their own language with repeated spelling, grammatical and logical errors, without feeling the need to correct themselves and in some cases even on purpose. Interesting to note.

 

languages change over time. do you really expect english to remain unchanged with so many communications advances, text wise?

 

It's only your joke if he was using proper as an adverb.

It could be an even bigger joke if he was not, and simply assumed that people would assume he was.
I prefer this latter option as being less dull than the former.

 

To me personally I am prone to make a few errors time to time. I can correct myself. But at times I choose to be lazy and leave it as it is.

After opening my very first facebook account a few month ago, I have found many of my friends and family making a lot of spelling errors. Their, they're, there, and there are - pretty much the most common mistakes that I have seen. Actually there are many grammar issues, but I don't go about correcting them since I already feel what they're saying.

I'm not a grammar Nazi myself, but I think that correct English is very important to establishing credibility. Am I right?

I think that is a better way of going about it.

What is that? An anthropology of writing?

 

If you don't want to make any spelling errors while texting anything with your computer... WRITE IN CHINESE!!!

 

you can get spelling errors in that too.

 

But it's not right, because he clearly made several other grammatical errors. A game to catch them all, perhaps, but definately on purpose.

 

How? By choosing the wrong character? Yes, that may happen. But that can be fixed with decent recognition.

 

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I believe this is relevant.

 

Alright, what governing body do you suggest? Will it be a fair representation of English as it is spoken -- that is, will Americans make up the majority of the panel, or will it be full of Oxford scholars?

 

Sounds like he didn't enjoy last year.

It depends on what you want from spelling. English spelling can give you a history of the word and imply nuances that the mere sound when spoken does not. It helps people distinguish words. The obvious and much cited example is that there's a difference between paed- and ped-:
a pedophile is someone with unusual but harmless sexual taste
a paedophile is a criminal

Having the roots of a word be obvious makes words interesting and makes the nuances and differences in language more accessible to non-academics. With basic study at school you can understand and predict the backgrounds of words. If spelling were to be reformed now then we'd lose all those little indicators of meaning.

Lastly, if you hate English spelling because it doesn't agree with your pronunciation, why should changing the spelling be the priority over changing your speech?

 

Because the writing system of any language is always a secondary mean of communication when compared to speech (or gestures in the case of sign languages) and it's always subordinate to it.

 

I, for one, welcome our Oxfordian overlords.

 

Wait until you get to know them!

 

Put eloquently by a friend of mine:

http://blog.grapesmoker.com/?p=48

 

I rarely see "definitely" spelled "definately". Or "definitely". It's invariably "defiantly", e.g. "I will defiantly eat breakfast". Apparently, it's illegal or something.

 

That's a result of:

wiki: