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More and more often, I see people posting comments about something being, "in tact", when the correct usage would be, "intact". As with many types of language mistakes, I have to believe that this type of mistake is the result of not reading good literature, or perhaps not reading anything at all.
Or not paying attention to details. Some people are not detail-oriented.
Personally, I read very slowly. I like to take in the language and wording structure -- how the story is stated -- as much as I like to follow the actual story. I do notice clunky presentation, even in some very popular bestsellers (#1 bestsellers, no less). I may catch something like "in tact" vs. "intact." Maybe.
But I have a friend who reads voraciously. She can finish a long novel in just a few hours (and remember every aspect of the story), whereas it would take me weeks or months. She would never notice such things. And she can't write to save her life. Yet she reads way more than I ever could. She has read all the literary canon material, both English and American, from before Shakespeare's time right on up to post-modernism. To read something like Hawthorne or Brockden Brown that quickly is amazing to me. But I know she'd never catch "in tact." She's not a detail person.
So I think your statement may well be true to an extent, but it's not universal.
Or not paying attention to details. Some people are not detail-oriented.
Personally, I read very slowly. I like to take in the language and wording structure -- how the story is stated -- as much as I like to follow the actual story. I do notice clunky presentation, even in some very popular bestsellers (#1 bestsellers, no less). I may catch something like "in tact" vs. "intact." Maybe.
But I have a friend who reads voraciously. She can finish a long novel in just a few hours (and remember every aspect of the story), whereas it would take me weeks or months. She would never notice such things. And she can't write to save her life. Yet she reads way more than I ever could. She has read all the literary canon material, both English and American, from before Shakespeare's time right on up to post-modernism. To read something like Hawthorne or Brockden Brown that quickly is amazing to me. But I know she'd never catch "in tact." She's not a detail person.
So I think your statement may well be true to an extent, but it's not universal.
I think catching "in tact" in something someone else wrote is different from spelling it that way yourself. How well does your speed reading friend spell, not just write?
I think catching "in tact" in something someone else wrote is different from spelling it that way yourself. How well does your speed reading friend spell, not just write?
I haven't noticed anything atrocious out of her as far as spelling... just very clunky and "mechanical" writing.
Don't get me wrong for what I am about to say...
I do place a value upon correct spelling/grammar, and I do make an effort to present my words correctly. On the other hand, I think our spelling conventions are ridiculous and sorely need to be made more logical and consistent in rule and closer to the spoken word in actual spelling. There is no logical reason, other than "that's the way it is," for our spelling to be so contorted.
Are any of you aware that some of the greatest writers over the years (or at least the ones we consider to be, on the whole) were either bad or atrocious spellers?
Have you looked at original manuscripts from William Faulkner? I've seen (a copy of) one in a literature class some years ago. His spelling wasn't terrible... but it wasn't good either. Thank God for editors.
The bad speller club: Benjamin Franklin, William Faulkner, Jane Austen, Ernest Hemingway, John Keats, Einstein, Da Vinci, Agatha Christie, so on...
As I've said many times here, spelling is an arbitrary skill (at least in the English language). But a lack of that skill (as is my case) can easily be remedied by having the willingness to take the time to use a dictionary and/or thesaurus -- especially if your memory is poor.
When I was at the vet's office, the employees were discussing the office cat: "She was brought in as a stray kitten, and was so emancipated that we had to hand feed her."
That one sets my teeth on edge a little. "A part of the solution" is the opposite of "Apart from the solution."
...which, IMHO, tells you that many people simply, "parrot", words, phrases, and expressions, without having any clue as to the actual meaning--or the spelling--of what they are saying or writing.
Last edited by Retriever; 01-27-2013 at 04:21 PM..
I had to go for a medical test today, and while I was in the waiting room, I looked at a Good Housekeeping magazine (from last April--reading choices in radiology were pretty limited!). Within seconds, my eye found it in the table of contents: "Heathy Cooking".
I don't look for errors consciously at all, but I will always see them. Except, sometimes, in my own work.
Saw a sticky noted posted to the bulletin board at a bar, said, "Dryer for sell" a week later I was looking at a local club's Facebook page. The club said, "Have tickets for sell" Must be a Mississippi thing. Sale isn't taught in their vocabulary classes I guess.
Saw a sticky noted posted to the bulletin board at a bar, said, "Dryer for sell" a week later I was looking at a local club's Facebook page. The club said, "Have tickets for sell" Must be a Mississippi thing. Sale isn't taught in their vocabulary classes I guess.
...nor is the concept of loaning money.
IIRC, in that neck of the woods, almost everyone says, "He borrowed me some money".
(Well, actually, they probably say, "He borried me some money".)
...nor is the concept of loaning money.
IIRC, in that neck of the woods, almost everyone says, "He borrowed me some money".
(Well, actually, they probably say, "He borried me some money".)
There are so many grammatical errors in the way they speak in the south. Southerners get mad and complain about the rest of the country making fun of them, etc. Well most of it is well deserved, it's not just the accent, but not being able to speak properly really looks bad.
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