SPELLING
Marilyn Vos Savant, a regular columnist in my Sunday newspaper, has written a book, The Art of Spelling: The Madness and the Method. In an article, she argues that spelling sends important messages about ourselves. She argues that flawed spelling sends negative messages about our intelligence and work ethic. She sets forth a number of guidelines for improved spelling. It occurred to me that these guidelines have a more general application so I decided to share some of them here.
She suggests that we "learn a few rules". This is a good idea for many of our activities, including games, work, dating, social interaction of all kinds. If we know some rules, we can follow them without the burden of thinking about each situation afresh. We can reserve our thinking and difficult decisions for unique situations and follow the rules in repetitive situations. In this way, knowledge of the rules makes our lives easier and we'll avoid many blunders.
She advises us to "look it up". This is also a helpful guideline. Many of us fear to admit we don't know something so we fail to seek an authoritative source for the answers to our questions. In so failing, we not only remain in ignorance, we miss the stimulus of seeking the answers, of learning. Learning and knowledge foster additional learning and knowledge, increase our ability to learn. Don't be embarrassed to admit that you don't know something, find the answers. It's not required that we know everything, it's not failure to admit we don't know something, it's entirely appropriate to learn new things. Satisfying our curiosity is fun and, usually, productive.
Ms. Vos Savant advises against the use of your spell checker. I've long believed intuitively that the reliance on machines endangers our intellects, dulls our ability to think and learn, makes us less able to think for ourselves. I fear, for example, that overuse of calculators will eventually eliminate our arithmetic skills, render simple arithmetic a lost art. Rely on machines for the ease and speed they bring to our lives but not at the expense of the ability to perform the tasks yourself. Use the spell checker only after doing your best to spell correctly without mechanical aids.
Ms. Vos Savant also counsels us to "train our motor memory". She notes that repetitive mistakes train us to make mistakes, in the same way that good habits beget good behavior. Practice doing things correctly, practice doing good, practice behavior we want to repeat. In this way, we will improve ourselves by making good behavior automatic.
Finally, she commands us to "proofread our work". This is a pet peeve of mine: People who don't proofread don't care about their work. I have great patience for those who do their best, no matter what their results, but I have little patience for those who don't use their abilities, who don't do their best. I genuinely believe that doing one's best helps everybody but most of all oneself. Do the best job you can!
Whether or not we believe that spelling is important, we must at least think about Ms. Vos Savant's guidelines. They can only help us do better in our activities, whether work or play. Maybe we'll even become better spellers.
8-28-00
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