Eccentric Flower:199901/sic

eleven january

[sic]

You want to talk about portents of the downfall of civilization?

Not the Year 2000 bug (as the Annals of Improbable Research point out, "things don't work that well now.") Not the increase in personal rudeness, as Heinlein suggested; we've been rude since the nation was founded and we're remarkably consistent that way.

No. It's that no one bothers to spell correctly anymore.

Bad grammar I can understand; grammar is often stupid, tricky, and completely arbitrary. I make all sorts of grammatical errors myself, and I have had training in how to write; I'm not willing to cast stones. But spelling?

When I went to get my coffee this morning, there were little signs all over the Pain stating that because of the California freeze, they were temporarily unable to carry "naval" oranges. The word appeared on each sign several times.

OK, maybe that one's acceptable. After all, the Navy does have a long history with citrus fruit, making it a point to provide plenty of citrus and citrus juices aboard ship ever since the British learned it prevented scurvy, lo those many years ago. (Which is why British sailors were nicknamed "limeys," but you knew that.) So I can see a naval orange, as opposed to one with a bellybutton.

I'm even willing to forgive that this same chain advertised their "Ceasar" salads in very large type all over town last year - although it's less forgivable that, in a campaign lasting several months, they didn't try to reprint or correct the signs.

The straw that is breaking this camel's back is that I am currently reading some new journals, to try to fill in that gap in the webring ... and I am amazed by the number of journallers who simply do not bother to spell.

Look: The way I was raised, if I see habitual poor spelling on your part (I'm not talking about the occasional error, or the same problematic word over and over - I have my hobgoblins too - but consistent, flagrant problems) I am likely to assume you are a moron. Or that, at the very least, you don't care about your presentation or attracting new visitors - that you are apathetic.

And the sad thing is, reading some of these sites, I realize that the people are not morons and they do want new readers, but they have no idea how big a turn-off it is to be cruising along a stretch of prose at sixty mph and hit all these potholes.

Worst of all, there is no polite way to tell someone, "I adore your thoughts and I would love to link to you and read you every day, but I can't because your spelling puts me right off." It's like trying to tell someone they always have bad breath.

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