# Ever just lose the spelling of a word? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 27, 2010, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-just-lose-the-spelling-of-a-word/551703 "2010-08-27T18:18:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2010, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-just-lose-the-spelling-of-a-word/551703/21 "2010-08-30T17:04:01Z")
In the 8th grade, I was the class champion speller. As I’m getting older, my spelling seems to get worser and werserest. Words that never gave me a problem now look funny to me and I have to check. I usually open Word and use it in a sentence for the auto spellcheck. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2010, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-just-lose-the-spelling-of-a-word/551703/22 "2010-08-30T18:34:59Z")
There are a few words I always want to spell incorrectly: necessary (does it have two c’s?), separate (shouldn’t that 2nd vowel by an e?), and weird (i before e except to be weird? 😕 😕) Even now, I’m not sure I wrote these words correctly. And lately I substitute homophones. Not just the usual their/they’re or right/write, but much more startling cases, like “value” for “vowel.” (This example just happened to me in previous paragraph.) I have to proofread e-mail carefuly to avoid looking the idiot. (My SDMB posts are usually OK, due to Preview and Edit … I caught vowel-\>value above!) I _do_ find myself staring at simple words sometimes and thinking the spelling is bizarre – “young” seemed weird just a few hours ago – but I do know they’re spelled right. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2010, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-just-lose-the-spelling-of-a-word/551703/23 "2010-08-31T00:48:28Z")
> [@septimus](#): > > …and weird (i before e except to be weird? 😕 😕 ) One of the most common words in English doesn’t follow the i-before-e “rule” - **their**. It’s why I always thought it was a foolish principle to drum into a child. ---
**Author:** ![Fair\_Rarity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fair_rarity/32/153_2.png) [@Fair\_Rarity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fair_Rarity)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2010, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-just-lose-the-spelling-of-a-word/551703/24 "2010-08-31T02:07:51Z")
I am having a hard time with “wonder” lately. It wants to be “oneder.” Or similarly, “I one that game… er… won.” I once had to ask someone to spell Jones for me. All I could think of was Joans. ---
**Author:** ![Sticks\_and\_Scones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sticks_and_scones/32/16951_2.png) [@Sticks\_and\_Scones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sticks_and_Scones)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2010, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-just-lose-the-spelling-of-a-word/551703/25 "2010-08-31T02:18:17Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > This has been happening to me more and more, lately. And I used to be a really great speller; won spelling bees all the time when I was a kid. > [@Chefguy](#): > > In the 8th grade, I was the class champion speller. As I’m getting older, my spelling seems to get worser and werserest. Words that never gave me a problem now look funny to me and I have to check. I usually open Word and use it in a sentence for the auto spellcheck. Yes! Me too. It’s extremely frustrating to feel that my brain is turning to spelling mush. ---
**Author:** ![Leiko](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Leiko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leiko)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2010, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-just-lose-the-spelling-of-a-word/551703/26 "2010-08-31T04:56:50Z")
I remember a terrifying morning in second grade when I could not remember how to spell “feel.” I had to walk from the city bus stop to school and spent the whole walk freaking out, because how was I supposed to write my Iditarod faux-diary entry, which was a day late because I’d either been sick or been pulled out for the dentist (don’t remember it now), if I couldn’t write down how I felt? Remembered how to spell “feel” just as I was about to cross the road. I’m pretty sure I’d have been hit by a car if I hadn’t figured it out, I was so focused on the spelling. ---
**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2010, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-just-lose-the-spelling-of-a-word/551703/27 "2010-08-31T05:25:47Z")
I once forgot how to spell ‘maybe.’ I was 16 at the time. ---
**Author:** ![limegreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/82dd89/32.png) [@limegreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/limegreen)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2010, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-just-lose-the-spelling-of-a-word/551703/28 "2010-08-31T17:16:27Z")
As an English teacher, I grade mountains of spelling words/test/sentences. After a while, I have to look at the book to see how the stupid word is really spelled, because I’ve seen it spelled wrong in so many different ways… ---
**Author:** ![Tethered\_Kite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a5b964/32.png) [@Tethered\_Kite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tethered_Kite)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2010, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-just-lose-the-spelling-of-a-word/551703/29 "2010-08-31T23:24:33Z")
> [@limegreen](#): > > As an English teacher, I grade mountains of spelling words/test/sentences. After a while, I have to look at the book to see how the stupid word is really spelled, because I’ve seen it spelled wrong in so many different ways… Well, that’s the deal, I think. I’m glad to hear people saying they are influenced by the disturbing use of the language online. Always feels like an alibi but I am certain that my use of English has been affected by the time I spend on the computer. Or is that _effected?_ Something else I think affects it is the realization, rather late in life, that my grandparents were speaking English as a second language and I am noticing that my construction might be veering toward theirs now that I spend less time in the atmosphere of educated people. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-just-lose-the-spelling-of-a-word/551703.md?page=1)