# Spelling and getting older **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 30, 2012, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-and-getting-older/629846 "2012-07-30T13:50:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2012, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-and-getting-older/629846/1 "2012-07-30T13:50:36Z")
I never have been a great speller but noticed in my 50’s I seemed to struggle more with thing like 2 l’s or 2 m’s etc in words, now I am in my 60’s and it seems to be getting worse. I am not sure if spell check has ruined me or lack of practice or just getting older, maybe all 3? Any one know of any studies done on this? ---
**Author:** ![tapu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@tapu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tapu)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2012, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-and-getting-older/629846/2 "2012-07-30T13:59:09Z")
I don’t know anything about it other than that my own experience (now in my 50s) is exactly the same. And I’m an editor, for chrissakes! I have been a little disturbed by it. I’ll look around online. Maybe someone else already has info. ---
**Author:** ![Myglaren](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f1d935/32.png) [@Myglaren](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Myglaren)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2012, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-and-getting-older/629846/3 "2012-07-30T14:06:19Z")
I am finding the same with increasing frequency (63). Thank Og for spellcheckers. ---
**Author:** ![MyFootsZZZ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/myfootszzz/32/12580_2.png) [@MyFootsZZZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MyFootsZZZ)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2012, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-and-getting-older/629846/4 "2012-07-30T14:08:11Z")
I’ve gotten worse at spelling also, (but I don’t read as much as I use to). ---
**Author:** ![tapu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@tapu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tapu)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2012, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-and-getting-older/629846/5 "2012-07-30T14:31:27Z")
I’d better hope no one comes in here from two recent threads, where I advocate for spelling _know_ as _gno_, and _sleepy_ as _zleepy_… ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2012, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-and-getting-older/629846/6 "2012-07-30T14:33:49Z")
As I approach 50 my spelling is getting worse. You know its bad when its so far off that spell check can’t suggest the right word. 😉 I personally don’t blame spell check. I suspect my old writings contained spelling errors that I just never caught. Spell check has made life easier because I don’t have to drive myself nuts asking people how to spell something. Or grabbing a dictionary. I used to hate wasting time in a dictionary. It’s a myth that you learn to spell by looking it up. I never remembered the spelling of words that I looked up. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2012, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-and-getting-older/629846/7 "2012-07-30T14:37:15Z")
My money’s on “getting older”. I’ll bet the spelling’s close to “vocabulary recall”. As I tell my students, when I’m standing at the blackboard trying to remember a ridiculously common word… _ **"First the knees go, then the nouns."** _ ---
**Author:** ![Myglaren](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f1d935/32.png) [@Myglaren](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Myglaren)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2012, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-and-getting-older/629846/8 "2012-07-30T15:13:08Z")
> [@digs](#): > > My money’s on “getting older”. I’ll bet the spelling’s close to “vocabulary recall”. > > As I tell my students, when I’m standing at the blackboard trying to remember a ridiculously common word… > > _ **“First the knees go, then the nouns.”** _ Indeed, I was just looking for a book on Amazon for my grandson and couldn’t continue as I could not recall the word to put in the search box for five minutes. “Anatomy” Happens far to frequently for comfort. ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2012, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-and-getting-older/629846/9 "2012-07-30T15:17:34Z")
I have the same problem with vocabulary, I don’t have much education but did take some pride in my vocabulary, I noticed in my middle forties I would sometimes struggle for a word now I am on the phone to my girlfriend about every 15 min trying to describe the word I am looking for. I am fine with my reading vocabulary I just can’t recall the words when I need them. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2012, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-and-getting-older/629846/10 "2012-07-30T19:35:49Z")
I have grown too reliant on spell check, so my spelling has grown worse. ---
**Author:** ![Lanzy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/74df32/32.png) [@Lanzy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lanzy)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2012, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-and-getting-older/629846/11 "2012-07-30T20:42:28Z")
What do you do a lot? Is spelling in the list of things that on a daily basis you need to know? For me it is, as I write lots of documents (I just turned 60) and I have to spell large words on a daily basis. Spell check is fine but it just slows the process. Use it or lose it. ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2012, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-and-getting-older/629846/12 "2012-07-30T21:01:09Z")
I am a recently retired truck shop foreman. Now that I think of it the last 15 years we have used computers for all of out correspondence, invoices etc, mostly select an option and hit enter. Maybe I just got out practice. ---
**Author:** ![phreesh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9fc29f/32.png) [@phreesh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phreesh)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2012, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-and-getting-older/629846/13 "2012-07-30T21:06:39Z")
Dude, I’m not even FORTY and this is happening. Same with recall of movies/movie stars. Trying to recall the supporting star of an older movie with friends is painful. “What’s the name of the movie where the guy is a cop in LA in, like the fifties. He was in that other movie where he can’t remember stuff with that chick in the Keanu Reeves movie where he lived in a computer or whatever.” “The Matrix!” “Yeah. The Matrix. What was that chick’s name again? Something religious?” “Trinity!” “Right. Wait. What was I trying to remember?” ---
**Author:** ![Topologist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/topologist/32/3208_2.png) [@Topologist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Topologist)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2012, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-and-getting-older/629846/14 "2012-07-30T21:11:39Z")
> [@Lanzy](#): > > What do you do a lot? Is spelling in the list of things that on a daily basis you need to know? For me it is, as I write lots of documents (I just turned 60) and I have to spell large words on a daily basis. Spell check is fine but it just slows the process. Use it or lose it. I spend much of my day writing, although it’s largely emails these days. In an academic context, even the emails have to be well-written. Still, I struggle sometimes to remember spellings. On the other hand, my email program auto-corrects most of my problem words – I just have to watch that it substitutes the right word – so it doesn’t slow me down. My current bugaboo is _accommodate_; that just doesn’t look right… Don’t get me started on not remembering words.