# Why are there so many spelling errors in newspapers recently? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 5, 2010, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-so-many-spelling-errors-in-newspapers-recently/538407 "2010-05-05T14:49:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Tom\_Scud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2010, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-so-many-spelling-errors-in-newspapers-recently/538407/41 "2010-05-06T14:35:31Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > Not _The Guardian_ then. Busiest Corrections Editor in the business. 😃 When did the Grauniad pick up its nickname? I understand that that was quite some time ago. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2010, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-so-many-spelling-errors-in-newspapers-recently/538407/42 "2010-05-06T15:26:05Z")
> [@Tom\_Scud](#): > > When did the Grauniad pick up its nickname? I understand that that was quite some time ago. At least a decade ago. > [@Wikipedia](#): > > The nickname The Grauniad for the paper originated with the satirical magazine Private Eye. This played on The Guardian’s reputation for frequent typographical errors, such as misspelling its own name as _The Gaurdian_. The domain [grauniad.co.uk](http://grauniad.co.uk) is registered to the paper, and redirects to its website at [guardian.co.uk](http://guardian.co.uk). > > The very first issue of the newspaper contained a number of errors, perhaps the most notable being a notification that there would soon be some goods sold at \*atction \*instead of _auction_. There are fewer typographical errors in the paper since the end of hot-metal typesetting. One of their writers, Keith Devlin, suggested that the high number of observed misprints was due more to the quality of the readership than their greater frequency. Nice try, Keith. The Wiki page links to an old but funny [Ned Sherrin article](http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2000/dec/16/society) on the subject, but a non-typo error from [earlier this week](http://www.guardian.co.uk/theguardian/2010/may/05/corrections-clarifications) is a gem: > [@](#): > > An election column alluded to “Caitlin Moran’s haunting observation that [David Cameron] looks like R2-D2 made of ham” (And the real loser of the election is…, 1 May, page 15). Actually Moran’s TV review in the Times likened Mr Cameron to R2-D2’s droid pal, C-3PO. ---
**Author:** ![jakesteele](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ed8c4c/32.png) [@jakesteele](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jakesteele)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2010, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-so-many-spelling-errors-in-newspapers-recently/538407/43 "2010-05-06T17:11:31Z")
There is one thing no one seems to have hit ones the fact that our educational system has been intentionally and systematically dumbed down. I’m 59 yrs. Old (note spell checker capitalizing the o in old) and graduated in 1969. Back in that era we had what was called the 3 ‘Rs” – ‘reading, ‘riting and ‘rithmetic - which stressed the basic foundation of the English language and math. Shortly after I graduated the schools entered the “Hooked on Phonics” era. HO Phonics is very often spelled the way the word sounds phonetically and not necessarily the way it is spelled; that’s why you see so many spelling errors in particular. No generation is born inherently smarter or dumber than any other generation. The difference is what kind of education they get. In effect, each generation stands on the shoulder of the previous one and has more knowledge and awareness because more things are known. They don’t necessarily have the same education. Also, ‘Teutonic’ plates instead of ‘tectonic plates’ is what is called a malapropism: A malapropism (also called a Dogberryism or acyrologia or fractured English) is the substitution of a word for a word with a similar sound, in which the resulting phrase makes no sense but often creates a comic effect. It is not the same as an eggcorn, which is a similar substitution in which the new phrase makes sense on some level. Occasionally, a phrase is substituted for the original, e.g. Stan Laurel said “What a terrible cat’s after me!” (i.e., catastrophe) It is usually used by people trying to sound smarter than they really are. Unless you have it nailed down, it is better to use the small word(s); at least you won’t embarrass yourself by having it pointed out in a public setting. I once heard a Ph.D. college professor say, “Does he think he has a special disposition?” instead of “Does he think he has a special dispensation?” Another one I heard once was a guy say, “I vacationed in Tuckson (Tucson) instead of “too saun” A comedian from way back, Norm Crosby, and others since, have used malapropisms as their main stick (shtick). ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2010, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-so-many-spelling-errors-in-newspapers-recently/538407/44 "2010-05-06T17:15:40Z")
> [@jakesteele](#): > > There is one thing no one seems to have hit ones the fact that our educational system has been intentionally and systematically dumbed down. This is empirically untrue. Kids in school today are subject to a wider range of knowledge, more detail, far more complex than the “Three Rs.” Believe me, a curriculum of Readin’ Ritin’ 'Rithmetic is nothing to be proud of. Look at the world today, look at the amazing things that are being accomplished. They’re being done with the kids of the '70s and '80s. ---
**Author:** ![Jake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f475e1/32.png) [@Jake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jake)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2010, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-so-many-spelling-errors-in-newspapers-recently/538407/45 "2010-05-06T17:47:11Z")
> [@Spoons](#): > > I guess the Gazette got a Pullet Surprise for that story. 😃 Spoons, wish I had thought of that one!! LOL! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2010, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-so-many-spelling-errors-in-newspapers-recently/538407/46 "2010-05-06T20:46:07Z")
I don’t sea that their making any errors. My god, you have \*no idea \*how hard I’m restraining myself from pointing out a bunch of mistakes made by people responding to this very thread. For example: it’s impossible to have a \*homo **nym** \*error in written English. ---
**Author:** ![TV\_time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f17d59/32.png) [@TV\_time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TV_time)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2010, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-so-many-spelling-errors-in-newspapers-recently/538407/47 "2010-05-06T21:06:23Z")
> [@rowrrbazzle](#): > > From your description of them as “obsessive-compulsive-anal nut job”, I guess nobody liked them. So I don’t think the dislike (to put it mildly) originated full-grown from corporate. No, don’t get me wrong. We didn’t dislike them. We just didn’t know what planet they were from. You know the old saying, “Reporters are from Mars and God only knows where copy editors are from, but jeez, do we need them..” And corporate didn’t dislike them, they just didn’t want to spend money on them. > [@](#): > > Sounds like me. And it’s “affront.” > > Oh, and why did you take the time to question your own misspelling, rather then simply check it and correct it? It was a subtle attempt of showing how writers need copy editors. Which I went on to elaborate on in the second paragraph. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2010, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-so-many-spelling-errors-in-newspapers-recently/538407/48 "2010-05-06T21:15:44Z")
> [@jakesteele](#): > > HO Phonics is very often spelled the way the word sounds phonetically and not necessarily the way it is spelled; that’s why you see so many spelling errors in particular. But is that a spelling error, or an error in the design (ha!) of the English language? Any sensible language would have words spelled like they sound. And many (most?) languages do that. But English is a hodgepodge, having grown from mergers & borrowings from many other languages, and pronunciation changes and ‘great vowel shifts’ over the centuries. English spelling makes almost no sense, with way too many rules, obscure and often contradictory, and exceptions to the rules all over the place. For most people, English spelling is a memorization exercise, not any application of rules. And this has little to do with intelligence level or ‘dumbing down’ of education. ---
**Author:** ![Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swallowed_My_Cellphone)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2010, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-so-many-spelling-errors-in-newspapers-recently/538407/49 "2010-05-06T21:30:41Z")
> [@Rayne\_Man](#): > > There was a classic example from the UK _Daily Mail_ recently. Evidently the Haiti earthquake was caused by the movement of “Teutonic plates”. At least that’s a real word. I know of which the OP speaks. I see mistakes that would totally get caught my spell check. The only two I can think of off hand were remarked on in MPSIMS, in an article that wrote “motherload” and “liquer”. As for the “newbies” getting hired. Yeah, that’s also a bit part of it. We hire a lot of journalism grads right ou of school. We had to scale back our publication by 30% simply because they don’t have the writing skills to get the job done. Honestly, we had one guy writing a short article about (fake example) C. Montgomery Burns and spelled the name incorrectly three different ways _on the same page_, twice in one paragraph. How the heck does someone write Montgummery Burns in one sentence, then Muntgomry Burns in the _very next_. You’d think the screwed up name would still match its next iteration. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2010, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-so-many-spelling-errors-in-newspapers-recently/538407/50 "2010-05-06T22:44:23Z")
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > People say this a lot, but I don’t think it’s true. Or at least, not the cause of the financial problems. > > Here in Minnesota, the Minneapolis StarTribune would still be making a profit on their basic newspaper operation, except for the money they are paying on loans. > > A few years back, the new owners bought the paper by borrowing money against the assets & projected income from the paper. In effect, they borrowed from the paper to buy the paper. And since then, the value of the paper has gone way down – so, like many homeowners who bought houses during the bubble, they are underwater on these loans. So they have been cutting & cutting the staff of the paper (making it less & less worthwhile to subscribe to) in order to try to pay on these loans. (And they are failing; I believe they are or have already filed for bankruptcy protection.) > > So it isn’t the lost revenue from Craigslist & the Internet that is killing the StarTribune, it’s the risky loan games played by the owners that put the paper in the red. What have I told you about bothering me with facts? ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2010, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-so-many-spelling-errors-in-newspapers-recently/538407/51 "2010-05-06T22:52:25Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > What have I told you about bothering me with facts? Oh, I hadn’t realized you were Republican. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2010, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-so-many-spelling-errors-in-newspapers-recently/538407/52 "2010-05-06T23:10:28Z")
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > Oh, I hadn’t realized you were Republican. The usual threats. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2010, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-so-many-spelling-errors-in-newspapers-recently/538407/53 "2010-05-07T01:34:34Z")
> [@jakesteele](#): > > A malapropism (also called a Dogberryism or acyrologia or fractured English) is the substitution of a word for a word with a similar sound, in which the resulting phrase makes no sense but often creates a comic effect. > > …A comedian from way back, Norm Crosby, and others since, have used malapropisms as their main stick (shtick). Hey, I represent that remark! ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2010, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-so-many-spelling-errors-in-newspapers-recently/538407/54 "2010-05-07T04:49:54Z")
I can’t stand it. I just can’t stand it! > [@](#): > > **Markxxx** : A spellchecker might not get there for their (a grammar checker might get it) but a spellchecker certainly would get their mispelled as thier. There are mistakes in almost every post and I am one of the worst offenders with my spelling… But you misspelled _misspelled_. That one makes me weep late at night. > [@](#): > > **acsenray** : I think I heard it on “Away With Words.” Are you sure that wasn’t \* A Way With Words\*? Big difference. > [@](#): > > **jakesteele** : Old (note spell checker capitalizing the o in old) That’s because you abbreviated _years_ to _yrs_ and then put a period. The first letter after a period is capitalized automatically on spellchecker. I started teaching the year that you graduated. There hasn’t been any _intentional_ dummying down. Why would we want to do that? Do you think we go into teaching to make kids dumb? I _have_ seen teachers and administrators make it easier for students to pass to the next grade for several reasons that I don’t agree with. But that’s another thread. There are still brilliant children graduating. The education is there for those rascals who want it. By the way, you are still seventeen in the memory of your teachers. Thought you might want to know. ---
**Author:** ![jakesteele](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ed8c4c/32.png) [@jakesteele](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jakesteele)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2010, 9:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-so-many-spelling-errors-in-newspapers-recently/538407/55 "2010-05-07T09:28:09Z")
> [@acsenray](#): > > This is empirically untrue. Kids in school today are subject to a wider range of knowledge, more detail, far more complex than the “Three Rs.” Believe me, **a curriculum of Readin’ Ritin’ 'Rithmetic is nothing to be proud of.** Look at the world today, look at the amazing things that are being accomplished. They’re being done with the kids of the '70s and '80s. All right, let’s take it from the top. The above, bolded statement tells me you don’t understand what is meant by the phrase. It’s like extensively, thoroughly and completely learning the fundamentals and basics of a sport in order to give you a strong foundation for whatever else it is that you learn from that point on. A building without a strong foundation is inherently weaker than its neighboring buildings with a strong foundation. I also said, " **No generation is born inherently smarter or dumber than any other generation."** …I never said successive generations were dumber, I said ‘not educated as well as’. Education is not the same as ‘native intellegence’, they are two very different things. I also said, "In effect, each generation stands on the shoulders of the previous one and has more knowledge and awareness because more things are known. They just don’t necessarily have the same education. The generations that came after mine came out of the womb with no more or no less native intelligence than any other generation; it’s just that each successive generation has been getting a lower standard of ormal education given to it. ---
**Author:** ![jakesteele](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ed8c4c/32.png) [@jakesteele](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jakesteele)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2010, 9:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-so-many-spelling-errors-in-newspapers-recently/538407/56 "2010-05-07T09:32:13Z")
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > But is that a spelling error, or an error in the design (ha!) of the English language? > > Any sensible language would have words spelled like they sound. And many (most?) languages do that. But English is a hodgepodge, having grown from mergers & borrowings from many other languages, and pronunciation changes and ‘great vowel shifts’ over the centuries. English spelling makes almost no sense, with way too many rules, obscure and often contradictory, and exceptions to the rules all over the place. For most people, English spelling is a memorization exercise, not any application of rules. > > And this has little to do with intelligence level or ‘dumbing down’ of education. That certainly doesn’t help the situation, but the generations befor the Hooked on ‘Fonics’ generations didn’t have a huge problem with that because they simply memorized what was required. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2010, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-so-many-spelling-errors-in-newspapers-recently/538407/57 "2010-05-07T14:11:05Z")
> [@jakesteele](#): > > it’s just that each successive generation has been getting a lower standard of ormal education given to it. And that is exactly what is untrue. ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2010, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-so-many-spelling-errors-in-newspapers-recently/538407/58 "2010-05-07T15:33:23Z")
> [@jakesteele](#): > > The generations that came after mine came out of the womb with no more or no less native intelligence than any other generation; it’s just that each successive generation has been getting a lower standard of ormal education given to it. My ormal education has been _just fine_, thank you. ---
**Author:** ![BlinkingDuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eada6e/32.png) [@BlinkingDuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlinkingDuck)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2010, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-so-many-spelling-errors-in-newspapers-recently/538407/59 "2010-05-07T16:47:27Z")
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > People say this a lot, but I don’t think it’s true. Or at least, not the cause of the financial problems. > > Here in Minnesota, the Minneapolis StarTribune would still be making a profit on their basic newspaper operation, except for the money they are paying on loans. > > A few years back, the new owners bought the paper by borrowing money against the assets & projected income from the paper. In effect, they borrowed from the paper to buy the paper. Reminds me of a small company I worked for long ago. Company always made a profit. Then a larger company bought it. Then , even though sales had not slumped - had even grown… every quarter we had to listen to the hi guys bitch at us that we were losing sooooo much money and how unprofitable we were. Turns out they took the purchase price of the company…threw on a healthy 10% interest rate and amortised over 20 years and called that a ‘cost’ :rolleyes: Like paying off the cost of buying a company isn’t an asset. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![BlinkingDuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eada6e/32.png) [@BlinkingDuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlinkingDuck)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2010, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-so-many-spelling-errors-in-newspapers-recently/538407/60 "2010-05-07T17:22:40Z")
> [@Zoe](#): > > I can’t stand it. I just can’t stand it! > There are mistakes in almost every post and I am one of the worst offenders with my spelling… But you misspelled _misspelled_. That one makes me weep late at night. What about anal retentive? Is it with a hyphen or without? Anal retentive or Anal-retentive? 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-so-many-spelling-errors-in-newspapers-recently/538407.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-so-many-spelling-errors-in-newspapers-recently/538407.md?page=4)