hi Ginny
i have an anecdote about spelling, and an observation.
Over the years I have received emails sent out to the university community by Deans,
VPs,chairs and colleagues, that contain occasional spelling errors.
No big deal, we say. We all slip up, And besides, maybe email is more vulnerable to this.
I certainly have never felt any less of the sender, and i don't know who would.
But on a couple of other occasions emails with the odd spelling glitch have been
sent out by support staff and secretaries; what was noticeable was how they were quickly
followed up with these earnest apologies. (no humour, but seemingly heartfelt regret)
So yes, it's about ethos, but it is also about power. Who doesn't care about errors, and
who gets to feel they have to care?
Good luck with your radio broadcast!
shurli
Shurli Makmillen
Contemporary Studies
Wilfrid Laurier University (Brantford)
73 George Street
Brantford, ON.
CANADA N3T 2V3
Phone: 519 756 8228 EXT 5737
>>> Virginia Ryan <[log in to unmask]> 08/27/08 2:55 PM >>>
Greetings to everyone on this list! I have just been invited to sit in
as the "visiting expert" on a CBC radio "Cross-talk" show on the topic
"Does Spelling Matter?" It sounds to me like Pandora's box is once
again to be opened in the province of Newfoundland. With equal parts
delight and terror, I said "yes," and now I'm turning to all of you for
positions, epiphanies, and metaphors. You see, they wanted someone who
"sees both sides of the issue," and in me they found such a someone. I
am old enough (and old-fashioned enough???) to feel that yes, it matters
very much (in many contexts). But I also listen every day to brilliant
and passionate young tutors who argue for simplicity and accessibility,
and who point out that deliberate, alternate spellings shouldn't matter
if they do not interfere with understanding (as Charles Shultz once put
it in one of his cartoons, "If K-A-T doesn't spell 'cat,' what /does /it
spell?")
This issue is forcing me to try to resolve a dilemma I've carried around
for years. For example, I absolutely hate comma splices, but I've never
quite determined whether my hatred of them stems from some justifiable
philosophical principle that I haven't yet managed to articulate, or
rather from simple snobbishness and adherence to
rules-for-the-sake-of-rules. Similarly, and more to the point, here, I
hate the sign outside the garden centre that says "Begonia's for sale,"
but wonder whether my reaction is really justifiable, since any reader
will understand that all the sign /means/ is that there is more than one
begonia being sold.
Now, I understand and can readily explain to any call-in guest that in
the context of a student paper submitted for a grade at a university,
while misspellings generally (not always! I know!) do not interfere with
meaning, they are also generally considered unacceptable by the intended
readership and so should be avoided. But the bigger questions are _why_
are such spellings unacceptable? Do they matter outside of academia
(and business)? And if they matter, why do they matter?
I welcome any and all reactions, apologize for my own lengthy silence on
this list, and hope that despite it you'll be vocal!
Ginny Ryan
The Writing Centre
Memorial University of Newfoundland
St. John's, Newfoundland
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