Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1999/04/15

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Subject: Re: [Leica] LUG spellings
From: "B. D. Colen" <bdcolen@earthlink.net>
Date: Thu, 15 Apr 1999 13:19:39 -0400

>  Someone out there, or someone's spouse, might be amused by some of the
>funny spellings I've seen on the LUG in the last year or so. (Misspelling
>its and it's isn't funny.)
A couple of unfunny comments:

1. I would hope that the LUG is a brief leisure-time activity for most of
us, and that, therefore, we may be typing fast and not spending time on
spell-checking, etc.;

2. Whose life is so bereft of meaningful activity that they have the time
and inclination to collect the "funny" misspellings of others, and, beyond
that, would find meaning in doing so on a list that includes many for whom
English is a second, third or fourth language;

3. As one with a very bright, but seriously learning-disabled 16-year-old
who can read - slowly - and understand anything you put in front of him,
but who spells on the national 2nd percentile level; and as one who,
similarly, never took a spelling test I passed, cannot spell to this day,
but who has written and had published 10 books and too many newspaper
articles to begin to count, and who will have "Pulitzer Prize-winner" in
the first paragraph of his obituary, I would contend that:

	A. Jokes about spelling aren't funny unless they involve Dan Quayle;
	B.  In this age of spell checkers, who cares?
	C. What the world needs is far, far, far fewer "good spellers" and many,
many, many more competent writers who can let copy editors worry about the
spelling.