Synonym: a word to use when you can not spell the word you really want.
I find myself doing this more and more lately. I am losing my ability to spell. Not that I was ever spelling bee material, but I was pretty good, when writing, at seeing that a word just did not look right. I was also good at looking up the word if I needed to do so, but usually I could make the correction easily enough.
Then along came spell check and I am losing my ability to spell and to recognize errors. My spelling brain has gone soft from under use is my guess. I don’t have to pay that much attention. If the work is misspelled a red line or a yellow highlight will appear. One click and I have the options in front of me. Another click and the offending error is fixed. Even less thought goes into those words that are habitually misspelled. They correct themselves automatically, often without my even registering more that a slight blip on the screen.
Now, if I am not working in one of my trusty word processing programs, I find myself more and more at a loss. I stop and look. Is that right? No, I don’t think so, but what could it be? That doesn’t look right either. Oh, maybe I’ll just write something else instead. Moment of panic…Is this an early sign of dementia?
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Me Too!!!
ReplyDeleteI was handwriting a note to someone the other day and I almost panicked. I had no spell checker and no way to correct a mistake. No wonder people don't send hand written notes anymore!
I do it too, sometimes, and I'm a freakin' English major/teacher. AND I WAS great at spelling. Now, I do second guess myself a lot if there's no spell-check on the program. However, I keep a dictionary nearby to check, as well as a thesaurus. I must get back into practicing this art!!
ReplyDeletePeace,
Muff
I am so glad you did this post. I thought for sure I was the only one losing my ability to spell. Sometimes I second guess even with spell check!!! Oh heavens, thankfully we are blogging, which may keep us sharper longer. And we overlook each other's boo-boos!
ReplyDeleteme too, but my classroom dry erase board lacks spell check so I feel the anxiety of it all.
ReplyDeleteI'm losing, not the ability to spell (I think), but my vocabulary. One word at a time. The other day it took me far longer than was comfortable to think of the word for the place where airplanes land. I was SO RELIEVED when "airport" came to me!
ReplyDeleteThat was frightening.
I think I need to read more often, where the words are usually spelled correctly and my brain can be reminded.
ReplyDeleteNot me. I can still spel everything correcktly no matter how old and feebel I becume.
ReplyDeleteOh my gosh - I love Tom's comment. What about kids who abbreviate constantly while texting? I definitely preview before I press publish - sometimes the "corrections" are not at all what I want to say.
ReplyDeleteSpelling is becoming a real problem with me too, and I have the same worries about memory and dementia. I am not real impressed with the spell checking incorporated in my Mac. It often can not correct a simple error which should be obvious and also does the automatics without me noticing. Today it changed dna to dan on me. I have to carefully proofread everything.
ReplyDeleteOne thing I have found very useful is using google to give a correct spelling if your spell checker fails. Search with your mis-spelled word and google will generally give you the correct spelling or give a hit with the correct spelling. Copy the correct spelling and paste it in your document. Google is also a great thesaurus to find that perfect word that is on the tip of your tongue. Unfortunately, much of my life is lived on the tip of my tongue. It was become a red wood forest hiding all those perfect words. Some day I expect to not remember that site I always goto to search things. That's when it is time for the home. This getting old is BS.
Oh my! I have have huge problems in this area, I blame it on Fibro brain fog. If it wasn't for word check I couldn't write at all! I have even used the text feature on my cell phone when I didn't have a computer handy. Oh this day and age we live in!
ReplyDelete