On Monday I came into work, having been off on Friday, to a note left by my boss' son, who is sort of an intern. My financial advisor, Amy, lives in Arizona, where I'm from. The note read
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I am a hardass about spelling, I guess, especially spelling of *names*. I have this prejudice that poor spelling makes you seem less intelligent, even if you aren't. (I really wish I didn't.) I'm actually trying to relax and give people the benefit of the doubt about typos in non-work/school assignment situations, but handwritten, misspelled state names? Poor show, dude.
Right with you on the spelling bias, Rusty. I have been called "the spelling Nazi" by certain family members upon occasion. Heh. Like you, I'm trying to ease up and give people the benefit of the doubt, but damn. "Arazouna"? What the hell?
It's times like these that make me weep for humanity. Sigh.
Oh, yeah. I had the class valedictorian working for me, who later went on to a double major and is now working on his doctorate who couldn't spell anything and I mean anything. When I said something to him he also said That's why computers have spellcheck, I don't need to know how to spell. "head desk at warp speed"
I'm aboard the "spelling is important" train, too. Many of my students are English language learners, so spelling is difficult, and I often have to remind myself to be a little easier on them, although I'm getting stricter about it with my geography students. But with my French students, everything must be spelled right, or I take points away. The excuse I give them is that sometimes when they misspell words in French, they're inadvertantly using other words. The real reason is just that I like to force them to take that extra couple of seconds to make sure everything is spelled correctly.
The real reason is just that I like to force them to take that extra couple of seconds to make sure everything is spelled correctly.
Exactly! So many spelling mistakes in school assignments - and I include my advanced English learners in this - could be corrected if they'd just look carefully over their work before they turned it in.
who writes out the names of states anymore, anyway?
This just occurred to me Bol, you should quiz him on the abbreviations of the A-named states. Just ask him which state is "AR." If he says Arizona, then ask him which state is "AK." And so on. Heh.
See, I would love to do this, but he's not my employee, and he's the boss' son. And that in and of itself isn't that big of a deal, but I'm already coming across as a Spelling Nazi, and I don't think it will make any difference whatsoever. If he were interested in learning how to spell in order to not look like a ding dong, that would be useful, but he's not.
I just have to focus on guiding him to the filing process without allowing him to misfile anything; if he did that, he'd screw the business, because paper's everything to an attorney.
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I am a hardass about spelling, I guess, especially spelling of *names*. I have this prejudice that poor spelling makes you seem less intelligent, even if you aren't. (I really wish I didn't.) I'm actually trying to relax and give people the benefit of the doubt about typos in non-work/school assignment situations, but handwritten, misspelled state names? Poor show, dude.
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It's times like these that make me weep for humanity. Sigh.
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Exactly! So many spelling mistakes in school assignments - and I include my advanced English learners in this - could be corrected if they'd just look carefully over their work before they turned it in.
who writes out the names of states anymore, anyway?
This just occurred to me Bol, you should quiz him on the abbreviations of the A-named states. Just ask him which state is "AR." If he says Arizona, then ask him which state is "AK." And so on. Heh.
Reply
I just have to focus on guiding him to the filing process without allowing him to misfile anything; if he did that, he'd screw the business, because paper's everything to an attorney.
Reply
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