Dec 20 2008
Spell Check
I hate using spell check. I feel like it is almost insulting to use spell check. I know how to spell. I have always been great at spelling and grammar, so for me to even entertain the thought of spell check is insulting! Of course, unfortunately for me I am a fast typer and though I am quite acurate, I am not 100%, so there sometimes are typos that I don’t catch, and others can mistake a typo for a spelling error…which is also an insult.
I recently posted an assignment for school and got docked one point for a typo. The teacher said I misspelled the word “joining”…. I went back and re-read my assignments and didn’t see where I had even typed that word, but whatever. I know that it’s my bad for not using spell check, or for at least not triple checking my work before I submitted it, but dang. Cut me a little bit of slack? Every single thing I’ve posted in the forums and threads and discussion questions and assignments have been perfect as far as spelling and grammar, it was obviously a stupid typo mistake. I know there should not be an exception for me, that’s not what I’m asking. I guess just the way the teacher said it was insulting. She could’ve said something more along the lines of, “I noticed you had a typo so don’t forget that it’s always a good idea to double check your work with Spell Check.” That would have been way less offensive.
Honestly, I find spell check useless. If I misspell a word, I tend to write in a totally different word. (Example: both times I wrote “word” in this–okay, all three–I wrote in “work” first, then went back and put in the d instead).
Your teacher has a problem. I teach writing at the college level, and I cannot imagine taking a point off for one typo. That’s ridiculous.
Journalists are professional writers, but they make mistakes. That’s why newspapers also have copyeditors. So the mistakes are caught before the newspaper goes out to subscribers.