Muppet grammar grinch creeps into class

[Crankin]

When we first moved back to Massachusetts one of my sons, who was 8, came home and insisted that the word drawer (like dresser drawer) was spelled draw. I was furious, because I knew he had picked this up at school, most likely from a teacher (she had sent something home with this spelling). I had worked so hard to lose all traces of my accent when I moved away and I made sure my kids kept their flat little midwest accents that they got from being born in AZ. I mean, I check every single piece of paper or e mail that goes out to parents. So, I think that some people really *do* think that things like "prolly" and "draw" are real. It depends where you live. I have parents, not much younger than me send me notes with "u" for you. People really don't see what's wrong with this.
We are a dying breed.

[solobiker]

Hi there. I know I can not spell very well, never have been very good at that. I work with someone who always makes up words or shortens them. For example, if you ask her a question she often states " noneya" which means none of your business. She has several words she likes to use.

[redrhodie]

We are a dying breed.

I think we are an evolving breed, and IMing is having a huge impact on both language and culture. My friend, who just taught a college level class, told me kids think email is for old people. It seems a simplification of our language is already occuring, and the complexities of spelling will "prolly" be eliminated by a phonetic and abbreviated new English. IMHO.

Remember when we learned to write cursive. Do kids learn that anymore?

[Veronica]

Remember when we learned to write cursive. Do kids learn that anymore?

Yes.


V.

[kelownagirl]

Yes.


V.

I teach it in grade 3.

[OakLeaf]

Well, English was written for some 800 years before spelling was standardized, so it may be that standardized spelling is (was?) just a passing fad. Perhaps something intended all along to stratify society, or provide evidence of a writer's social class to a reader who might not be acquainted with him (since in those days it would've been almost exclusively "him").

I wonder about the text messaging though. Most of us are probably part of that "fastest-growing demographic" and most of us have probably been taught by our younger relatives how to use the predictive spelling feature. While kids four or five years ago might've used abbreviations and numbers to substitute for word sounds, nowadays it's quicker most of the time to key in the actual words.

I read a science fiction story a couple of years back - I can't even remember the plot, but there'd been some kind of disaster so the computers weren't accessible, and the thing about it was that everyone in the community knew how to read, but no one knew how to write. Interesting thought. I very, very rarely write any more, as in marking characters on a fiber-based storage medium. The closest I come to it is entering Graffiti! characters on my Palm.

[spotlightmama]

I think we are an evolving breed, and IMing is having a huge impact on both language and culture. My friend, who just taught a college level class, told me kids think email is for old people. It seems a simplification of our language is already occuring, and the complexities of spelling will "prolly" be eliminated by a phonetic and abbreviated new English. IMHO.

Remember when we learned to write cursive. Do kids learn that anymore?

Agreed. The English language is constantly evolving. What we speak today would horrify past "sticklers." Think of "goodbye," which originated from "God be with you." That doesn't seem to be so different from prolly.

But I do hate the word "prolly"; maybe because it makes think of Proles, which makes me thing of 1984, which always makes me a little sick.

[KnottedYet]

I remember something from one of my Shakespeare classes about how many different ways Shakespeare spelled his own name.

There was a bit of discussion about how some folks thought this was proof that there were several people writing under the nom de plume "Shakespeare", but the upshot was that at that time creative spelling was the norm, even for one's own name.