Friday, September 02, 2011

Spelling Rage

I just saw a Facebook page called "Learning How To Fucking Spell Properly":

1. When I first read it, I put the fourth word after the fifth word, which changed the meaning.

2. Then I wondered why such a page would be necessary anyway: I rarely see anyone misspell "properly."

3. Then it struck me as odd that someone with spelling rage would split an infinitive. Not that split infinitives are incorrect, but that most people with spelling-rage issues also have grammar-rage issues.

6 comments:

Dominic Rivron said...

Also, anyone with grammar-rage might well prefer to avoid an over-used adjective. I'd go with "Learning how to jolly well spell properly."


I'm also reminded that Monty Python once produced a list of silly book titles, including "How to Spell" by The Quoon.

Andrew Shields said...

"Jolly well" would make it a British page. :-)

Mrs Crocodile said...

Andrew, thanks for this post, but I feel I must ask you please do not parcel up those sufferers of spelling-rage with sufferers of grammar-rage. They really are two very distinct illnesses, the treatments of which differ enormously. :-)

Andrew Shields said...

Do tell, Mrs. C, what the treatments are! For grammar rage, some historical linguistics helps, but few people want to hear that.

Mrs Crocodile said...

My grama is a good grammarian. Maybe you could ask yours? Or mine? Spelling-rage is notoriously hard to cure, some say that it's incurable. That may be why the "over-used adjective" was used. I guess the Quoon doesn't use it much...

Sara said...

andrew, this reminds me of the NTFM story, of course....