A Spelling Nazi
Yes, that is what I was called not long ago for pointing out a spelling mistake: a Spelling Nazi … I guess, I have to admit that spelling mistakes do pain me and I try to eliminate them as much as possible – I guess that’s where the Nazi comes in, in the minds of some. Yet, I am trying to eliminate writing mistakes – not people …
I grew-up in a dictatorial educational system in Eastern Europe. One would not pass grade two without spelling properly and without knowing your table of division and multiplication. Fast-forward to North America, early nineteen-nineties when I first arrived here and I realized that not even kids in high school did not know how to spell. I have a buddy teaching English in South Korea and I am sure he still can’t spell for beans … I cannot decide if it is the impossibility of the English language or the failure of the educational system which has produced generations of spelling monsters, here in North America.
English is certainly a tough language to learn – I should know, it is my fourth language that I had to make sense of (although by now, I forgot almost all the Deutsch I spoke at one point) but I am still confused why many people who are born here, have serious difficulties with spelling. And now, not only are kids having trouble writing but when I point-out a simple editing mistake, I am suddenly seen as the spelling police guy: the Spelling Nazi …
There is certainly a push against intellectuals nowadays. If one is seen as knowledgeable, one is seen as stuck-up or high on themselves … It seems as if people are just discouraged to think nowadays: the less thinking the better – reminds me of a saying in Romania during the years spent under the Iron Curtain: `We work – we don’t think`. I think we are reaching that point in North America now: a good sign for me because in Romania not long after the `we work – we don’t think` time, came the Revolution of 1989. At least the System got re-shuffled a little.
In regards to writing on Hub-pages, it bothers me even when I end-up reading something which I have written a long time ago and I find a spelling mistake. It makes me wonder if people who have read the work at hand have even noticed the spelling error and if they did, why would nobody point it out? I don’t call people Spelling Nazis …
I do not think one can improve their writing if mistakes are not pointed out and learned from. Thus, I do encourage people to help-out each other regarding spelling mistakes at least – not because we want to show others how “bright” we are but to help others and ourselves at the same time, in writing better.
