#prescriptivism can burn in hell where it belongs | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

medicinemane · 1 year ago

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Can I just for a minute complain as someone dyslexic about how when I was young everyone would always be like "well look up the spelling in the dictionary"?

Just now, I go to type a word and I spell it something like "erevicobly", which is obviously wrong, but... no idea

Well, I throw it in the search engine* and find out it's irrevocably (didn't spell it right there either, but got it close enough spellcheck could fix it)

Now you might notice something here, which is if I'd looked it up in the dictionary, I wouldn't have found it, no matter how long and hard I searched, because I'd be looking under "er" not "ir"

So do you see why that advice made me mad as hell as a kid, and I stand by my feelings today?

*literally one of the few ways search engines are a blessing is being a really great way to find spellings

#like my typing is great with very few mistakes; but my spelling while mostly alright these days isn't great #cause like... literal diagnosed dyslexia since I was a tiny kid #and let me tell you; no matter the reason; people will shit on you so much for poor spelling (no matter the age too)#fucker; we speak english; everything you said was a lie #there's not (consistent) rhyme or reason to it; and sounding it out is terrible advice cause we've all got fucking accents #and sometimes even if you don't the word is fucking worcestershire and you're fucked #actually gets me a bit heated how many good teachers I had who still acted like this #I actually have many strong opinions on linguistics and teaching despite not being a linguist or a teacher #give me descriptivism or give me death #prescriptivism can burn in hell where it belongs #and one thing that technology has 100% made better (at least for me as a dyslexic adult) is being able to spell well and quickly #it's an aid and an accommodation to me; we just don't look at it like that #I literally can't even spell accommodation; but you get to see the right word there #I have a vast vocabulary... I just can't fucking spell half of it #so prespellcheck you just kind of... had my writing look a lot worse and be a lot harder to parse #the main thing that helped with my spelling wasn't school or anything... it was everquest #you want to be able to type to people and be understood; there's no spellscheck or anything... you work to get it right quickly #mmos are a great way to teach typing if you don't have voice chat #similarly it's actually thanks to tumblr that I'm a quick typist; zero formal training with it and sucked through my teens #was a quick chicken scratch typist... pretty fast; but I pecked #through typing a lot of messages and asks to people on here and wanting to do it quickly I stumbled on something pretty...#close to what I think they teach; though I'm pretty sure there's gotta be some differences #it's nothing formal for one thing; it's all muscle memory; the fingers go where they go #but I can type pretty fast and accurately with my eyes closed #and it's just cause... I wanted to say things to people and say it quickly #eh... I hope I kill myself soon #... it seems out of nowhere; but that's just how my brain works; this is stream of consciousness more or less so... figured I'd leave it #anyway... there whatever this is... is #mm tag so i can find things later

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