Is good spelling overrated?

Answer 1

Not at all. Good spelling (and good grammar) allow you to get your ideas across without having to repeat yourself, without having to worry about meaning being misconstrued and without having to worry about being judged as uneducated.

Answer 2

I just had to take a question off because my spelling was the hot topic of the conversion, not the question I asked. People can be really hurtful. Some off us are not the best at spelling but are great at other things. Good spelling and grammar are not everything and who has the right to tell you that you are crap at it. I have always had good job's and my spelling was never and issue. I have been a manger, and been able to pay people on time and not get things wrong, I always used spell check when I can. I went to college and passed my exam's and i have ten GCSE, I have BTEC and GNVQ as well as NVQ's. I passed didn't I so why is spelling so important. my kids can spell and that's all that counts and I can do an adult course in spelling if i want to, and maybe one day I will.

Answer 3

Honestly, it depends on the situation. If you're in the middle of an IM chat, and your friend on the other end knows you well enough, then spelling isn't such a big deal. If you're writing a note to yourself, and you can understand it, you can spell any way you want. (That's the key principle behind shorthand.)

However, if you're writing a cover letter for a job application and don't care about spelling, you tell your potential employer that you didn't really care enough about the job to be careful about the little details, and they will assume you'll have a similar attitude toward their customers. You won't get hired.

I know a fellow recently who fired an employee for routinely sending out emails to customers with poor capitalization, punctuation, and spelling. After several warnings, the employee still didn't care, and the customers were starting to talk. It was making a horrible impression.

Lastly, if you're writing for publication, taking care with the little details suggests to your readers that you probably cared enough to get the big details (like facts and figures) right, too. A person who doesn't care about typos and spelling is also more likely not to care about dates and dollars (and other facts).

So, again, it depends on the context.

Answer 4

I think it is most important, or else there could be some major foul ups along the way. Also, I would think most people should know how to spell to avoid being thought ignorant.

You might find the following joke funny though !!!!!!!

I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg The
phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid. Aoccdrnig to rscheearch taem at
Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod
are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the
rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit
a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by
istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Such a cdonition is arppoiately cllaed
Typoglycemia :)-
Amzanig huh? Yaeh and yuo awlyas thought slpeling was ipmorantt.

Answer 5

Absolutely not. The ability to spell should be fundamentally part of education. There is so much reliance on the damn spell checker these days that we are breeding a society of people who would fail dimally in a spelling test. It's a very sad state of affairs.

Answer 6

NO - ABSOLUTELY NOT. To be taken seriously in life you need to be reasonably converse in language skills especially writing. If someone tries to educate you with atrocious spelling and bad grammar then most people will ignore them. Text messages and chat room slang are a sign of the times unfortunately, that and the influx of immigrants. Schools are too frightened to mark these people down for bad writing... in case it might offend them. Likewise the equally thick indigenous population... so as to not offend them the pass required for many things has been lowered. Even in sports you will probably soon see, the winner, then the second winner, followed by the last winner....... I bet it's on it's way.......

Charlie

Answer 7

If what you are writing about mattes to you, if the person you are writing about matters to you, if you care enough about yourself to matter to you, then it is important to be understood. If what you are writing is important enough to show you care, and if it is important enough to not look foolish, then it helps in each area to take the trouble (at least) to be 'as correct' as you can be.

Years ago when I had a simple typewriter, I spent hours 'agonising' about my spellings, going through the amazingly gut-wrenching searches in dictionaries, then having to edit everything I had written, précising it and then re-writing it (a number of times).

Now, there (here) is the spell-checker built in, and those agonies are taken away from me leaving me to work with a relative ease.

I cared about who I was writing to, and of what I was writing about. I wanted to be taken seriously. So I checked and re-checked.

It is sad, for example, that although you may be able to tell a terrific story, that if you write with bad or uncared for spelling and with terrible grammar, then an editor is going to be really, really very reluctant to read it. Sad, but it is human nature ....and you __BOTH__ lose out.

I could suggest further examples that might help you understand, but my experience is that those under 35 years of age either have that all but universal Attention Deficit Disorder, or they have the ‘Don't Wanner Hear’ mentality (= they suffer from 'Laziness,' and or they have the 'I'm right' genetic inheritance).


If it matters to you, then it matters. If it doesn’t, then you don’t either.

Best of luck.
Sash.

Answer 8

Yes it is overrated as someone of moderate intelligence will usually know what someone is trying to say. Dyslexics are smart and they have real problems spelling. None of this takes away peoples responsibility to try and spell correctly and be understood though. It is very rude to point out other peoples spelling mistakes when you know nothing about them and if someone does it with me I usually point out their mistakes so they know that they aren't perfect and shouldn't do it again.

Answer 9

If you want people to view you as lazy,ignorant,uneducated and possibly stupid then yes good spelling would be overrated. If you want to be thought of as smart,considerate, educated,ambitious and a good communicator,then good spelling is essential. You can be a genius but if your grammar and spelling are poor,you will always appear stupid and lazy to others,especially employers.

Answer 10

Good spelling is widely underrated, if you ask me. I think that people draw a correlation between the way a person spells and speaks and their level of intellect.

Answer 11

Absolutely not! I am a huge proponent of correct spelling and grammar. Perhaps, this is why I am the household spell check for my entire family.