Blumin Annoying!

I have just learnt that knowing how to spell can actually be detrimental rather than advantageous. Let me explain...

I have been trying to track down a dress to match a jacket I bought a while ago. Yesterday afternoon, I rang the distributer and she gave me the names of a number of stores to ring around to see if they had the dress in stock. One of the store names she gave me was 'Blooming Gorgeous' (at least that's what it sounded like!). She also told me that it was located in the Niecon Plaza at Broadbeach.

When I finished the phone call, I thought I'd do a google search for the phone numbers of the stores to try to source the much-desired dress. Well, this was where I hit a fairly large stumbling block. I typed 'Blooming Gorgeous' into google and was presented with 'about' 988 000 hits, all to flower related sites (although I must admit to not going further than the first page). Then, I thought I'd get clever and google 'Blooming Gorgeous Broadbeach' and clicked 'pages from Australia' before I hit the 'Search' button. Hey presto! The search narrowed to 809 hits, although was still mostly florists and some maternity sites. I noticed the search was also throwing up results with 'bloomin', so next I did a search for 'Bloomin Gorgeous Broadbeach'. Even though I got 375 hits, lower than both previous searches, the early indications from the first few pages were that I was on a wild goose chase. I was at my wits' end - surely it wasn't meant to be this difficult. A yellow pages search was equally frustrating - all I got were numbers for a florist and an escort.

Finally, after I recollected the phone call with the supplier, I remembered she mentioned that the store was in the Niecon Plaza, so, in desperation, I googled 'Niecon Plaza Broadbeach', which yielded the Niecon Plaza as top hit. With shaking hands (okay, not quite shaking), I clicked on the link and went to the Niecon Plaza home page. From there, I clicked on 'Shopping Directory', went to 'Fashion and Beauty', and there it was, third from the top, 'Blumingorgus'. I laughed out loud when I saw its spelling. It would have taken me years (actually, no it would not have, as I would not have persevered!) to have found the shop with a google search using this mispelling. I have to wonder what possessed someone to choose such an obscure spelling for a business name.

All I can say is that I hope they rely on passing trade, rather than on people guessing at the spelling. Spelling matters! By the way, when I phoned the store, they didn't even have the dress I was looking for. Can you believe it? I'm too exhausted now to even try finding the phone numbers for the other store names I was given!

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Solution to Proofreading Challenge

Here is the proofread copy -

He was known by many as one of the greatest businessmen of Australian history, thanks to a cunning and decisive ability to predict successful investments and interests of the business. He suffered an amazing total of eight heart attacks, and was once declared clinically dead.

How did you do?

Of course, if this was the first sentence of an essay or article, it would be more appropriate to begin the sentence with the name of the subject rather than 'He'. Incidentally, the subject of this proofreading exercise is Kerry Packer.

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Proofreading Challenge

Here's another proofreading challenge for you -

He was known by many as won of the greatest businesmen of australian history, thanks to cunning and desisive ability to predict succesfull investments and intrests of the buisiness, he suffered an amazing total of eihgt heart attaks, and was once declared clinicly dead.

Stay tuned for tomorrow's blog for the correct version to see what a good 'spotter' you are!

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Proofreading Solution

Here is the corrected version of yesterday's blog post proofreading challenge.

After five years’ study, it’s possible to hypothesise that technology has overtaken the human mind. The age group most affected is 17-24 year olds.

How did you go?

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Like a challenge? Then, proofread this...

After 5 year’s study, its possible to hypothesize that technology has overtaken the human mind. The age group most effected in 17-24 year olds.

See how you went - check tomorrow's blog.

PS. There are six errors in total.

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Commonly misspelled words - "B"

* bail, bale

- bail (noun) - the sum of money given to a court as a guarantee that the accused will return to court for trial
- bail (noun) - the small cylindrical piece of wood which sits across the stumps in cricket
- bale (verb) - to remove water from the bottom of a boat
- bale (noun)- a large, compact package or bundle held together by wire or cord

* bait, bate

- bait (noun) - a form of lure to attract prey
- bait (verb) - to anger or torment deliberately
- bate (verb) - to lessen

* ballet, ballot

- ballet (noun) - an artistic dance form
- ballot (noun) - a method of voting in secret
- ballot (verb) - to vote using ballot

*bare, bear

- bare (adjective) - plain, empty
- bear (verb) - to support, to suffer
- bear (noun) - a kind of animal
- bear (noun) - a person who expects share prices to fall and acts on that belief

* baron, barren

- baron (noun)- a nobleman or a powerful person in business or industry
- barren (adjective) - unfruitful, sterile

* beech, beach

- beech (noun) - a type of deciduous tree
- beach (noun) - the seashore formed by waves

* breath, breathe

- breath (noun) - the air that is inhaled and exhaled during respiration
- breathe (verb) - to inhale and exhale

* bought, brought

- bought (verb) - the past tense of the verb, to buy
- brought (verb) - the past tense of the verb, to bring

* berry, bury

- berry (noun) - a form of small stoneless fruit
- bury (verb) - to cover or put underground

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Commonly misspelled words - "A"

* advise, advice
- advise (verb) - I advise you to begin your trip early.
- advice (noun) - I received good advice from the travel agent.

* aloud, allowed
- aloud (adverb) - She cried aloud in pain.
- allowed (verb) - The girl wasn't allowed to go stay out past midnight.

* alter, altar
- alter (verb) - The dressmaker was able to alter my new skirt.
- altar (noun) - The newly married couple stood before the altar.

* affect, effect
- affect (verb) - The weather should not affect our plans too much.
- effect (noun) - The downturn in the market had a big effect on their investment.

* assure, ensure, insure
- assure (verb) - We assure you of best quality service. (to instil confidence)
- ensure (verb) - We will ensure this is completed by tomorrow. (to make something happen)
- insure (verb) - She should insure her car for $20 000. (buying insurance)

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Spell check THIS! Dus speling reely matr?

Wot doo u thinck? Thees daze it seams know won maiks aknee fusss abbout speling rite. Du u get two bothrd iff u carnt reed wot sumwon elz hase ritten? Iff it stil maiks cents isernt that orll that matrs? Sownds arl rite too mee.

Four sum reel phun weeth krasy speling and non cents werds, read Lewis Carroll's "Jabberwocky" from his sequel to Alice in Wonderland, Through the Looking Glass.

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How to use a computer spell check

Now that your computer spell checker is set up to use the correct language dictionary, here's how it should be used.

1. You have misspelled (or mistyped) a word. The computer will offer you a replacement spelling, with sometimes more than one possibility (depending on how far off the correct spelling you have gone). You may need to consult a dictionary (paper or internet based) to ensure the alternative spelling you choose is right in the context of your sentence.

2. You have spelled a word correctly, however, the computer does not recognise the word. This often occurs in the case of proper nouns, such as a person's name or a street, suburb or city name. It may also occur in the case of abbreviations, such as "Dr". You will be given the option to accept this spelling by clicking on 'ignore all' to allow all instances of this same spelling wherever they appear in your document.

A word of caution - for all that the spell checker is an excellent tool to employ, it will not identify incorrect spelling of a word in a particular context. For instance, in the sentence, 'The girls dressed in there finest gowns for the ball', the word 'there' would not be identified by spell checker. Of course, 'their' is the correct spelling in the context of this sentence. For this reason, a writer should not rely completely on spell checker to 'fix' their writing, rather, it should be used as one of the several tools every good writer employs.

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How to set your computer spell checker to your language

When using a spell checker, you need to make sure your computer's spell checker is set to the language in which you are operating. For English, there are two possible options - English (US) and English (Australian/UK). Because I am based in Australia, I have the Australian version set on my computer.

To set up your spell checker to use the correct English language dictionary (or to check this is already in place), follow this easy process:

* Open Microsoft Word and left click on the 'Review' tab
* Go to 'Proofing' section
* Left click on the icon with a globe and a red tick, which is 'Set Language'
* Left click and you will see a listing of all possible languages which can be set as your spell checker, from Afrikaans to Yoruba.
* Highlight the language of your choice and click on the default button, which will set up the 'Normal' template for all future documents to rely on the spell checker language you have chosen.

This should take you no more than 30 seconds to achieve. You can rest assured from this point on that your spelling will be correct for the English context in which you are operating.

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One or two words?

There are certain words in the English language which cause confusion:

Always written as two words:

* thank you
* in front
* all right
* in fact
* on to

Always written as one word:

* today
* tomorrow
* tonight

Can be either depending on context of use:

* all ways, always

eg. I tried all ways out but they were blocked.
I always take my umbrella out with me.

* may be, maybe

eg. She may be unable to attend the party.
Maybe I'll have a coffee.

* every one, everyone

eg. The toddler ate every one of her peas for dinner.
We asked everyone we knew to come to the celebration.

* all together, altogether

eg. The students gathered all together for the principal's address.
Altogether, the boys had enough money to buy three packets of lollies.

* some times, sometimes

eg. There are some times when the tide reaches the base of the bridge.
Sometimes he skips his morning jog and sleeps in.

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10 Uses for a Dictionary

1. How to spell a word, including alternative spellings
2. Part of speech – eg. noun, verb or adjective
3. How to pronounce the word
4. How to break the word into syllables
5. Definition/s
6. History/origin of the word – known as etymology
7. Example sentence – usage in context
8. Possible other forms of the word
9. Any abbreviations of the word
10. In between actual use, having a dictionary on your shelf will make you look smarter to others.

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Paper Caper

Yesterday, my daughter and I had a day at the shops, specifically driven by her current obsession with Smiggle stationery and the sale the store was having.

Upon our arrival at the shopping centre, we made a beeline for the Smiggle store, where she spent quite a while browsing and making very important decisions about her purchases. I passed the time looking at their range of folders and cards. A colourfully striped pack of manilla folders caught my eye and I picked them up to check the price. I had to have a little giggle to myself as the pricing label stated - foolscrap folders. The tiny spelling error, an unnecessary "r" in foolscap, certainly altered my perception of the possible quality of the folders.

Do I need to say that I walked out of the store without having purchased that particular item?

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Spelling Stress

I've just been speaking to my son about the words he finds most difficult to spell. He turned 10 in January, reads willingly and has undergone a fairly intensive spelling programme at his school over the past three years.

In his opinion, two of the words he finds most difficult to spell are exaggerate and apparatus. For the former, he said he adds an extra "z" into the early part to make it "exzaggerate" and, because the vowels all sound different in the latter, he has tried variations of "apperatis", substituting vowels at random. Unless my son had explained all this to me, I would have assumed his misspellings were the results of doubling other consonants in each word, as in "exaggerrate"and "apparratus".

I find it interesting that spelling certain words will be difficult for one person, but relatively straightforward for another. Further, it is quite fascinating to hear the logic behind a person's choice for spelling a word in a certain way, and, I might add, often quite instructive, if not correct. I am sure everyone possesses their own particular spelling challenge, and the old adage, practise makes perfect, is likely to be the best remedy. My strongest advice is that a dictionary is indispensable (or is that indispensible?). Keep one within arm's reach and use it with abandon.

Lastly, don't rely on computer spell checks, as, without the definition, how do you know whether you've got the word you really want? A case in point - the spelling conundrums outlined earlier come from the same boy who can spell "viscosity", but thinks it means "to have visitors coming to one's house".

I'd be interested to hear about your personal spelling challenge...

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Furry Fruity Food!

I've just been to the local shops to pick up a few groceries. As I walked past the local fruiterers, my attention was caught by a sign advertising "Lemingtons" for sale. Not having ever heard of a fruit or vegetable of this name, I moved closer and saw they were actually selling lamingtons, a well-known Australian favourite (don't bother asking me why a fruit shop was selling a bakery item, as I have no idea!).

Even though it was plain to see they were everyday lamingtons, I still couldn't quite bring myself to buy a pack - my initial reaction to the misspelling made me think they might taste like a lemon-flavoured, small, furry creature, likely to jump off my plate! I wonder how many other passers-by enjoyed a little chuckle at this today...

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Proofreading Trivia

Last night, we went to a trivia night at our children's school. Sadly, our team did not win, nor place among the top three, although we did have an enjoyable night, with lots of laughs and fun.

However, as can happen when one starts losing and wants to deflect attention from one's own inadequacies, another member of our team and I did consider requesting that certain questions be deemed invalid on the grounds of incorrect spelling or punctuation. As the MC for the night read each question, it was also displayed on the large screen behind him.

The following questions were, to us, in question:

1. What was Will Smith's sons name in the film, "The Pursuit of Happyness"?

Our gripe was that it was not clear whether there was more than one son in the film, let alone why they shared a name at all. Had the question read - What was Will Smith's son's name in the film, "The Pursuit of Happyness" - it would have been perfectly clear what was being asked (but, just between you and me, I still wouldn't have known the answer!).

2. Which team did St Kilda loose to in the 1996 AFL grand final?

Of course, it's not possible for 'loose' to be used as a verb. It is an adjective, as in, 'I pulled out my loose tooth'. Lose/loose are commonly substituted for each other. Correctly written, the question should have read - Which team did St Kilda lose to in the 1996 AFL grand final? Of course, Adelaide Crows fans might prefer the question be completely reworked to say - Which team did the Adelaide Crows beat in the 1996 AFL grand final?

I must admit that even had we acted upon our, admittedly, mean-spirited grievance, I secretly think there would have been no difference to the outcome! We needed more than two extra points to change the results of the evening.

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