Spelling
I cannot spell. I can usually type words fairly well and even those who can spell manage to make enough silly errors online so that it is not so obvious that I am outstandingly bad at spelling. Or maybe it is just that my incoherent run-on sentences make others forget about something as small as how the jumble of words is spelled.
In any case, I long ago adjusted to the fact that I cannot spell. I am still a little ashamed of it, but with the help of that little ABC✓ I do not think about it much and it did not even matter much in college. I only remember two corrections: the one time that I mentioned the “Greaks” in an informal assignment, and something I cannot remember on an ethics paper.
But as of yesterday spelling matters again. A staffing agency wanted me to take what seemed like every test ever invented (I know that is not the case since they did not test me in Quickbooks, but we’ll forget about that). And one of the tests included a lot of “find the spelling error.” I rolled my eyes and rolled with it and got 70th percentile, but that is only because it was averaged with the math questions and people who take these tests are not the brightest.
When I went in for my interview I was handed several sheets of paper with self-assessments and, you guessed it, another spelling test. It consisted of 20 words and I was supposed to put an “x” by those misspelled. And yes, misspelled was one of the words. I looked over the list carefully, but unfortunately none of the words had a red squiggly line underneath. Only about five stood out as clearly misspelled, so I proceeded to check off half of those about which I was uncertain. This included words such as “categories.” Oops.
Now I have to wonder, how on earth is it that these people know that I never took spelling tests in 3rd grade? And why is it that they feel the need to make up for it now?
If you actually read this post you’re probably not able to focus on the meaning of the words due to searching for spelling errors. For this post, and this post alone, I welcome your spelling corrections. Please don’t worry about the mistakes in punctuation, sentence structure etc. And, since you’re wondering, “runon” was the only word that I corrected thanks to ms. squiggly red line. Though now that I think about it, I can’t believe that “squiggly” is really spelled that way.
I am a horrible speller as well! When I send out letters for job interviews I practically look up every word to make sure it is spelled correctly! There’s a job opening that I’m interested in…but it says “must be a good speller.” Uh oh…..
Just remind yourself that you didn’t want the job anyway.
I’ve never had to take a spelling test for a job; and your little note at the end made me laugh. I don’t spend much time looking for spelling errors, but I was looking this time.
Didn’t see any errors, though. What gets me is using the proper form of “they’re/their” and “you’re/your”. It shouldn’t be that tough, but I have to think about it every single time. Unfortunately, spell check is not a big help with that problem!
You crack me up! FWIW, I have never, EVER noticed a spelling error in one of your posts…though you definitely had me pegged–I spent the whole post looking for one! hehehe It is astounding how many words look like gibberish when you start really looking at them.
I am also a terrible speller – I love how firefox will underline spelling errors for me.
As a child I would consistently do wretchedly on spell tests – I remember doing an assignment in elementary school about aboriginal chiefs but I spelled it “chef.” I’ve gotten a lot better, but I still get really confused with a lot of words, especially with the whole “ie” or “ei” thing.
How did the interview go despite the spelling test?
I *hate* the “ie” “ei” thing. There are far too many exceptions beyond “neighbor and weigh.” The only thing worse for me is “ee” vs. “ea.”
And thanks for asking about the interview. I think that it went well. We’ll see.
Ah…spelling. Well, i was the annoying person that never had to study for spelling tests and still got 100%. I’m astounded that a spelling test was such a big part of the hiring process! I could only pray for that to be the case when I was job hunting!!!
Don’t worry…I don’t spell-haze bloggers…heck, sometimes I get in such a hurry that I make typos or use the wrong there/their/they’re….and I find it later!
Last year a friend finally burst out and told me it was absolutely killing him that I was incorrectly using “then” and “than”. Believe it or not, I had to get clarification from my husband and then, for the first time in my life, begin using them correctly. :O)