SPELLS OR STOPS ?

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 33, 9 February 1939, Page 5

SPELLS OR STOPS ?

ESSENTIALS QUERY.

AN ARCHBISHOP'S HERESY.

PUZZLES FOR THE ALIEN,

(By TATTLER.)

LOKDOX. The Archbishop of York has been guilty of educational heresy. In an address to Ktiulents he pave it as his opinion that correct spelling of our mother is not a matter of much '•on-ecjiifiice. Lest I should lie held to I'»• unfair to his Grace. [ quote a liewn-pii|.-er report of his utterance:—

"In writ in" e«»iys there nre two tlnnjjs one has ditticulty with—spoiling and t-lops. Nearly everybody says it i- tin- .-pHlino that matters." Spelling "* "lie (if the decencies of life, like the {"'"I" , ! - »*e of knives and forks. It look* slovenly and jiastv if you spoil wr..n«| y . like trying to Vat your soup with a fork. But, intellect iwlly, spell-infr-KujjliKli spelling—does not" matter. Shakespeare spelt j lis mvil Il||l|ie a( . '-ist tour different ways, and it mav IiHV- his cashier at the bank. "fll.-etually, >t,,ps matter a »r<>nt 1 <■•>'; I' you ui-e »<>tting your commas, Kt>llll-t-.t1..11 M ,|,,,| , U |l st ,,j, H Wl . _jt '"'■""f Unit you are not .uettin- your "'•"■Jj "-., and your mind is

Nj'W let us tackle that problem of !■ in*. ( orrect spellin.- not' essential ? 1 '•aniiot rank my opinion ; ,s hi-li -,s ;»; ';,;•/'»• AnWr; ~S wii ,, ! "" ! "" . "".J , limitation in dedarin- ■ ijiuiiisiI him is that correct spelli.i" is •in evidence of „„„„,! education, and '!"<. """n-ct spelling is 11M ( . vi(l , M , e "I liiliorau.-e. Would the Archbishop Have us believe that the incorrect ■MK-lloi- is likely to be as successful in clerical occupations as would be a col-ret speller? If correct spelling is or little consequence, as be would have us believe, will be tell us what would lie Ins chance of cecuring a position as. say, a clerk or a shorthand typist? If Ik , wrote in his letter of application such word, as "beleive." •recieve." •■lUiineiulo." what do you think would »c said of him ;iud to him ? M'otild li<- not be told that lie was uneducated, and that he was not qualified for the position for which he applied'/ Traps for the Unwary. Bad spelling j s , tluniprli. fairly common. Women are particular offenders. Their notions of spelling alo peculiar. So. too. are the ideas of manv men. even though they occu)>y scholastic position."*. Not lon- tt <<n I received from the headmaster of a school ;l letter in which he omitted one "m"' from the word "recommendation." 1 take it, there- ''."' l ';, tll . i,t l,is ''lulling of '■accommodation" tn io lit be minus one "<■" as well as one "in. ,. And on my desk as I write there is a letter which, judging by the writing, i- from a woman who would be insulted if she were told that she is badly educated. Vet she writes •vroiiic" for "chronic."' and '"oblidge"' for "oblige"! I cannot dose my eyes to the fact that our liiiilmim'_:c presents many difficulties to our sous and daughters, who are lioing educated, mid avi'ii more ditlicult ies to foreigners who are desirous of obtaining a knowledge of Knglish. If there are among my readers any who det-ire to improve their knowledge of our language 1 would advise them to obtain a copy of "Good and Hail Kn-ilish," by "John o' London's Weekly. , ' They will find in it much to enlarge their knowledge of English, and to enable them to avoid errors to which they may at present be prone, whether it be ill spelling, punctuation, or pronunciation. I quote therefrom the following upon spelling: —

"Our spelling standards are notoriously inconsistent. Tliere are many words that art" regularly misspelt in print. Nevertheless, the man who hesitates wUen lie lias to write "harass' and 'embarrass' usually has nt> difficulty in getting his tongue round 'cough' and 'through' 'plough' and 'rough,' 'draught' and 'fraught.' "holly' and 'wholly/ 'committee, and 'comity,' and the many other masquerading yokefellows that make our language the delight of etymologists and the despair of aliens. ... I think it could be maintained that, on the whole, our ear-memory serves us better than our 'eye-memory.'" "The despair of aliens." That, assuredly, is our language. The paragraph I have quoted is a reminder to me of two or three illustrations of the difficulties which confront foreign students of English, alike in spelling and pronunciation. The paragraph cites ■'cough' , and "through," "plough" and "rough." , JJo you. reader, realise that the four letters "ough" represent no fewer than seven different sounds in English: — uff: rough, enough, tough, slough. off: cough, trough. ow: plough, bough, drought, doughty. oh: though, although, dough, slough (bog). oo: through. aw: bought, brought, fought, thought, ought, sought, nought, wrought. The wind was rough And cold and blough; She kept her hands within her mough. It chilled her through, Her nose grew blough, And still the squall the faster flough. And yet although There was no snough, The weather was a cruel fough. It made her cough— Pray do not seough— She coughed until her hat blough ough. Impossible Exactitude. Then there are our eccentric participles, which add to spelling difficulties and stumbling blocks: They are well illustrated in the following lines: — A boy who swims may say he's swum, But milk is .skimmed and seldom skiim. And nails you trim, they are not trum. When words you speak tbose words are spoken, But a nose is tweaked and never twoken, And what you seek is seldom soken. If we forger, then we've forgotten. But things we wet are never wotten, Houses let can not be lotten. The goods one sells are always sold. But fears dispelled are not dispold, Nor what you smell is never smold. A top you spin Is a top spun. But who has seen potatoes «kun? And the ball you drive is a ball you drove, But the life you live is not the life you love. In the opinion of Dr. Temple, punctuation is of more importance than spelling. In my opinion a letter which contains worde incorrectly spelled ie woree —much worse—than a letter which lacks the proper' punctuation marks. As a rule, though the only mark used is a comma, and that often without capital letters commencing fresh sentences, a .letter with punctuation ie better than one which is conspicuous for words wrongly spelled. The trouble is that grammarians find it impossible to lay down hard-and-faet rules for punctuation. As etyle changes so changes punctuation. In the absence of set rules, punctuation, therefore, ie much of a "go-as-you-please" busineee, bo that exactitude is, impossible-