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These days I sometimes stumble spelling the simplest of words. I'm convinced this is not an attribute of age or neglect but rather that there no longer exists a collective belief in the ability of spelling.
The solution is elegantly simple. Each country sets aside a budget for employing people to
get their spelling up to a high standard and then sit around all day reading books and concentrating on the lost arts of language. Thus when I pause the next time, the mere existence of a collective correct spelling will remove the need to search and the inherent danger of switching to US spellings.
This idea might also work for other lost arts.
Spelling Bee
http://en.wikipedia...g/wiki/Spelling_bee
//Serious spelling bee competitors will study root words and etymologies, and often foreign languages from which English draws, in order to spell challenging words. Additionally, there have been several preparatory materials, including those published in connection with the Scripps National Spelling Bee and those created by independent organizations not related to Scripps.// [21 Quest, May 12 2009]
Government Historian
http://www.suite101...rs_in_history/17988
[21 Quest, May 12 2009]
Which Witch?
http://www.amazon.c...1304278/ref=ed_oe_p
If this is the book I remember from a *long* time ago, it's brilliant. [zen_tom, May 14 2009]
[link]
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Sounds a bit like that Acadamie de Francais - or if English is more your thing, those Oxford tpyes (or Websterians in the US) who make dictionaries. |
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I thought this would be a recruitment agency for witches. |
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I would almost mark this for deletion as redundant/widely known to exist.
You are no further than 1 office length and/or 1 T'Internet away from a pedant throughout you're working day.
Your real problem will be to thrash the Truth into the masses. |
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I see. You don't consult these people. It is just that their presence affects the collective ethos.
Maybe we could extend this to driving skills. Or, dare I say it, procreational prowess. |
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//Or, dare I say it, procreational prowess.//
What?, you think it helps you when you know that people are watching for a small mistake??.
Weirdo! |
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No they are not there in the room. They are off somewhere else being experts. |
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Isn't this kinda baked by spelling bees? I mean, the winners aren't salaried, but they get some substantial prize money. The same goes for poetry contests. And I'm sure there are language historians on the federal payroll. I'll do some searching. |
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I like to correct spelling on shop signs and signs at work. I also like to correct the use of 'affect' and 'effect'. Maybe I should apply for this job? |
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//sit around all day reading books and concentrating on the lost arts of language// there was a political party in my hometown once that proposed using 1 dedicated peace-contemplating person per 100 people to somehow bring world-peace. |
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//using 1 dedicated peace-contemplating person per 100 people to somehow bring world-peace// |
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You could take that one of two ways (like the idea). Either the party was suffering from a collective psychosis or they realised the benefit of a collective intelligence. |
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I only phrased the idea's definition to one of psychosis as this is the way people in general think. The truth could be far more mundane. If there are people who can spell, they just naturally set an example and spread their knowledge through everyday communication. So there is utility in the idea without magic, but I'm not discounting the supernatural. Let it be there to believe in until it becomes too real and scares the shit out of you. |
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It's called formative causation, I think. |
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//using 1 dedicated peace-contemplating person per 100 people to somehow bring world-peace.// |
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1 in a million would do the trick if people would vote for them. |
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