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Friday, March 09, 2007Dumbed-Down SpellingI was driving the down the road with Spencer, on our way home from dropping the girls off at ballet. Spencer must have been busy reading signs as we passed them, because he suddenly said, "Bar -- B -- Q." Pause. "Bar--B--Q? I thought it was BARBARA Q." I choked back the giggle in my throat. "Barbara Q?" "Yeah, that sign says Bar-B-Q instead of Barbara Q." "Spencer, it's BARBECUE. They just spell it that silly way." "Ohhhhhhhhhh." Pause. "What's barbecue?" "It's that stuff you eat, you know, like pork barbecue?" Okay, so it's been a while since I've made pork barbecue. I'm not sure where "Barbara Q" fits into this picture. Spencer has trouble with the "Drive Thru" sign at the Walgreen pharmacy, too. He insists that "thru" is pronounced with a short "u" sound. "Thruh." "That says DRIVE THRUH." (For the hundredth time.) "No, it says DRIVE THRU." "That's not how you spell 'through.'" "Yes, I know that. They just spell it that way. It's slang. You still say DRIVE THROUGH." "No, it's DRIVE THRUH." Whatever. I'm not even going to explain "doughnut" versus "donut." Even Eric has trouble with that one. I wonder what it feels like to live in a society that actually spells words the right way. And I don't care what anyone says. It's dumbing down, plain and simple. "Qwik." "Nite." "Lite." "Draft" beer. Try raising an extremely literal child in the midst of all this word slaughtering. It's maddening. Of course, I still have no idea where Barbara Q came from. Maybe she's the one who thought up all these ridiculous spellings in the first place. She might be on to something. "Jill Bome" is a lot easier to pronounce. I'll have to ask Spencer what he thinks about that. Labels: parenting |
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9of my readers are feeling chatty:
Then ask your self this: Why is "Abbreviated" such a long word?
Ooohhh, you just gave me a nasty flashback to our pre-homeschooling days when Kristy was in school learning "invented spelling".
That would explain where all these sign writers are coming from... :-P
I'm not confused about donuts, it is not Dunkin Doughnuts, is it?
Why? Think about the words rough, tough, enough.
So it should be pronounced "duffnuts." But noooooooo.
Its "dohnuts"
So, we now have the correct spelling "donuts."
Ask anyone who tries to learn the English language how many exceptions we have.
I suppose you pronounce February,
FebRUary, Jill?
Nevermind, I know you do. :)
Eric
We have those moments in our house, too!
SNORT!
We all just need to move to England...oh wait, they ARE the culprits! ROFLOL!
Seriously, its awful, isn't it...
Well Eric, there is an "R" in there.
Now, if she Wed-Nez-Day for Wednesday, that's a bit much!
Although, I suppose the "Brett Favre" way I say it isn't much better: "Wends-Day".
At least I dont say "Amblee-Unce" for ambulance, or Aloonimum for aluminum. My metal shop teacher said it that way. LOL
Ain't Langy-age inter-sting?
My 7 yr old is going through the same thing with signs and we have had quite a few lessons on spelling. Try explaining what an adult bookstore is LOL. If only he couldn't read everything.
"GHOTI" actually is how to spell the word "fish" "gh" as in "tough" makes the "f" sound, "o" as in "women" makes the "i" sound, and "ti" as in "nation" makes the "sh" sound. this is our language, just gotta learn to deal with it.
Catman:
I was actually thinking about Ghoti as I wrote my last comment. LOL
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