I can’t spell. It’s kind of embarrassing because I was once a teacher, and I really don’t spell that well. I have to look up words on google all the time to make sure that I have the right spelling.

It began in first grade when I was in a county spelling contest and misspelled “sit” as “set.” Before the big meet, I remember sitting in the family living room with little paper pieces of all my three letter words to study displayed on the family ottoman. I totally thought I had that thing in the bag.

Then, in fifth grade, myself and about 3 others were taken down on the word “horseback” which I spelled “horsebak.” I blame that one on nerves.

Words I have trouble spelling:
familiar (as familar)
similar (as similiar)
recommended (as reccommended)

Well, there’s more to the list, but I just can’t think of them right now.

I can spell some words right, and I see a few of those words misspelled pretty consistently—sometimes even by close friends. Do I point it out or let it slide? Is it rude or helpful to point out spelling mistakes? I usually don't say anything, because I don't always like to be told. It kind of makes my perfect world crumble a bit.

I try not to be prideful when I see the word spelled wrong—-because the number of brain cells a human has in no way correlates with the number of words we spell right—-even though my brother might beg to differ (my brother is a champion speller).

Today in a work e-mail, I realized that I misued the word “tirade.” So now, I'm not only a bad speller, but also a misuser-of-words. Maybe I am losing brain cells. Or maybe I’ve just been out of school for too long. Can you teach an old dawg new tricks?


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