I admit it. I'm a bit of a pedant. And, it has caused some friction in my life.
I went to Catholic elementary school overseas and had grammar, spelling, and punctuation beat (sometimes literally) into me. Even then, I won most spelling bees in school.
I then transitioned to public school here in Northern Virginia - some of the finest schools in the country, as statistics would tell you. But, my classmates were considerably behind in those skills. Still, teachers appeared to make an effort to help them improve.
THE META SPELLING ERROR LIST FOLLOWS...
I think the internet, while being a wonderful means to share information at speeds and volumes inconceivable just a decade ago, is ultimately to blame.
Or is it?
Could the very immediacy of the technology cause folks to be careless? And, that it leads to spelling, grammar, and punctuation errors that have become adopted by many as accepted rules? Have folks seen "definitely" spelled "definately" enough to think that they've been spelling it wrong and now use the incorrect form?
What is the impact? My opinion is that those in other English-speaking countries have such a low regard for us in the U.S. because of our lousy educational system, but also for our (perceived) intelligence. More disturbing is how many non-native speakers of English visiting and using progressive websites actually spell better than we do, as a whole.
And the sad thing is that I think it's too late. The past 10+ of exposure has fossilized these errors into an irreparable state.
Or, I could just be mental...
Here, then, is a list I've compiled since mid-November of particular spelling errors I've seen on this site and sites linked from Daily Kos. It is by no means a complete tally of all the spelling (and some grammar and punctuation) errors in that time period. However, I think it is illustrative of my point. There's a possibility some of the errors were genuine typos, but I did try to compare it to the authors' other writing, where possible, to determine the situation.
Without further ado,....THE LIST!!!
a head of the pack
Abhraham Lincoln
Abramhoff, Abramson (!), Abramof
absollute
Abu Graib, Abu gharib, Abu Grahib, Abu Grahaib, Abu Graibh, Abhu Ghraib
accessable
adeacuate
(received) advise
affraid
Al Queada, Al Queda, Al Quaida
alledgely
alsheimer's
ammendment
amunition
anadotal
anomoly
antedote
apparantly
appart
appologist
aquaintance
arguement
articals
assurtion
ben Ladens (Bin Laden's)
Bin Ladin
bizzare
blatently
bold-faced lie
briggade
Bucannon
bungelingly
Bushes Wire Tapping
cahones
cajones
casette player
celebertireis (HAS to be a typo - TeacherKen)
champiagns (champions)
charicature-of-the-week
Chaney, Cheny's shooting
Cheyney
chomping at the bit
circusses
cloths (clothes)
collumnist
coming
Comission
comment's (I've read)
consecutivly
consistant, consistantly
conspiricy
consummed
coralling
Coultier
couragious
cousin's (pl.)
croneys
(The Russerts,) Couric's and Matthew's (of the world)
DAM (damn)
(I'll be) dammed
(We need more Howard) Dean's (and Paul) Hackett's.
debaucle
definately, defiantly, definitly
Deja Vue
degridation
Deleware
derivitive
deseciption (????)
desparate
desparation
devestating
Devinchi code
diarys, diary's (diaries)
dias (dais)
Diebolt
differance
discraced
discription
dispicable
dissorder
doctor's (to follow Dick around)
dorment
Duck tape
dumpting (Kos - frontpage)
eggregious
Eleanore Roosevelt
emmerged
emmulate
epithat
Exagerration
exerpts
expidition, expidite
Ezra Klien
Farenheight 9/11
forin (foreign)
formost
Fortunatly
Freespeach-Zone Crap
frey (fray)
gage (gauge)
Gail Norton (Gale)
Gatoraide
Genuinne
Gingritch
Glenn Greenwalk
Gonsales
Grapic (diary title)
greatful
guerilla
gymnist
haughtyness
hero's (pl.)
high-jacked
Hilary (Clinton)
hillarious
Hillary Rosen (Hilary)
hording (hoarding)
humerous
hypocrits, hypocracy
I hear theres photos. (apostrophe - there are)
illeagal
illigite
imbicilic
immitates
imoral
inconsistancies
incumbant
indited
infinate
insentive
intellegent
intimate (intimidate)
Iraqui
isle (aisle)
jeapordy, jeapordize
Jon Steward
kharma
kingpen
Korvorkian
Kossaks
Kossocks
Kuccinich
lamo (lame-o)
LAW's (pl.)
legitamit
legitamize
lieing
lier
likely hood, likelyhood
limosine
lobbiest
Loofah's (pl.)
loosing, loose (losing, lose)
mamoth
mantra's (pl.)
Mark Crispen Miller
McClellen
Ment (meant - in poll question)
Mexican's (pl.)
(if I have) mislead
MISPOKE
Mosanto (Kos!! Front page diary!!)
nauseas (nauseous)
Nazi's (pl.)
necisary
neglicted
neighbours(MSOC - not British!)
NEO-CON's (pl.)
NISA (FISA)
nonchalence
Norquest
occassion
Ockham's razor
ommitted
omnibudsmen
Oppurtunities
Opra
optomistic
O'Rielly
Orin Hatch (Kos - frontpage diary)
outted
parephenalia
Persion Gulf
persues
Pinnicle
poisen
Politician's diaries (Feingold, Conyers, and Pelosi)
potium
Powel (Colin)
powerfull
premiditated
prepaired
(Richard) Prior
privilaged, priviledge, privelages
problemmatic
procurment
Prominade
prominantly
Propoganda
purgure
But almost nothing putrefies one's
qualifyed
reccomended
redistricing
refridgerator
(Paul) Reickoff (Rieckhoff)
relevent
Reniors
Republican's (are twisting)
responces
ridicules(ridiculous)
rouge (rogue)
Sargent Friday
Scaiffe's (media empire)
scandle
Scarlette Johanson
sceptical
Scotties day (Kos, again, on front page)
secratary
segmant
Senetor
Sensinbrenner
seperate, seperation
Shaivo, Shivo
Shiite's (pl.)
signiture
sissys
site ("very site of the guy")
speech
Streissand
stuborn
substandtial
sucumb
summery (summary)
syllible
Terible (Kos!! Front page diary title)
testacles
tieing
Tienamen Square
to early (too early)
tommorrow, TOMMOROW
gastro-intestinal track
trailors
tsunamai
(Why I) turned-off (the Super Bowl)
unprecidented
Uzbeck
vaccuum
vengence
versitile
Warentless, warrentless, warrent, warantless
wattered down
whitnessing the non-fillabuster
Whittingdon
your's
(To see how obsessed I am with this, just scan through my comments by clicking on my user name. And, while I almost never use spell check, I did this time, to avoid the embarrassment of not practicing what I preach. Thankfully, besides the LIST, my diary was error free!)