Brian Perry
Senior HTF Member
- Joined
- May 6, 1999
- Messages
- 2,807
For the longest time, I figured general surfing of the Net (and interaction on HTF) was beneficial for my spelling, much the same way reading books enhances your vocabulary. However, the more I think about it, I wonder if seeing spelling mistakes (and to a lesser degree, punctuation and grammatical ones) on the Internet contributes to slower recognition of proper forms.
Think about it...most printed English outside of the Internet (books, newspapers, magazines) is generally proofread and mostly correct with respect to spelling. In contrast, on the Web anything goes, mainly due to the requirement for fast or instant communication. Lately, I've caught myself mispelling words that previously would never have been mispelled--I wonder if it's because I might have seen an incorrect spelling of a word several times on the Internet and that mistake "stuck" in my head.
This phenomenon might also affect various ages differently. While I'm 37 and perhaps most of my vocabulary is (or was!) set, maybe children have a harder time having the correct spellings "hard-wired" into their brains.
Just a thought...
Think about it...most printed English outside of the Internet (books, newspapers, magazines) is generally proofread and mostly correct with respect to spelling. In contrast, on the Web anything goes, mainly due to the requirement for fast or instant communication. Lately, I've caught myself mispelling words that previously would never have been mispelled--I wonder if it's because I might have seen an incorrect spelling of a word several times on the Internet and that mistake "stuck" in my head.
This phenomenon might also affect various ages differently. While I'm 37 and perhaps most of my vocabulary is (or was!) set, maybe children have a harder time having the correct spellings "hard-wired" into their brains.
Just a thought...