How often do you 'guess' the spelling of a word and get it right?

[Naruzeldamaster]

So like, this happens every once in a while for me. I'll think of a word I've never really 'used' before, guess the spelling, and it's about a...50/50 chance that my word processor thinks I'm dyslexic or I actually get it right. A few times I even use the word in the right context, though those aren't as common.

Note buy 'guess' I mean assuming how to spell it based on how it sounds out-loud, or without looking it up first.

 

[A. E. Lowan]

All the time. I can't spell my way out of a paper sack when it comes to common words - Spellcheck and Autocorrect own my soul - but when we start hitting the high-value vocabulariums it seems to be instinct. Plus, when you read voraciously and read above your paygrade, you know when something is misspelled at a glance and usually can fix it.

 

[Prince of Spires]

There's another way to spell words than by guessing? Really?

 

[Rexenm]

I like looking up words and seeing how correctly I used them. Otherwise, I am usually spot on.

 

[minta]

Not often, sometimes I get it almost right and other times it's just embarrassing.

 

[pmmg]

So like, this happens every once in a while for me. I'll think of a word I've never really 'used' before, guess the spelling, and it's about a...50/50 chance that my word processor thinks I'm dyslexic or I actually get it right. A few times I even use the word in the right context, though those aren't as common.

Note buy 'guess' I mean assuming how to spell it based on how it sounds out-loud, or without looking it up first.

For me, never. In fact, there are words I consistently spell wrong and never get right. And so many words in English that dont deserve to live, such as colonel (which should be Kernel), or Lieutenant (<--who ever spells that one right?). English is a strange rabid coiling snake of a bastard language. I am surprised it stands at all.

 

[skip.knox]

But lieutenant is an easy one. It's a place holder, a tenant in lieu of. I've always been amused by that one.

English spelling is fairly sensible. The goofy stuff is due to those pesky Normans. <gdr>

 

[pmmg]

And the words keep changing meaning. Like bad, which often means bad, but sometimes means—Good.


I would hate to be trying to learn it if it was not native.

 

[Prince of Spires]

But lieutenant is an easy one. It's a place holder, a tenant in lieu of. I've always been amused by that one.

never realized that, but that makes so much sense now Thanks for that little nugget of information.

I would hate to be trying to learn it if it was not native.

The whole thing is a mess. However, it's also a fairly easy language to learn. There are surprisingly few rules. At least on the surface. Words don't have strikt genders, and the number of cases (I think they're called that, those pesky latin things) you have is very limited. Also, you can just watch movies and get the basics...

 

[skip.knox]

They not so much rules as they're guidelines...

 

[pmmg]

In one of my books i have a Carand-in-leiu as a rank meaning a stand in for the carand while he is injured and there is no clear next rank. One of the placents becomes the carand in leiu.