Spelling Bee Minus: Over Half of Americans are 'Embarased'(sic) by Spelling

/PRNewswire/ -- Independent survey of spelling out today shows that more than half the adult population of the USA had problems with one or more spellings in a test of ten everyday words. One in three admitted being reliant on spell checkers for tasks such as completing job application forms or writing important letters and men performed less well than women.

An independent survey conducted by Ipsos MORI in January 2009, on behalf of the Spelling Society, shows that adults in the USA, consistently performed badly in a spelling test using ten everyday words.

Results were compared with a similar survey undertaken in the UK in 2008 by ID Factor. 'Embarrassed' topped the incorrect list with 62% miss-spelling this word in the USA compared to 54% in the UK. Adults in the USA consistently performed less well on all the ten words tested. Interestingly, in both surveys men performed less well than women. Women may celebrate here, but should also know that the only word that men spelled better than women in the USA was 'liaison'!

Spelling Society Chairman, Jack Bovill said: "When asked, only a quarter of adults thought they had a problem with spelling. The results show - this is far from the case. This lack of awareness is pertinent to the Spelling Society whose aim is to raise awareness of the problems caused by the irregularity of English spelling."

Professor Edward Baranowski, of California State University pointed to the 'fossilized system' in place as part of the problem. "We have different spellings for the same sound (especially for vowels), silent letters, missing letters, and a system which reflects how English was spoken in the 13th-15th centuries, not how it is spoken today. So many sound changes have occurred in the language, which are not reflected in modern spelling, that we are left with a 'fossilized' system. Perhaps if English had had an effective language academy, such as those in France or Spain, this would have been mitigated over time."

The Spelling Society is calling for greater awareness of the problem, including looking at modernizing a system which affects people across all social grades. Chairman Jack Bovill says: "After all we rarely complain about how people speak - what is holding the UK and the USA back is the irregular spelling system?"

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Words to Use... Not

RJ - I figured that "not" added to the end of a sentence would have made the list. Not. I went back for a few years thinking maybe someone had included it in past lists. Not. Ah well. It is what it is.

Lake Superior State University 2008 List of Banished Words

The wordsmiths at Lake Superior State University are giving back to English speakers everywhere with their 33rd annual List of Words Banished from the Queen's English for Misuse, Overuse and General Uselessness.

On Dec. 31, 1975, former LSSU Public Relations Director Bill Rabe and his colleagues cooked up an idea to banish overused words and phrases and issue a list on New Year's Day. Much to the delight of language enthusiasts everywhere, the list has stayed the course into a fourth decade.
This year's list derives from more than 2,000 nominations received through the university's website, www.lssu.edu/banished. Word-watchers target pet peeves from everyday speech, as well as from the news, education, technology, advertising, politics, sports and more. A committee makes a final cut in late December. The list is released on New Year's Day.

More: http://www.lssu.edu/banished/

Here's a few of the 2008 banned words & terms:

PERFECT STORM – "Overused by the pundits on evening TV shows to mean just about any coincidence." – Lynn Allen, Warren, Michigan.

"I read that 'Ontario is a perfect storm,' in reference to a report on pollution levels in the Great Lakes. Ontario is the name of one of the lakes and a Canadian province. This guy would have me believe it's a hurricane. It's time for 'perfect storm' to get rained out." – Bob Smith, DeWitt, Michigan.

"Hands off book titles as cheap descriptors!" – David Hollis, Hamilton, New York.

WEBINAR – A seminar on the web about any number of topics."Ouch! It hurts my brain. It should be crushed immediately before it spreads." – Carol, Lams, Michigan.

"Yet another non-word trying to worm its way into the English language due to the Internet. It belongs in the same school of non-thought that brought us e-anything and i-anything." – Scott Lassiter, Houston, Texas.

WATERBOARDING – "Let's banish 'waterboarding' to the beach, where it belongs with boogie boards and surfboards." – Patrick K. Egan, Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan

More: http://www.lssu.edu/banished/current.php