Eccentric English Spelling is the Result of Dictionaries

The eccentric spelling of the English language is preserved because of a pervasive meme that there are right and wrong ways to spell words. This meme has all kinds of support, including dictionaries, computer spell-checkers, and children's spelling bees. But before the Use a dictionary strategy-meme became prevalent during the 18th and 19th centuries, people spelled words any way they wanted. It's not True that there's one and only one correct way to spell a word-it's just a meme. As Mark Twain said, "'Tis a small mind cannot think of but one way to spell a word."

We think it's True because all our lives people have been criticizing us for misspelling words-we've been programmed. Not that there's anything wrong with consistent spelling-it enhances communication, after all-but it's important to start seeing that all of what we think of as the Truth is composed of memes, and most of those memes just came into our heads through programming, without any of our own conscious choice involved.

Notes:

Spelling could evolve naturally before we started referencing dictionaries for a correct way of spelling words that don't sound like how they are spelled anymore.

Folksonomies: spelling spelling reform dictionaries

Taxonomies:
/religion and spirituality/islam (0.482048)
/art and entertainment/books and literature (0.382981)
/art and entertainment/books and literature/reference books (0.339496)

Keywords:
Eccentric English Spelling (0.900537 (negative:-0.493356)), 19th centuries (0.752214 (neutral:0.000000)), correct way (0.747110 (negative:-0.394195)), Dictionaries Spelling (0.710305 (negative:-0.493356)), consistent spelling-it enhances (0.710197 (negative:-0.312536)), eccentric spelling (0.673690 (negative:-0.414052)), spelling bees (0.636565 (neutral:0.000000)), pervasive meme (0.620984 (negative:-0.414052)), wrong ways (0.553443 (negative:-0.414052)), dictionary strategy-meme (0.524987 (neutral:0.000000)), English language (0.523662 (negative:-0.414052)), Mark Twain (0.523648 (neutral:0.000000)), conscious choice (0.518753 (negative:-0.552936)), small mind (0.513913 (neutral:0.000000)), lives people (0.504340 (neutral:0.000000)), words (0.439484 (negative:-0.393176)), memes (0.420320 (positive:0.053899)), Result (0.352712 (negative:-0.493356)), kinds (0.345192 (positive:0.295564)), heads (0.342926 (negative:-0.219125)), support (0.342538 (positive:0.295564)), spell-checkers (0.342418 (neutral:0.000000)), children (0.342357 (neutral:0.000000)), word-it (0.340823 (negative:-0.295034)), communication (0.339627 (negative:-0.312536)), Truth (0.339477 (positive:0.273023))

Entities:
Mark Twain:Person (0.958102 (neutral:0.000000))

Concepts:
Spelling (0.956095): dbpedia | freebase | opencyc
English spelling reform (0.910174): dbpedia
Orthography (0.796189): dbpedia | freebase
English language (0.675099): dbpedia | freebase | opencyc | yago
Spelling bee (0.648683): website | dbpedia | freebase
Spelling reform (0.581449): dbpedia
Oxford English Dictionary (0.527159): website | dbpedia | freebase | opencyc | yago
Spell (0.475172): dbpedia

 Virus of the Mind: The New Science of the Meme
Books, Brochures, and Chapters>Book:  Brodie , Richard (2011-02-15), Virus of the Mind: The New Science of the Meme, Hay House, Retrieved on 2011-05-29
Folksonomies: memetics memes ideas


Schemas

31 DEC 2010

 Arguments for English Spelling Reform

This schema is a collection of arguments about how proper grammar, with its illogical and inconsistently applied rules, is used by academics and intellectuals to create a privileged class of people who's ideas deserve considering because they have successfully learned the irrational system.
Folksonomies: phonetics grammar
Folksonomies: phonetics grammar
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