I Do Not Hate Spelling... I Do Hate What People Use It For.

When you understand the message perfectly but still feel compelled to correct the spelling.

Note: Any spelling errors you notice were placed there intentionally to wake up people who stopped reading halfway through the sentence.

Let me say this plainly.

I don’t hate words.
I don’t hate language.
I don’t even hate spelling.

What I hate is the way spelling gets used as a social weapon by people who don’t know me, don’t know my story, and don’t care to.

I hate guessing games like…

• Why does “little” get two T’s and “tariffs” gets two F’s?

• Why does “knot” have a silent K, but “not” doesn’t?

• Why do some words look like they were spelled by committee… in 1643?

I hate that English is basically three languages in a trench coat pretending to be logical.

And yes… I hate that we live with two spelling systems:

• defence / defense

• colour / color

• centre / center

None of which changes the meaning.
None of which changes the idea.
All of which somehow become a loyalty test.

But here’s the real thing I hate.

I Hate Being Corrected by Strangers Who Think They’re Smarter Than Me

Not teachers.
Not editors.
Not people trying to help.

I mean drive-by nitpickers.

The kind who ignore the point, the argument, the data, the lived experience… and zoom in like a heat-seeking missile on a single letter.

“You spelled defense with an S. Are you American?”

No.
I’m Canadian.
I’m also human.
And I type the way decades of mixed software, keyboards, spellcheckers, habits, and muscle memory trained me to type.

Correcting someone’s spelling in public… when you understood them perfectly… isn’t helpful.

It’s performative.
It’s petty.
And it says far more about the corrector than the person being corrected.

Spelling Is Not Intelligence

Let’s clear something up that should never have needed clearing.

Spelling is:

• not character

• not intelligence

• not education

• not credibility

• not morality

• not nationality

It’s a mechanical skill layered on top of communication… and one that English makes unnecessarily hard.

English borrows from…

• Old English

• Latin

• Greek

• French

• German
  …and then shrugs when none of it lines up phonetically.

So when someone says “If you were smarter, you’d spell it right”, what they’re really saying is:

“I’ve confused compliance with superiority.”

Here’s What I Actually Care About

Do you understand what I’m saying?
Does the idea land?
Does the argument hold up?
Does it move the conversation forward?

If the answer is yes, then congratulations… language worked.

If the answer is no, pointing at a letter won’t save you.

A Line in the Sand

I’ll happily fix typos.
I’ll gladly clarify meaning.
I’m not allergic to learning.

But I’m done entertaining people who use spelling as a cudgel instead of a bridge.

If your contribution to a conversation is…

• tone policing

• spelling sniping

• identity baiting

then you’re not here to talk… you’re here to posture.

And I don’t owe you my patience.

For Anyone Who’s Ever Felt This Too

If you’ve ever…

• hesitated to post because you feared being corrected

• been dismissed over a typo

• been told your ideas mattered less because of how you typed them

You’re not broken.
You’re not stupid.
And you’re not alone.

Language exists to connect, not to sort people into imaginary hierarchies.

And if someone’s only power in a discussion is a red pen?

That tells you everything you need to know.

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Mark Twain wrote clearly on the subject…

He never had “any large respect for good spelling,” and argued that it was a questionable benefit… a sentiment grounded in his wider views about language, expression, and creativity.

I have nothing but contempt for anyone who can spell a word only one way

I don’t give a damn for a man that can only spell a word one way

Anyone who can only think of one way to spell a word…

I Love Mark Twain!

The difference between the almost right word and the right word is really a large matter… it’s the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning.

I never had any large respect for good spelling. That is because spelling is a case of choice.

The difference between the almost right word and the right word is really a large matter… it’s the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning.

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Note: I use AI tools to help clean up drafts and create images. The ideas and opinions are mine.

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