Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1909-02-12
POOR SPELLlN IS COMMON n D
AMERICAN TONGUE IS 10 BLAND
{. FOR THE DEFICIENCY. i.
Sinple Words That Men Of Adstfa
Fall Down O1-(iood Steaographef
Hsss Dictionary Sample Of The

hags Dictioaary-Sampse Of W
"Osxh." g, =. &..}l$$ q
Were you taught from the blue
Back Speller," or according to the
most approved methods? 1t really
makes little difference, for II it comes
to q test you will find you cannot spell
even the words used in your workaday
world. Your vocabulary would DO
limited, indeed, were you to confine
yourself strictly to the words you can
write correctly. x6
II you are fond of betting, wager the
next friend you meet any amount you
can get him to cover that he cannot
spell three ordinary words correctly
Choose, for instance, religious, sacrt
legious and parallelograms Y viii %
shame to take the money.
= Not long ago q friend caught me ut
this game. 1 thought before that
could spell. Since then have b. IN
getting even trying it on the other
fellow. Out OF seventy.ive persons.
men Of affairs at that-one even an
editor-not oce succeeded In spelling
all three of the words mentioned. On
-iy five OF the seventy-five spelled two
Of the three right. The majority
failed on all. ~ ....,.> n. {
From time to time educators have
claimed that the men and women who
have earned their diplomas of late are
deficient in this one branch, so was
not SO surprised that these folk failed
to pass muster, but the first few OF the
older crowd, trained In the good old
fashioned way, almost had me .bmhed
to where thought might just as
we'll kiss my wagered quarters good
by. Most of them boasted, "You can't
catch me. I was raised on spelling
bees and the Blue Back Speller."
However, they did no better than the:
rest. - *H' ~ i ., !
II OF course, there Is somewhat of .,
trick In having the word 'sacrilesious"
follow religious" but you will ind
almost as many persons misspelltn8
the f,rst and third Is the second word.
II you care. to carry the experiment
further try words heard often enough.
but seldom written by the layman, 4
"membranous Group Spinal mentn- /
ritis,"" for instance You will not won
der that good stenographer does not rot
dare 10 get two fest away from de
tionary. Y S's*ss ~. W. z
why, 1 heard well educated busi' !
ness man ordering a cypress tank
ger the phone and spelling It 81.
1fus., !. r - VI s,ss 1919. rss4..aS s.
. Whore does the fault lie?, Is i the
way we are taught? The truth OF the
matter is the trouble Il IN our Ian
kusfe. More than one great thinker
has tr:ed to, introduce an American
language, German-English language,
and so on. See Elias Molsr, George
Withers, Dr.. Van ClarK and others.
Gladstone estimated that one day
. thousand million people Il would
speak the English Language. Japan
seriously considered its adoption at
one time. The chief reason It did not
was because Our etymoloEy and or
biography is the most dimcult In the
world. -, !. i 81 ~ q. RI. 81. a, .&
Take, though the rough cough and
plough me through" and im:
asine You are i foreigner. Read II .
Il ii spelled. Then read It % the .flrst
.,ouxh' il pronounced. Vary u BY
reading Il through as the next ough
IL pronounced, and 50 on. i.
! One writer On the subject has tried
10 work us up to the point OF enlarg.
ins the alphabet to forty letters. and
has experimental at some length
with teaching and writing these char
acters. r I'M : M X. s33 Is 3=
The more one thinks along this sub
1ect, the deeper. It gets, and the less
likely one IS to SCOT at reformers who
want us to spell orr words more sim
ply, to drop superhuous letters here
ana there. Say as the little girl who
was turned down" at school for spell
Ing chimney .chimley," Well, that's
the way It ought to be spelled any
way. s.g3 4 Is n: .