spelling

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National Spelling Bee Opens With 'Witticism'

278 participants will be whittled down to 50

(Newser) - The 85th National Spelling Bee is under way. Thirteen-year-old Kevin Lazenby of Opelika, Ala., stepped to the microphone this morning at a convention center outside Washington and correctly spelled "witticism." The 278 participants won local and regional spelling bees to make the Scripps National Spelling Bee. Each gets...

How Google's 'Autocorrect' Can Save Your Spelling

Microsoft Word's spell-check: A thing of the past?

(Newser) - Love how Google suggests the right spelling when you type in a search? You're not alone. "Over the past five years, Web browsers have become better at spelling than most humans," writes Will Oremus in Slate . Browsers are even better than Microsoft Word's spell-check, because they...

UNC Journalism School Ditches Spelling Test

School bows to technology

(Newser) - You can stop studying those dictionaries, prospective journalism students at UNC, because the school has finally acknowledged the existence of spell check. The University of North Carolina school of journalism has officially retired the spelling portion of the spelling and grammar test all students must take, reports the Daily Tar ...

Teacher Uses Robber, Gun to Teach Kids Spelling

Parents shoot down lesson plan

(Newser) - How do you spell G-U-N? That's the lesson a 5-year-old girl brought home, complete with a picture of a pistol-packin' bank robber escaping with a bag of cash. "The first thing I thought was, ‘Oh no no no,’ I don't want you reading it, I...

Scripps National Spelling Bee Is Obsolete: Alexandra Petri

 Spelling Bees 
 R Obsolete 
OPINION
Jun 2, 2011 4:33 PM CDT

Spelling Bees R Obsolete

Why show off a skill rendered useless by machines?: Alexandra Petri

(Newser) - It’s time again for the Scripps National Spelling Bee—but these days, it’s more “hilarious” than educational, writes Alexandra Petri in the Washington Post . “What better way to announce to the world at large that you have a totally useless and unmarketable skill—besides, I guess,...

The Toughest Words at Scripps Spelling Bee

Linguist explains which ones are the trickiest

(Newser) - The 84th annual Scripps National Spelling Bee is under way, and before a winner is crowned on national television tomorrow night, thousands of really obscure words will be tackled by 275 kids ages 8 to 15. Twelve-year-old Kevin Lazenby of Opelika, Ala., kicked off round two today, notes the AP...

Oregon Students Can Use Spell Check on Writing Tests

Educators want to take emphasis off typos

(Newser) - Grist for curmudgeons: Oregon students will be able to use spell check on state writing tests next year, reports the Oregonian . The new rule applies only to middle-schoolers and high school students, not to younger kids still presumably mastering the fundamentals. "We are not letting a student's keyboarding skills...

Protesters Target 'Illogical Spelling' at Bee

'Enuf is enuf,' say spelling reform advocates

(Newser) - A small group of protesters, some of them dressed in bee costumes, gathered outside the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington DC yesterday to make their case for spelling reform. The protesters, representing the American Literacy Council, say the illogical spelling of the English language is holding back much of...

Ditch 'i Before e Except After c' Rule: Brits

Ditty 'not worth teaching,' government says

(Newser) - Generations of frustrated schoolchildren have grumbled that “i before e except after c” isn’t worth learning because of numerous exceptions. Now the British government agrees, the BBC reports. In a document sent to 13,000 primary schools, officials say the ditty “is not worth teaching” because it’...

Stanley Cup Could Use Spell Check

(Newser) - As hulking as NHL players may seem on ice, they can be even more daunting to etch in silver, reports the Wall Street Journal in a look at the quirky typos that decorate hockey's storied Stanley Cup. An influx of Eastern European and Scandinavian players has the league's official silversmith...

In Tough Times, Grammar Snobs Get Tougher

(Newser) - America’s self-proclaimed language cops are turning up the heat on spelling and grammar offenders, MSNBC reports, hitting the streets with Sharpies and venting their frustrations online. One psychologist says the flare-up could represent a need for control during hard times. “When people are under stress, they have less...

Prof Argues for Looser Spelling

English-speaking pupils hamstrung by non-phonetic words, apostrophes

(Newser) - A British academic argues that English-speaking schoolchildren waste time learning the peculiarities of spelling, and should be given more freedom to spell phonetically, the Times of London reports. Children studying in languages with more phonetic writing systems, like Finnish or Italian, don’t need to waste classroom time on spelling,...

Phonetics Reformers Buzzing at Spelling Bee

Revitalized movement wants to simplify the language

(Newser) - Every year, the National Spelling Bee sparks a protest from an 800-year-old movement that aims to simplify spelling by using phonetics, the Wall Street Journal reports. (Think thru vs. through.) “We have 42 different sounds in English, and we spell them 400 different ways,” says the 102-year-old...

Science Smackdowns Aid Search for 'Bill Gates 2.0'

Popularity of math, science competitions shoots off the charts

(Newser) - With the days when the space program inspired American students to embrace science and math a distant memory, the US is counting on competition among schoolkids to return the country as a whole to a leading role, the Christian Science Monitor reports. High-level science fairs and math bowls are potential...

Want to Vote, O'Connor? Think Again
Want to Vote, O'Connor? Think Again
Feb 22, 2008 4:00 PM CST

Want to Vote, O'Connor? Think Again

Apostrophes, hyphens, and spaces in names confuse computers

(Newser) - The Information Age has been bad news for O'Connors, D'Angelos, Al-Husseins, and Van Kemps everywhere. Apostrophes in Irish, French, Italian, and African last names; hyphens in Arab names; and spaces in Dutch ones cause their owners endless headaches when computer systems reject or mis-record them, reports the AP, blocking them...

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