Why Spelling Matters, One More Time

As a result of having taken every drafting/mech drawing class available from grade six on, becoming an Air Force aircraft electrician, and having a very close (geographically and socially) fist cousin who was a NASA Sky Lab and STS electrical engineer, in 1974 I was accepted into Fluor's Design Technology Training Program, a ten month, eight hour/day course in commercial and industrial electrical systems design and installation methods, construction practices, material selection, start-up troubleshooting procedures, and customer employee training. It turned out a very well trained group of sub-engineers and technicians that both lowered overall project costs and increased project successes. It was because of this and other Fluor policies that they became the world's largest construction firm, and the world's pre-imminent petro-chemical and nuclear industry leader.

An entire two months of the ten in the training was devoted to English comprehension and retention, composition, spelling/reading (the same skill per Fluor)grammar, punctuation, and technical writing. Why, some have wondered, did it take fully 20% of total class hours to cover what should have been taught in K-12? It was because, as the 70s ad slogan went, Johnny Can't Read. At least not very well.

When notating nuclear power station construction drawings with explanations, instructions etc, there can be no possibility that your text will or can be misinterpreted. Everyone reading your writings must come to the exacts same conclusions as anyone else would if they also read it. For one installing electrician to perceive your text to mean "A equals B in each case except..." and another to perceive it to mean "A is B in every case..." could mean disaster at worst, hours of delay in start-up and checkout at the least.

When words cease to convey the exact thought of the one into the mind of the other, speech is as useless as grunts and groans.

Thanks. One more example of why spelling and grammar matter. Of course, it matters in even less critical situations. Once we start accepting "close enough" it makes it easier to accept ever worse spelling and grammar, making our conversation less and less precise.

Before you know it, we have candidates winning by just promising hope and change.

Ya' really think so? Are the people that gullible?


Hehehe...

I read, late last year, where a university professor had decided he would no longer mark down the grade on a paper due to spelling, grammar, or punctuation errors because it doesn't result in any improvement and the students suffer for the low marks. Duhh!! Isn't that the idea?

He would not be on the faculty another week if I were dean.

In a flight/pilot oriented forum where I am a global moderator, some of the posts by the younger crowd are almost unintelligible, and they are native born Americans.

The foreign members/visitors, for the most part, are near perfect in their use of the English language and are proud of their abilities.

As our favorite 70s USMC private used to say;
"Shame Shame Shame Shame Shame!"

Glenn

Had I been in that professor's class, I would have turned in a paper saying "Whmmfh wwriitj jjkjlkjlnaa". Either he would have given me an A out of embarrassment at his bad policy, or he would have asked me to translate, which would have shown what a bad idea his policy was.

And had he given me less than an A, I would have asked him to explain what points he found wanting.

That would have been fun.