Evangeline got her report card in the mail.

[conuly]

Mostly good news all the way, but in writing we were unsurprisingly told that she is "approaching grade level" and must "work on using conventional spelling". That's a nice way of putting it. I would've definitely have said "correct", or maybe "standard" if I wanted to alliterate. Conventional makes it all sound more choice driven than spelling really is, except for marketers.

Her spelling does improve, but so slowly!

Comments

[elenbarathi.livejournal.com]

Yay for the mostly good news all the way; that's awesome! As for the spelling, meh... unfortunate that with public school and their 'grade levels', you can't just leave her alone about spelling for a year, concentrate on more important things, and then go back to it - she'd probably find it much easier then, and zip right through. Under the circumstances, the best you can really do is not make a big deal out of the spelling: it'll improve when it improves.

'Conventional' is the right word. English spelling is not standardized (unlike, say, German or Spanish) and without a standard there really can't be any 'correct' or 'incorrect'. English spelling may not be choice-driven on an individual level, but on a cultural level it certainly comprises a whole series of choices (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_language_spelling_reform), and since there is no English language acadamy, who's to say that anybody's choice is better than anyone else's? It's all just convention.

[conuly]

English spelling might not be standardized by any government agency, but there aren't as many socially acceptable choices as there were two or three centuries ago, and most of our choices are precluded by the general style of writing we pick. That is, if we go with honour, we have to also go with grey.

I'm all for spelling reform, and you can be assured that it is on my list of priorities once elected dictator of the world, but we aren't there yet.

[elenbarathi.livejournal.com]

Ah - 'socially acceptable' depends upon the social milieu; there are plenty of people living full social lives by txt msg. But it's true; there is a certain way one has to spell in order to be taken seriously in influential circles, just as there's a way one has to dress, and a way one has to eat, and a lot of certain things to say or not say.

All of those are conventions. There's no law that says one must wear pantyhose rather than pirate socks to an office job interview, and no logic behind it - pirate socks are certainly more practical - but the convention is strong enough that pirate socks = not getting hired. Social conventions can be a lot stronger than law; certainly a lot stronger than logic, and people who choose to go against them may be risking social opprobrium, but it's still a choice.