I only have a handful of words I misspell on a regular basis. I know they're my weak spots spelling-wise, and keep an eye out for them. I stop myself and remind myself it isn't spelled the way I would like to misspell it. For example, I like to spell separate seperate. It is rare that I misspell something, and I would never, ever send out some kind of written correspondence without spellchecking it first. I even spell correctly in guild chat on World of Warcraft--though I may not use punctuation consistently.
That being the case, people who spell poorly drive me up the wall. I have been super anal about spelling since elementary school (I lost all of my trophies/certificates
) and this shift towards LOLspeak or whatever you would like to call it drives me crazy. What really bothers me is not the use of it in reasonably appropriate environments (like World of Warcraft), but rather that it is starting to creep into other places we write, and into more serious correspondence. That, to me, is shameful.
One of the reasons why correct spelling and usage is decreasing is because children are reading less. Reading is crucial to learning to spell. Television is never, ever going to teach children to spell correctly, yet what do the majority of kids spend their time doing? Furthermore, with the emphasis on teaching to the test in elementary, middle, and high schools, there isn't much time left for literacy activities such as sustained silent reading.