Opinion - Letters to the Editor   

Spelling Bee

“Spelling it out — and how!” (May 29) made amusing reading.

It is infinitely sad that bad spelling is the order of the day. We had at least a modicum of being finicky for correct spelling before (or should it be B4?) the advent of SMS text messaging.

Earlier, correct spelling was taught by the mnemonic method. In the 1950s, Prof. Father Leigh of Loyola College, Chennai, was a stickler for orthography. He used to tell us there is no ASS in ‘occASion’ and there was an APE in ‘sEPArate’ and he asked us to mind first our ‘eyes’ (‘I’s) to spell “privilege.” These were some of the common words usually incorrectly spelt.

We should certainly stop giving inane reasons such as what matters is what is sought to be conveyed and understood

R. Ramachandra Rao,

Hyderabad

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Spelling Bee

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