Banana, Bananna or Bannaa?

I have never been much of a speller and have therefore always been within arm’s length of a dictionary while writing essays in school, reports at work or even here while blogging. Though our blog pads all have spell checks, I will never dare compose directly into my blog without first creating it in Microsoft Word.

There are a few common words such as banana and parallel that insist on plaguing me while writing. Every time I write these plus other such words, I spell them wrong! You would think that, by the time I was in my forties, I would start getting them correct but oh no… I can’t do that now can I! I have to go back, right click on the word and choose the correct spelling… every time! Now thank goodness that Microsoft Word now has auto correct for people like me who cannot spell words they have been using for decades.

Now I know that there are individuals out there who are dyslexic so I do want to say that this problem which I have bestowed upon myself is in no way like their disability. I am also in no way poking fun at other people. People with Dyslexia have found amazing ways to deal with their disability and I take my hat off to them. But me… what’s my problem??

Another spelling problem I curse myself with is deciding whether to use the British way or American way to spell. We all know that the English language is an amalgamation of many languages but when you live so close to another country such as the U.S.A., it makes it real difficult to pick a correct spelling to use. Often, you will find me spelling words two different ways because I can never decide which one to use and besides, I always worry about some American thinking I am spelling things incorrectly or some Canadian thinking that I am a lousy speller or some British thinking I am a pathetic speller. Do I write a cheque or do I write a check? Am I an honourable person or am I an honorable person? Is red my favorite colour or is red my favorite color?

And so on…

A few yraes ago, I cmae acrsos a sudty wichh siad taht the hamun biarn dsen’ot need to wrroy aoubt irecrocnt sienlplg in oderr for it to urnndetasd the wrod as lnog as the frsit and lsat lrtetes of a wrod are in tiehr crcroet palces. Is tihs ture? You tlel me!

Wow! Does this mean that now I don’t have to worry about spelling anymore?? Wishful thinking!

So, in the future when you see a misspelled word in one of my posts, take pity on me and blame it on the fact that I am British born, Canadian raised and American influenced… That should do it!