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From: barkley@unc.cs.unc.edu (Matthew Barkley)
Newsgroups: sci.lang,comp.cog-eng,sci.psychology
Subject: Re: Spelling and Perceptual Mode (was: Effects of poor writing?)
Summary: Gut check, meihem in ce klasrum
Message-ID: <8068@thorin.cs.unc.edu>
Date: 8 May 89 21:25:09 GMT
References: <39131@bbn.COM> <1982@trantor.harris-atd.com> <187@intek01.UUCP>
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In article <1982@trantor.harris-atd.com>, chuck@melmac.harris-atd.com (Chuck Musciano) writes:
> 
>      I know that when I see a misspelled word, it just "seems wrong".  Have 
> there been any studies on how people determine spelling?  I would also find 
> that interesting.

... and ...

In article <187@intek01.UUCP>, mark@intek01.UUCP (Mark McWiggins) writes:
> Me too -- but then I'm primarily a visual person.  We have a guy here
> who is primarily auditory (talks to himself, talks to the computer, etc.)
> who can hardly spell two words in a row, and incidentally has some of the
> ugliest handwriting I've ever seen.
> 
> Background on the "peceptual mode" is from NLP: Bandler & Grinder's
> *Frogs Into Princes*, for example.

I can't give you references on studies, but Bandler and Grinder in _The
Structure of Magic_ (as I recall), say that the winning stategy in spelling
is both visual and kinesthetic:  visualize the word, then consult your gut
as to whether it is right.

Along that line, I once asked a brilliant programmer friend how he knew
that a particular piece of code was wrong.  He went on for about a minute,
telling me how "you just have to look at it."  All the while, his body
language (according to Bandler and Grinder) was shouting that he FELT IN
HIS GUT that it was wrong.  So don't believe everyone who says, "It looked
wrong"; he/she might not mean it.

Now, on English spelling:  I saw an article titled, "Meihem in Ce Klasrum,"
which related George Bernard Shaw's ideas for spelling reform, implementing
each one in the paragraph following the description.  I started with sub-
stituting 's' for 'soft c', 'k' for hard 'c', and went on from there.  It
showz perfektly whei speling reform iz unleikly to sukseed.
Matt Barkley                                           barkley@cs.unc.edu
Any opinions expressed are not necessarily shared by anyone else, and may 
not even be my own. How an organization can have an opinion is beyond me.