My niece, who is six years old, asked, "Aunt Kellan, how do you spell cuz?"
I said, "B ... E ..." and she stopped me.
She said, "No ... cuz?"
I said, "B ... E ..." and she rolled her eyes.
I am not the person to be teaching these children how to spell!
I was at someones site recently and reading their post, that contained many words that I, uh, did not recognize. This happens often - so, I look them up. I can do this - as long as the correct spelling is there in front of me, you know - look up what it means. I do, however, sometimes see these "new" words and believe, when I am searching for it in the dictionary, that I will not actually find the word (cuz it won't be in the kindergarten dictionary that I use) or because I want to believe that these people capable of using these BIG words - are just making them up. I want to - not find the word - so I can say that, "These people are just makin' up words." I always ultimately find the word ...
But ... when it comes to spelling regular (not BIG) words - I'm just as bad. Words like surly and truly (I always want to put an "e" - so sometimes I do and sometimes I don't - I just looked both those up - doesn't show an "e" - I'll never remember this!). And words like, advise/advice (I don't know when to use which one - I know how to speak the difference, I just don't know which is which when I write it). And all those "any", "every" and "some" words (anytime, anymore, anybody, anyone, somewhere, someplace, someone, everytime ...). I always want to separate these words (some day, any one ...) I never remember if they are or are not supposed to be separated, so I just write whatever comes into my mind and that's what I go with. Maybe they are always one word - I don't know. And "its and it's" is another one I get confused about. And affect and effect - forget it.
I'm never gonna' remember any of these words.
And ... these aren't the only words. I can't spell simple words like "gecho" (that lizard that turns green when it is on something green - you know). I don't know if this is how you spell "gecho", but I suspect it's not - cuz, "spell check" tells me it's wrong and I can't find it spelled this way in the dictionary. I also can't find the way it is spelled - CUZ I DON'T KNOW HOW TO SPELL IT.
Sometimes, I get lucky with looking up words and find the word close by (what I thought it was spelled like) - I luck out. Usually, when I can't find the word in the dictionary ... I just rack my pea-sized-brain for a new word (like lizard - I can spell that) to use. Why isn't "gecho" spelled like that. It's just "echo" with a "g"??
Don't leave me advise/advice on how to spell any of these words because:
- I won't remember it
- I won't remember it
- I won't remember it
I have had 46 years to learn how to spell. I don't know why when I try to memorize this stuff that my brain makes the decision, "Nope ... we don't have room for that ... toss that out," but it does. All on its own.
I want to remember how to spell words (BELIEVE ME). I don't like that I feel stupid everytime/every time I try to remember a word I have spelled a BILLION times - but still can't remember it. I don't like that it makes me look - STUPID! I try to get my brain to remember this stuff - it just won't!!
On the upside ... only my 15 year old daughters are aware that I am a "spelling-idiot". The two little ones haven't caught on yet. They still think I am fully equipped. In the meantime (mean time - one word - I don't know) - "cuz" is B ... E ... C ..... You should have seen the look on my niece's face when she was trying to get me to understand "cuz". She kept saying it "cuz, cuz - you know - cuz." I explained the whole thing to her (not to fear) - to the best of my illiterate ability.