Dumbing Down

On a foggy morning I was looking out the window and thinking.

When I was young and could not spell, no one put a fancy name on it. I just swapped letters around and made consistent mistakes; rewarded with having carry over words for next week.

At some point, probably university level, I learned to spell dyslexia and was able to put a name on my number swapping and reading misadventures. By then it didn’t matter, I had learned to compensate by keeping a dictionary handy. Looking up words became a matter of habit even when a word just didn’t look quite right.

Along come word processors followed by word processing programs. Built in spell-checkers were incorporated and I lost track of my dictionary.

There is a difficulty with depending on your word processing software. It has to have your word in its data-banks. All the words are simply not included, there are too many of them. Technical words and specialized jargon are the least likely to be included. But other words which to me seem quite ordinary might just be missing. Judiciary was one such word several years ago, as was bureaucratic.

What choices did I make, did most people make when complicated words or grammatical forms were not compatible with the program? Make is simpler, make it easier so that there are no red underlined words.

Dumb it down. Use fewer words. Contract rather than expand word usage. Otherwise, it is work, you see to find that dictionary and look up a word or go on-line to one of the extensive dictionaries to figure out what it was that you really wanted.

Haven’t you noticed that we are using a smaller number of words, quoting others and repeating ourselves?

My excuse is that I can’t spell ….

Knitting

Hodge Podge has come out of hiding. I have been working a few rows on the sleeve piece here and there. It is time to switch from straight to in the round and just buzz down the sleeves. Once I figure out where the right sized dps are, that is.

Spinning

Two more ounces of Rufus BFL went from roving into singles while I enjoyed the back garden this evening. Since the weather was holding, I went ahead and plyed up the four ounces of singles that were taking up bobbins on the Paulitz.  Even in bright light, the colour variations are fairly subtle. As a contrast yarn in stranded colourwork, I am hoping by spinning in this particular manner I will have the effect of multiple yarn colors while saving the effort of changes with all those ends to weave in.

Books & Audio

Too many books, too many locations.
Black Ice in the car and Blood Work in the living room. Both by Michael Connelly
Latte Trouble by Cleo Coyle just finished in paperback.
Spirits that Walk in Shadow by Nina Kiriki Hoffman just started in hardback.

-Holly