Unshelved by Bill Barnes and Gene Ambaum
comic strip overdue media

Friday, February 28, 2003

Homonyms are my enemy



I was glancing through the comments for this site and found one where Zabet asked about where I'd typed "shone" instead of "shown". I went back and read that and it was funny. I think I was subconsciously thinking of how the light shone in the auditorium from the projector. But it did get me thinking. When I was younger I was a very good speller. I didn't need no stinking spell checker! But the more education I get, the more time goes on, the more I slip towards decrepitude (okay, I know, I'm in my mid-thirties, I have no reason to complain) the more trouble I have especially typing. Why is that? I mean, I know something has to give as you squish more useless facts into a brain, but spelling's pretty important (well, to me--not to modern education, apparently). Also, I type pretty fast but I think faster. And when I type I sometimes sound the words out in my head a little before it makes it to the screen, sort of like a teleprompter. My biggest problem, and the reason I live for the backspace key, is the homonym. And unfortunately it's not just your standard ones like their, there, they're, etc., although that one's probably the worst. It's things like our and are, which are only homonyms in my dialect of English, I suspect. (Oddly enough I don't have trouble with were and wore, which also sound the same for me.) I don't use a spell-check with my blogging but the homonyms wouldn't be caught anyway. Sigh. I begin to think that my brain really is fuzzy mush where everything gets piled together. Homonyms must have their own piles, and I think I pick the first one off the pile when I type. Aaaagggghhhh!!!

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