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I confess I have degraded to the point that when in doubt about the spelling of a word, I look up the alternatives on Google and choose whichever one shows more hits. I rarely pick up a dictionary, but I do use online dictionaries if I'm really in doubt. I can't vouch for whether I'm average--for the college community perhaps, for other groups of people probably not. I also wonder how much it matters to writers in many situations whether a word is spelled right or not.<BR><DIV> <SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; border-spacing: 0px 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: auto; -khtml-text-decorations-in-effect: none; text-indent: 0px; -apple-text-size-adjust: auto; text-transform: none; orphans: 2; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; "><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; border-spacing: 0px 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: auto; -khtml-text-decorations-in-effect: none; text-indent: 0px; -apple-text-size-adjust: auto; text-transform: none; orphans: 2; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; "><DIV style=""><FONT class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px; "><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px; ">_________________________________</SPAN></SPAN></SPAN></FONT></DIV><DIV style=""><FONT class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px; "><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px; ">Naomi Fox</SPAN></SPAN></SPAN></FONT></DIV><DIV style=""><FONT class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font
-size: 12px;"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px; "><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px; ">Center for American Indian Languages</SPAN></SPAN></SPAN></FONT></DIV><DIV style=""><FONT class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px; "><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px; ">University of Utah</SPAN></SPAN></SPAN></FONT></DIV><DIV style=""><FONT class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;"><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></SPAN></FONT></DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><BR class="Apple-interchange-newline"></SPAN></SPAN> </DIV><BR><DIV><DIV>On Jun 14, 2006, at 7:50 PM, Kenneth C. Hill wrote:</DIV><BR class="Apple-interchange-newline"><BLOCKQUOTE type="cite"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; border-spacing: 0px 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: auto; -khtml-text-decorations-in-effect: none; text-indent: 0px; -apple-text-size-adjust: auto; text-transform: none; orphans: 2; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; "><DIV id="ygrp-mlmsg"><DIV id="ygrp-msg" style="width: 530px; padding: 0 20px 0 0; float:left; position:relative; z-index:1; ; font-family: arial; font-size: 11.83px; line-height: 14px; "><DIV id="ygrp-text"><P style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11.83px; line-height: 14px; "><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11.83px; line-height: 14px; ">When in doubt about a spelling I *always* consult the dictionary. But am I an "average person"? Probably not, but until someone does a study of what the real behavior patterns out there are, it seems lexicographically irresponsible to make generalizations about the behavior of "the av
erage person."</SPAN><BR style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11.83px; line-height: 14px; "><BR style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11.83px; line-height: 14px; "><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11.83px; line-height: 14px; ">--Ken Hill</SPAN><BR style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11.83px; line-height: 14px; "><BR style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11.83px; line-height: 14px; "><B style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11.83px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 14px; "><I style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11.83px; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold; line-height: 14px; "><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11.83px; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold; line-height: 14px; ">jkrimer <<A href="mailto:jkrimer@yahoo.com">jkrimer@yahoo.com</A>></SPAN></I></B><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11.83px; line-height: 14px; "> wrote:</SPAN></P><BLOCKQUOTE class="replbq" style="border-left: 2px solid rgb(16, 16, 255);; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11.83px; line-height: 14px; "><DIV id="ygrp-text"><DIV style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11.83px; line-height: 14px; "><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11.83px; line-height: 14px; ">Greetings,</SPAN><BR style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11.83px; line-height: 14px; "><BR style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11.83px; line-height: 14px; "><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11.83px; line-height: 14px; ">I believe the dictionary has (almost) lost one of its uses.</SPAN><BR style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11.83px; line-height: 14px; "><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11.83px; line-height: 14px; ">Although spelling is still of some importance when communicating with </SPAN><BR style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11.83px; line-height: 14px; "><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size
: 11.83px; line-height: 14px; ">the written word, the dictionary is not our first choice when </SPAN><BR style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11.83px; line-height: 14px; "><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11.83px; line-height: 14px; ">confirming spelling. The average person uses a computer much more </SPAN><BR style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11.83px; line-height: 14px; "><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11.83px; line-height: 14px; ">often and is more willing to turn on a computer than pick up a </SPAN><BR style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11.83px; line-height: 14px; "><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11.83px; line-height: 14px; ">dictionary.</SPAN><BR style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11.83px; line-height: 14px; "><BR style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11.83px; line-height: 14px; "><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11.83px; line-height: 14px; ">What do you think? </SPAN><BR style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11.83px; line-height: 14px; "><BR style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11.83px; line-height: 14px; "><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11.83px; line-height: 14px; ">Jonathan</SPAN><BR style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11.83px; line-height: 14px; "><BR style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11.83px; line-height: 14px; "></DIV></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE><BR style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11.83px; line-height: 14px; "><P style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11.83px; line-height: 14px; "><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11.83px; line-height: 14px; ">__________________________________________________</SPAN><BR style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11.83px; line-height: 14px; "><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11.83px; line-height: 14px; ">Do You Yahoo!?</SPAN><BR style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11.
83px; line-height: 14px; "><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11.83px; line-height: 14px; ">Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around </SPAN><BR style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11.83px; line-height: 14px; "><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11.83px; line-height: 14px; "><A href="http://mail.yahoo.com">http://mail.yahoo.com</A></SPAN></P></DIV><SPAN width="1" style="color: white;; color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-family: arial; font-size: 11.83px; line-height: 14px; "><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-family: arial; font-size: 11.83px; line-height: 14px; "></SPAN></SPAN></SPAN></BLOCKQUOTE></DIV><BR>
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