Newspapers / The Guilfordian (Greensboro, N.C.) / April 9, 1990, edition 1 / Page 2
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On the damnable idea of a mispelled word Jonathan Malino Guest Writer As a confirmed (and perhaps overzeal ous) stickler for correct spelling, I was horrified last Sunday to discover that Ms. Marilyn vos Savant ("Ask Marilyn," Parade magazine), noted in the "Guin ness Book of World Records" for the highest 1.Q., failed to answer adequately an earnest inquirer who bet a case of beer on his having discovered an ontological disproof of the existence of misspelled words. Knowing that Guilford students would immediately recognize Ms. Sa vant's failure, and fearing that they would, thereupon, begin misspelling words with a philosophic abandon borne of desires whose legitimacy has the imprimatur of a priori proof, I have penned the following reply to Ms. Savant. It would please me if you would share it with your readers. Dear Marilyn vos Savant, Though I have no taste for beer, and though I quite agree (to the disaDDoint- GThe UILFORDIAN Editor-in-Chief Jason Underwood News Editor Peter Smith Features Editor Eric Badertscher Editorials Editor Laurel Nesbitt Sports Editor Scott Genualdi Photo Editor Charles Almy Copy Editor David Simpson Layout Editor Jacob Stohler Business Manager Anna Yeargin Production Coordinator Joyce Atkinson Faculty Advisor Jeff Jeske Assistant Copy Editor Laura Seel Assistant Layout Editor Betsy Vance Advertising Director Martha McCoy Staff: Hobie Anthony, Nancy Benson, Andrew Bloom, Dena Bolton, Carolyn Bundy, Emily Carr, Brad Chance, Allison Dean, Alexandra Duckworth, Mike Gross man, Larisa Hulnick, Vic Johnson, Baker Koppleman, Butch Maier, Laura Marshall, Lisa Pope, Lara Ramsey, Cory Schwartz, Jane Scott, Joe Studivant, Ted Talcott, Dana Tritsch, Eugene Wan and Ami Worthen. The Guilfordian is the student newspaper of Guilford College, Greensboro, N.C. Mailing information can be obtained through The Guilfordian 's office. Submitted articles are welcome. Opinions expressed in editorials and letters to the editor do not necessarily reflect the views of the staff and editorial board of The Guilfordian. The editor(s) reserve the editorial licence toThe Guilfordian staff. Please address all mail to: The Guilfordian, Box 17717, Greensboro, NC 27410. 2 THE GUILFORDIAN April 9, 1990 PERSPECTIVES ment of all of my students) with your sober view that there are misspelled (and mispronounced) words, I believe you have done a disservice to the earnest fellow who tried to demonstrate a priori that there are no such things. Having lost his bet and his beer, he deserves, at least, to know what is wrong with his argument. This you have failed to explain. I believe the answer goes something tlike this. The expression "misspelled word" is actually ambiguous. Consider, for ex ample, the claim (which, I suspect, is false) that "mispelled" is the most fre quently misspelled word in English. In this sentence, to say that something is a misspelled word is to say that it is a word of English (and surely one which appears in the dictionary) which people, in their writing, intend but fail to spell correctly. (This account isn't quite correct, since sometimes we intentionally misspell a word, but we can leave this complication aside.) But suppose I look at the newspa per and comment "There are five mis spelled English words in one paragraph: "Mispelled," "seperate," .... In this sen tence, to say that something is a mis spelled word is to say that it is a bit of writing which is a misspelling of some English word which the writer (author or inscriber) intended to spell correctly. Both of these ways of understanding the ex pression "misspelled word" are, of course, quite coherent and unproblematic, and both reveal that "misspelling" is a relation >etween words and inscriptions which are made with specific intent. Having demonstrated the coherence, if ambiguity, of the idea of a misspelled word, we are left only with the question of where your earnest inquirer went awry in his argument. The core of his argument was this: a misspelled word is a word that is misspelled; but if a word is misspelled, then it won't be in the dictionary, and therefore it's not a word. Given the above noted ambiguity, we must ask how to understand this argument. Not surpris ingly it can be read two ways. Read according to our first account, the mis spelled word is a word that is misspelled. It is an English word which someone intended, but failed, to spell aright and more than likely, it will turn up in the dictionary. If, however, we read the argument ac cording to our second account, the mis spelled word is a bit of writing, which is a missspelling of an English word the writer intended to spell correctly. Now here's the nub of your inquirer's point: How can Figures show the facts of sex discrimina Katharine Statham Guest Writer "I am pissed! lam so damned pissed!" said Lorretta Ross, panelist from the Femi nist Futures Conference, Nov. 1989. Why is she pissed? Because at all economic levels and in all activities women are discriminated against • The yearly median income of families maintained by a working woman is $16,909; those families which are main tained by a man have an incomeof $26,008. The Economics of Men, Women and Work • The national average weekly pay of female union members in 1987 was $388; the average weekly pay of male union workers was $494. The New Haven Advo cate's Annual Images of Women Edition, July 17,1989 • The 1987 media average pension benefit for women was $370 as compared this bit of writing be a word of English, if it is a misspelling of some English word: The answer actually is twofold: the first answer is that to call this bit of writing a misspelled word doesn't (by our second account) require that it be a word at all, only that it be a misspelling of a word. In assuming that a misspelled word is a word that is misspelled, your inquirer simply misunderstood the second account. But the second answer is that a bit of English which is a misspelling of an English word can indeed be a word of English: My students often misspell "affect" by writ ing "effect." To be sure, this is not the most common occurrence with m isspei led words, but it happens. We are left, then, with this summary diagnosis of the falla cious argument: your inquirer misunder stood the second account of "misspelled word," interpreting it to imply "some thing that is itself both a word and a misspelling of a word," and then incor rectly judged that nothing could meet this description. There is, however, a remaining puzzle: Is there a "reasonable" way to misinter pret "misspelled word" which does make a misspelled word something that nothing can be? Perhaps this will do: something is a misspelled word just in case it has become a word simply by virtue of being a misspelling of another word. I leave it for you to decide. to $670 for men. Pensions: Worker Coverage and Retirement Income • Percentage of all Fortune 500 compa nies that receive complaints about sexual harassment: 90 percent. Percentage of offenders given a verbal warning without discharge: 80 percent. The New Haven Advocate's Annual Images of Women Edition, July 17,1989 • According to the FBI, forcible rape is one of the fastest growing violent crimes committed in the US. Reported rapes in creased 94 percent between 1970 and 1980. Minnesota Department of Correction Program for victims of Sexual Assault Annual Report, 1982 The examples aren't simply statistics, they are the realities of sexual discrimina tion. Many women and men seek to change this reality by taking their anger and turning it into power. We, I am a feminist. We, I will continue to a be a feminist until true equality and non-op pression prevail.
The Guilfordian (Greensboro, N.C.)
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