WhiteSmoke Survey Shows Adults Cannot Spell Everyday Words - They Blame Cell Phones

Scripps National Spelling Bee Draws National Focus on What Adults Can't Do -- Spell

BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--When Scripps National Spelling Bee Competitors gather in Washington, DC on May 29 for the 81st national championships, young people from all over the US will sweat over arcane words ranging from accretionary to zeugma.

Yet most adults can't spell the ordinary words we use every day.

Words such as 'calendar', 'embarrass', 'questionnaire' and 'liaison' stumped adults in a random survey and spelling test of 18-60 year-olds by WhiteSmoke, Inc., developers of a turbocharged grammar checker that relies on patented language processing technology to check spelling, grammar and punctuation in context.

'Referring' and 'definitely' also left a large percentage of the 2,500 survey participants scratching their heads, according to the English language grammar and writing software firm whose product also enhances writing by suggesting synonyms, adjectives and adverbs (www.whitesmoke.com).

Despite the dismal spelling ability, nearly a third of the respondents reckoned their spelling was excellent and another 46 percent claimed it was good.

Adults were shown 20 words and asked to pick out the correct spelling. 'Calendar' was misspelled by 19 percent of people, 20 percent were clueless when it came to spelling 'embarrass' and 'referring' drew blanks from 28 percent. Another 38 percent had no idea how to spell 'definitely'.

Almost a third were stumped by the spelling of 'liaison' and 40 percent got 'questionnaire' wrong, followed by 'accommodate,' which was misspelled 38 percent of the time. Even 'receive' was misspelled by 15 percent of respondents who apparently forgot the lesson covering, "I before E except after C."

Fired for Bad Spelling

The study also provided insight into those who believe that their poor spelling is a detriment. One in five admitted to avoiding handwriting letters or notes because their spelling is so poor. Six percent said their spelling was so bad they had lost a job because of it and another eight percent reckoned they had been passed over for a promotion.

Though their spelling ability might be deficient, 86 percent of the participants think it is important to be able to spell properly and 89 percent said they were bothered by their colleagues' spelling errors.

Cell Phones, other Technology Blamed

Despite poor spelling performance and the fact that spellchecking technology has been around for decades it is not always used; only 59 percent said they rely heavily on their computer's spell check to get everything right. When asked why their spelling was not up to par, two-thirds blamed technology -- especially mobile phone predictive spelling and text speak abbreviations such as CUL8TR for see you later.

Amit Greener, vice president of sales and marketing for WhiteSmoke said: "It's surprising to learn that despite getting basic words wrong, a huge majority of adults regard their spelling skills as excellent or good and that only about 60 percent take full advantage of the very technology that can virtually eliminate this flaw from their writing."

He added, "Fortunately, broadcasting the annual National Spelling Bee on primetime, network TV with popular personalities hosting the event focuses attention on the importance of spelling. It's really an opportunity for parents to learn from their children."

While Evan O'Dorney clinched the National Spelling Bee championship last year with the correct spelling of "serrefine," most people can improve the spelling of the words they use daily with WhiteSmoke's three steps to perfect spelling:

1. Always use a spellchecker-- even if you handwrite a note, type uncertain words in an open document on your computer to run them through a spellchecker.

2. Intuitive spellcheckers are terrific timesavers. Nevertheless, no spellchecker is perfect. Print out important emails, letters and proposals and read them on paper. This is the best way catch mistakes you missed on screen. Ask colleagues, friends or family members to check too.

3. Pick one troublesome word a week and look it up on WhiteSmoke's online dictionary. Reading the definition, derivation and forms of the word -- singular, plural, etc. will help make the spelling stick.

To take a portion of the spelling quiz yourself, visit this page.