Jenny Morse, PhD
Author and CEO

Spelling in English is hard. There are languages where the idea of a spelling bee is ridiculous because everything is spelled just the way it sounds (looking at you, Spanish).

Not English.

That’s why we are so lucky the computer programmers have invented tools like spellcheck! For centuries, spelling was the most common error in writing. Enter spellcheck! Now the most common error isn’t misspelling; it’s using the wrong word—a word that sounds the same but is spelled differently. (your/you’re there/their/they’re, anyone?)

We all struggle with English spelling. I have two theories as to what makes English spelling so horrible:

1) English is a mutt and

2) English doesn’t have a National Academy of the Language.

Let’s start with theory #1. The language we’ve inherited is the result of millennia of conquering peoples. English has two main branches of language roots: German and Latin. The basics of English come from Germanic people starting in 500AD, but around 1000AD a whole new influence from French (a Latin or Romance language) contributes to English. We end up with lots of duplicated words—same meanings but different language roots:

German Latin

ask inquire

before prior

start commence

stay remain

body corpse

build construct

buy purchase

do execute

drink imbibe

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What you will hopefully start to notice is that the German list are most of our simpler, everyday words. Words that you would use when speaking to just about anyone. But, the Latin list holds more “formal” words. Words you might use in writing, or if you are trying to impress the person you are talking to.

This makes sense because for most of human history, people were illiterate. And, the people who were literate tended to write in Latin, starting with the Roman Empire and carrying on into the Catholic Church. So, Latin was a language used by educated people, which has persisted to present day where our Latin-root words in English tend to be associated with writing, formal speech, or communication that requires or provides more specific expertise. The Germanic words were just the way we regularly talked to each other.

But, with all these different roots to English, we end up with lots of different ways to spell the same kinds of sounds. For example,

Ok, so let’s say you accept theory #1, English is a language of conquering peoples. But, you protest, lots of languages are the result of conquering peoples! (Again, Spanish?!). Why aren’t those other languages as messed up as English?

Well, that brings us to theory #2, no language overlords. Spanish has la Real Academia Española, which is an institution dedicated to maintaining consistency in the language. Italy and France have these, too. And, lots and lots of other languages have something similar: full list here. Basically, these languages have a group of people who make sure that spelling, grammar, and other aspects of the language stay consistent.

English doesn’t have one of these.

Even worse, English took a big hit with the founding of the United States.

English was already a mess, but Webster (of the famed Webster’s Dictionary) wanted to create a truly American language with more phonetic spelling and less French. So, Webster deliberately wrote his dictionary changing American English to make it different from British English. That’s how we end up with color not colour and theater not theatre, but also traveling not travelling. Webster wanted to go even further with words like nehbor for neighbor and ieland for island, but unfortunately (thankfully?) a bunch of people stopped him.

English spelling, then, is something made tricky by history and even trickier by not having anybody official telling us how it should work. We have lots of dictionaries and grammar books, but not all of them agree. This seems incredibly consistent with our national mythology—we don’t want anyone telling us what to do, and we all have an equally valid opinion on how everything should be done.

As a result, spelling will continue to be a challenge for the foreseeable future. Luckily, our computer programmers are getting smarter and involving some English experts in the writing of spellcheck algorithms.

The result is tools like Grammarly, a software program that combines the brilliance of AI technology with real language experts (Microsoft grammar check definitely did not ask real language experts for help building their tool). You can download it as a plug in, and it will spellcheck virtually everything you write on the internet!

Now you’ll be able to spell words correctly even on your Tinder profile or your rants about the neighbors on NextDoor! So people can still disagree with you, but they won’t be able to insult your spelling.

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