Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Use It or Lose It

The other day, I was emailing a friend and telling her W was commando crawling everywhere or every where? Is everywhere a word I asked myself? Not having time to check my dictionary, I played it safe with every where. Then, I noticed in a previous post I typed "This is the thoughts" -um that should be This is the thought or These are the thoughts-what is going on here? I have always strived to use correct grammar and am usually a good speller. I grew up being corrected if I said "have went," and now, in a way that I'm sure is making my daddy smile, I find myself correcting my older son (not in a "you are wrong" way, I repeat what he says just correcting the mistake) and also, sometimes, my husband. I'll tell you what I think. It's use it or lose it syndrome. I no longer write papers or essays for a class or type emails to co-workers. I'm not using my writing skills, and I am losing them (just like my computer skills). It is scary how quickly these skills atrophy. One thing's for sure, I best be working some crossword puzzles as I age, or I'm going to be in real trouble. (You like the "I best be"? That's just some local flavor for you all!)

2 comments:

mel said...

I feel the exact way about using a calculator! I'm getting more and more stupid as the days pass. This has gotten me concerned as I've started getting mentally prepped for the GMAT. Calculators aren't allowed!! So I've started making an effort to stop using the blasted machine.

Rebecca said...

That's funny. I'm such a bad speller. At night when I'm usually writing my posts, I'll turn around and ask my husband about the spelling of a really easy word that's just not coming to me and he'll love at me like I'm nuts. Sometimes when I'm typing I just can't remember how to spell the easiest words!

People say reading a lot helps but I've been a big reader for a long time but my mind just goes blank sometimes.