Today is the letter "B" for the A to Z Challenge. Though it is bittersweet that I'm not participating this year, I thought that I would briefly combine it with the Insecure Writer's Support Group. Since Alex J. Cavanaugh is an integral force of both groups, it seemed only fitting.
As a writer, it is very confusing to find words that have more than one spelling. Recently, our younger son showed us a paper about amateur sports. He had written amature. Although the word didn't pass spell-check, it still popped up on the Free Online Dictionary. I finally found amateur on the Merriam Webster site, which is the gold standard. Needless to say, he agreed to change it.
Spelling is more confusing now than ever with the advent of texting. A friend of mine told me that her daughter received an email for a job interview that was written like a text message without capital letters or punctuation. Her daughter was careful to respond in a professional manner wondering if this was some sort of test. Many adults are just as bad as kids when it comes to abbreviating their messages in an effort to save time.
Years ago, I worked for a market research firm that posted notes on a bulletin board. When a survey was canceled they would write CANCELLED in bold print. Once it was my turn to post an announcement, and I struggled with the two spellings. I knew that canceled was the correct American English spelling, but if I didn't spell it their way, then I would look like an idiot. Begrudgingly, I spelled it with two L's, or is it begrudginglly?
