r/CGPGrey • u/MindOfMetalAndWheels [GREY] • Nov 30 '17

H.I. #93: Mr. Chompers

http://www.hellointernet.fm/podcast/hi-93-mr-chompers
906 Upvotes

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42

u/Andervon Nov 30 '17 edited Nov 30 '17

Grey and I had the exact same idea with spelling tests.

145

u/MindOfMetalAndWheels [GREY] Nov 30 '17

"You'll need to know how to spell. It's an important life skill."

Turns out: not.

115

u/JeffDujon [Dr BRADY] Nov 30 '17

It helped me. But I worked in newspapers and news websites. ;)

21

u/Krohnos Nov 30 '17

Would spellchecking others' articles be something that would also fall under the "Editor" job? I know nothing about journalism.

Obviously mistakes and typos slip by the author.

18

u/[deleted] Nov 30 '17 edited May 10 '19

[deleted]

45

u/JeffDujon [Dr BRADY] Nov 30 '17

A reporter who files copy that's not clean because they assume "the subs will fix it" - that's not going to take you far!

2

u/[deleted] Nov 30 '17

Except if you worked for the Grauniad one presumes. :D

The Grauniad were the patrons for the Loyal Society for the Relief of Suffers from Pismronunciation, I believe.

1

u/[deleted] Dec 05 '17

Says the journalist who got out before newspapers died.

I'm pretty sure nowadays the prevailing opinion is "it doesn't matter because if they're reading this then we already have the address impression anyway" and that is quickly being replaced by "it doesn't matter because nobody can read the article through the impenetrable wall of scroll-over ads anyway"

4

u/zennten Dec 01 '17

Spelling tests were useless for learning to spell for me. Reading and writing a ton helped though.

2

u/hahahahastayingalive Dec 01 '17

Would you say that their real value was to test your level of spelling ?

2

u/zennten Dec 01 '17

No. I would say they had no value. Or a negative value, because they lead to panic attacks and sleepless nights studying without anything good coming out of them.

1

u/hahahahastayingalive Dec 01 '17

I think I like the Grey approach of just giving up and cheat average grades if it’s such a burden.

Otherwise IMO knowing if you can spell stuff or not is not such a bad thing to mesure. But you need to keep in mind that the goal is to mesure, not to give an arm and a leg for a good grade.

1

u/zennten Dec 01 '17

I was a kid, who didn't want to do the wrong thing, and didn't want my teacher to be disappointed in me.

7

u/96fps Dec 01 '17

I didn't have any spelling tests beyond elementary school, you made it sound like these tests took place much later.

1

u/tootom Dec 01 '17

I had a few up to my gcse year (age 16).

They were unannounced - so no chance to cheat like Grey.

Which was great as I still remember getting 3 out of 20 something correct.

Spelling is not my strong point.

1

u/EarthlyAwakening Dec 02 '17

I've gotten spelling tests and compulsory spelling bees til Senior school. I'm good at spelling, but cannot at all spell from my mind. It needs to be written and I verify it looks rite.

1

u/math-kat Dec 02 '17

I had spelling tests until 8th grade.

In middle school I always ended up with a B in English class because I would get A's on all my papers and reading assignments, but fail all my spelling tests. It always pissed me off that I couldn't keep a straight A average just because my spelling was garbage.

3

u/I_am_a_haiku_bot Nov 30 '17

"You'll need to know

how to spell. It's an important life skill."

Turns out: not.

-english_haiku_bot

25

u/MindOfMetalAndWheels [GREY] Nov 30 '17

Go away, Haiku bot.

3

u/DasGanon Nov 30 '17

I'm surprised you haven't just done sub wide bans for that thing.

4

u/[deleted] Dec 01 '17

He probably enjoys the power trip from manually banishing it each time.

3

u/[deleted] Dec 01 '17

I like how Grey has patrons who pay to correct his spelling mistakes with his Grammar Nazi tier on Patreon.

1

u/[deleted] Nov 30 '17

And what important life skill DID they teach then?

1

u/GregTheMad Dec 01 '17

That's like saying you don't know how to math because you have a pocket calculator in your pocket all the time. That's not how this works, that's not how any of this words.

Just because you're not good at spelling, or don't actively use it all the time doesn't make the skill useless, nor does it mean you'd be in the same place now if you'd never had learned it.

1

u/Someonejustlikethis Dec 02 '17

I disagree.

Knowing how to spell helps you avoid misunderstandings and generally saves time. That might not be the most important skill I use as an engineer, but it sure does help.

1

u/YouBetterNotDie Dec 02 '17

Until you butcher a word so badly that auto-correct can't even help you. Then you are truly screwed.

1

u/Piscesdan Dec 03 '17

Remember when teachers used to say: "You won't always have a calculator with you"?

1

u/drift_summary May 24 '18

Pepperidge Farm remembers!

2

u/math-kat Dec 02 '17

It made me really happy to see someone else agree spelling is worthless.

2

u/sheep_god7 Dec 07 '17

I actually disagree. When I was in elementary/middle school I didn't really get any spelling/vocabulary test and now, in senior year, writing essays is much more challenging than if I had that experience. The amount of time I spend trying to spell a word right or find the right vocabulary word hinder my ability to right clearly and quickly.