One thing all writing instruction seems to have in common is the injunction to PROOFREAD.  The world is harsh … don’t add to your burden by making foolish typos, and certainly, in this day and age of electronic spell check, never misspell a word.

Now, I have to admit, I’m a hell of a speller.  I really don’t need the spellchecker, and I can go pages a time without that red underline that indicates a problem … and then it’s always a typo.  Well, almost always.

So, this morning, I got a note from my college classmate, Jim.  We were both English majors.  He said, “I signed up for your blog…..”Pilgrimmage”….and just wondered if you intended to misspell (double “m”) the word, and if so, for what purpose?”  He was nice enough not to finish the sentence (and me) off, with “, dummy.”  Or, as Weezy, the Tracker in Hack the Yak would not have hesitated to say, “Dumbass.”

Thus spake the Father of the Mother Tongue

But I might be saved by older spelling, right?  Anything not to bruise my ego further.  Off on the web to variations on ‘Pilgrimage.’  Chaucer probably said, “Thanne longen folk to goon on Pilgrimmages.”  Nope.  The OED, that’s it.  Some archaic form, right?  But no.  Just the entry, ‘incorrect spelling of ‘Pilgrimage’

So I have learned a valuable lesson today … don’t let your ego get in the way of the spellchecker, dumbass.