Is spelling an intuitive function?

[KentOhio]

Is spelling an intuitive function? This is based on my observation that most of the S's I know are bad spellers, while most of the N's I know are good spellers. Even of the N's I've known who were not so good at it, they at least were aware of their lack of skill and acknowledged the need for improvement. The S's just didn't care. Don't you, as an intuitive, get reelly frustraited when you sea werds speled rong? I know you do; you all comment on it when someone misspells a word. Know any S's in real life who are great at it, or N's who are terrible?

[Vagabond]

I know S people that are good spellers. I think the difference with Sensors is that they have to learn how the word is spelled, while Ns get into the philosophy of the language or the word structure (whatever) and therefore can spell correctly even words they have never seen in written. Of course that does not mean that Ns never make spelling mistakes or anything.

[EternalCynic]

It would make sense, I suppose. And yes, it drives me mad when I see misspelled words *Checks to see if that's spelled correctly* Oh good, it is :)

[anarchist]

I agree with Vagabond..it's an intuitive process which happens on its own...with out any conscious effort....

[Dman]

I've wondered about that myself. I cannot stand to see a word misspelled, especially one of my own. I re-read most of my typing specifically to make sure that nothing goes out misspelled. I have no use for a spell-checker.

What does this wonderful trait get me in life? Nothing. Except maybe being labeled an anal-retentive nerd.

I used to have an "S" friend who was a horrible speller, but his vocabulary was outstanding. We would argue which was a better capability. Although I never admitted it to him, I believe his was.

[Niflheimian]

I've always thought spelling was intuitive for me. I don't know if any of you've noticed, but when I observe poor spelling/grammar, I usually at least feel tempted to point it out, if not correct it (heh, remember Universal?). If you make such errors, as the lovely Lynne Truss says, "you deserve to be struck by lightning, hacked up on the spot, and buried in an unmarked grave." A bit harsh? I think not!

If I made any mistakes in that, I'll feel personally violated if someone comments. 8O

[mgb]

It may be a P function rather than an N. You may be more inclined to rush through something than achieve perfection. As well, as a P you may not be inclined to care if your message gets across before you move onto the next message.

[booyalab]

Spelling isn't "of" a single function. I think it has more to do with your preference for aesthetics and visual order. A good auditory parallel is in singing. I'm very sensitive in the auditory sense (as well as the visual sense), so when I hear someone sing even slightly off key I wince and want to stab myself/them. I get the same feeling when I see misspelled words, but both anal inclinations are so random and USUALLY irrelevant that I don't comment on them unless I'm in a bad or teasing mood.

It might be a combination of perfectionism (which is demonstrated in multiple types) and whether you are a 'visual' learner.

[lauriep]

I'm not sure that it is completely an N/S issue. I have never been good at spelling. My mother is an S but also a leftie and has horrible spelling while my N father is a righty and has much better spelling. Interestingly, my sister is a S, a rightie and is a good speller.

[SheepDog]

I think it's visual for me.

[Zero Angel]

Depends on where you focus your intuition, I guess. I was always a good speller, used intuition to figure out the correct spelling of words I never even seen before. The same with understanding words, if you have a knack for understanding the context of the words, you soon figure out what they mean without looking in the dictionary.

Unless of course the context is wrong. Incorrect use of the word 'antisocial' always bothers me. Antisocial is commonly misused to mean introvert, in actuality it means 'without a conscience' or 'without empathy'. Something like that.

[Nindy]

KentOhio: you wrote 'sea' instead of 'see'!!! I'm very disappointed in you.

My brother is an INTJ who is a true disaster when it comes to spelling, but then again, he IS dyslexic.

[Bluehaze]

Another point to be made is that Ns function with more of an analytic interpretation while Ss tend to sense with more feelings. The obvious result is that when the mind of an S attempts to assess the spelling the cognitive approach borders and moves into their analytic side, which is less developed. This leads to more spellings errors, of course, and possibly grammatical use to an extent (as they can associate words with feelings, thus some may be able to pick out the appropriate word to use better).

I don't find it annoying if someone makes a mistake when writing. The first and foremost important thing is that I understand the "general idea." Some words may seem to confuse the reader, but when looked at are not important towards understanding this general idea--excess words used to be grammatically correct. In addition, I understand that some people just don't want to spend a length of their time to spell check and/or grammar check--their other priorities override such conveniences.

Quote Me:
"I don't find it annoying if someone makes a mistake when writing."

The key word being mistake. If it is a 'purposeful mistake' without any hidden or abstruse meaning etc., then I will find that annoying. The idea that the person doesn't care enough about their thoughts, that he or she is wanting others to use their time to read and contemplate, to even bother taking their time writing his or her ideas is pointless.

This last thought may seem contradictory with what I said prior, however the difference is that on one side the person is being aware of what he or she is writing enough to miss most mistakes, while typing or writing them; while on the other side, the person doesn't even care enough about what he or she is writing to bother with thinking when writing.

[Zero Angel]

How old is your brother? The reason I ask this is because I used to be dyslexic as a child, and still have a terrible time printing and handwriting, I still cant remember how to handwrite a capital 'T' and 'G', but am excellent at drawing technical diagrams. Perhaps your brother just needs to find out where his strengths are instead of worrying about what his weaknesses are.

Dyslexia is either a disorder, or is rather a weakness that is complimented by an unusually developed mode of thinking in other visual areas.

I recently read an article about this guy who was growing a brain in a dish (from only a few human brain cells) and recalled reading that when the brain was exposed to electronic stimulation that it would begin to multiply and form neural pathways on its own. I think this is the same way with dyslexia, the neural pathways are formed differently, thus what most S's would consider to be a defect of the brain, is actually a difference of the brain. One that has not evolved poorly, but only differently.

[Danyal]

My spelling is poor, by my own standards :)

Having said that I am waiting to be tested for dyslexia as there are other 'patterns' to my cognative responses that indicate I may have it.

I do however deal with solicitors on almost a daily basis and it always annoys me how poorly they present themselves on paper with spelling and grammar errors more obvious to me than the point they should be making.

Oh and what I really hate is having to re-write something cause I can't even start to spell a word and there are some words no matter how much I try to remember them I always spell incorrectly.

[Crazy]

I get annoyed when I see spelling errors, mine or someone elses. Just ask my backspace key.

One thing I haven't seen mentioned yet, is that sometimes I know I spelled a word correctly, but it still looks wrong. Has anyone else had that problem?

[indie]

Zero Angel:


Depends on where you focus your intuition, I guess. I was always a good speller, used intuition to figure out the correct spelling of words I never even seen before. The same with understanding words, if you have a knack for understanding the context of the words, you soon figure out what they mean without looking in the dictionary.

Yes, I'd have to agree with that. On a side note, I think we probably have to blame SFs for the horrible slaughter of words online:

cUl8r . . . those little pseudo-clever spellings are extremely annoying.

[Boneca]

I think that spelling ability is simply a result of reading a lot.
After all, in order to spell a word correctly, you have to compare the word to a mental "picture" of how the word is supposed to look. At least that is how my mind works.
I figure that if you do not read much, you wouldn't have much of those mental references to compare to, and therefore have to resort to some sort of phonetic translation.
Then again it could be argued that iNtuitives may read more than Sensors.

[indie]

Good point, Boneca. I once had a teacher in high school who always recommended bringing a dictionary with you every time you sit down to read. I read way too much and too often to carry a dictionary w/me; but I was quite productive at making lists of words (on napkins, receipts and scraps of paper) that I wanted to look up . . . and subsequently losing the lists. :)

[Nindy]

How old is your brother? The reason I ask this is because I used to be dyslexic as a child, and still have a terrible time printing and handwriting, I still cant remember how to handwrite a capital 'T' and 'G', but am excellent at drawing technical diagrams. Perhaps your brother just needs to find out where his strengths are instead of worrying about what his weaknesses are.

Dyslexia is either a disorder, or is rather a weakness that is complimented by an unusually developed mode of thinking in other visual areas.

I recently read an article about this guy who was growing a brain in a dish (from only a few human brain cells) and recalled reading that when the brain was exposed to electronic stimulation that it would begin to multiply and form neural pathways on its own. I think this is the same way with dyslexia, the neural pathways are formed differently, thus what most S's would consider to be a defect of the brain, is actually a difference of the brain. One that has not evolved poorly, but only differently.
My brother is sixteen. He's great with mathematics, but when it comes to languages the teachers call him an utter disaster. It's not that he lacks insight, it's just that he tends to write everything exactly like it's said.
I agree with your views on this matter though, he definitely has an amazing developed mode of thinking in other visual areas, thus dyslexia should qualify as a difference rather than a defect of the brain indeed.
But he does focus on his strengths rather than his weaknesses, that's not the problem, he needs to focus on his weaknesses with spelling and language every now and then anyway, if willing to be promoted to the next grade for school that is. ;)

[Zero Angel]

that's not the problem, he needs to focus on his weaknesses with spelling and language every now and then anyway, if willing to be promoted to the next grade for school that is.

Lol, I see exactly what you're saying; and I believe you are right.

[heeroyuy]

I can spell very large words, yet struggle with the astonishingly simple things, such as if there is an 'e' in that suffix or not. Thank god that Evolution includes a spell checkers that I use when sending mail to clients. Sometimes I know it that a word is spelled incorrectly, and it makes me want to choke someone, but I don't know how to spell it correctly, so I just put (sp?) by it so people know that I at least RECOGNIZE that I'm not right, so there is no need to correct me, I'm already mentally beating myself for not knowing :)

[INTrPosr]

As usual, I have to agree with Vagabond. I know too many S's that hate mispelled words also. On the otherhand, my son is ENFP and his spelling is horrible. I do recall being capable of spelling words that I had never saw, when competing in spelling bees. I always thought it was based on intuition.

[SheepDog]

I'm pretty tolerant of spelling errors, even though spelling comes easy to me. I wouldn't mind if we all just spelled the way things sounded, since english is such a mutt language.

There are some things that bug me though, when people use the wrong terms, and it clearly shows they don't understand the structure of what they're saying. Like "I should of did that", or "I want two go". But since we see this kind of thing on the 'net, I try to just read it like it sounds, and I usually get the meaning.

In the end, communication is really, really hard anyway without having to nitpick spelling or grammar.

[Lucas]

my computer already learned how to spell, why should I?

no just joking, for some reason bad spelling really bothers me.

[Danyal]

One thing I haven't seen mentioned yet, is that sometimes I know I spelled a word correctly, but it still looks wrong. Has anyone else had that problem?
Yeah I get that all the time :/