People mock Vanna White as just television window dressing. But Vanna White doesn't flub spelling out words, now does she? Sure, the letters light up for her--but has she ever failed to touch those letters correctly and give us a properly spelled word? No. That means tens of bajillion of words (rough estimate) have single-handedly been spelled flawlessly at the hands of Vanna White.
Is she the world's greatest speller? I don't know, but it's possible she's a super computer from which all spellchecks evolve.
The same can't be said for Jane Austen.
Oxford University professor Kathryn Sutherland researched 1,100 pages of hand-written letters by Austen and found that...ehhh...spelling is overrated when you're writing about Mr. Darcy. And don't ask Austen about semi-colons. Her grammar skills were apparently pretty bad, too.
There are various explanations. It was a different era. Rules were different. Maybe she was being casual in her letters. Or, you know, spelling and apostrophes just weren't her thing.
This just reinforces the argument that college students should be allowed to misspell and have pathetic grammar skills. First Shakespeare can't make up his mind on how to spell his own name. Now, Jane Austen doesn't know how to use a comma.
Cormac McCarthy needs to step it up. Just saying.
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