Spelling is the art of putting together the letters which compose a syllable, or the syllables which compose a word.
Comic spelling is usually the work of imagination. The chief rule to be observed in this kind of spelling, is, to spell every word as it is pronounced; though the rule is not universally observed by comic spellers. The following example, for the genuineness of which we can vouch, is one so singularly apposite, that although we have already submitted a similar specimen of orthography to the reader, we are irresistibly tempted to make a second experiment on his indulgence. The epistolary curiosity, then, which we shall now proceed to transcribe, was addressed by a patient to his medical adviser.
“Sir,
“My Granmother wos very much trubeld With the Gout and dide with it my father wos also and dide with it when i was 14 years of age i wos in the habbet of Gettin whet feet Every Night by pumping water out of a Celler Wich Cas me to have the tipes fever wich Cas my Defness when i was 23 of age i fell in the Water betwen the ice and i have Bin in the habbet of Getting wet when traviling i have Bin trubbeld with Gout for seven years
“Your most humbel
“Servent
. . . . . . . .
. . . . . .
Clearkenwell”
Chelsea College has been supposed by foreigners to be an institution for the teaching of orthography; probably in consequence of a passage in the well known song in “The Waterman,”
“Never more at Chelsea Ferry,
Shall your Thomas take a spell.”
Q. Why is a dunce no conjuror?
A. Because he cannot spell.