Lately, I have come across multiple music videos on YouTube with titles such as “You Da One,” or “We R Who We R.” As you can see, artists are spelling words that do not even exist. They are using the incorrect spelling of words in the titles of their songs, and for what purpose? I have analyzed the same question over and over again, but I can’t find an answer to it. The only thing I can conclude is that artists’ poor spelling of words is a negative influence on the people watching these videos online, especially the young ones.
It cannot be denied that most of us idolize either an artist, or an athlete. By nature, we tend to like everything they do, but what happens when they are doing wrong things, and at the same time influence us to imitate them? It is irresponsible for an artist to misspell the title of a song knowing that they have young fans that are in the process of learning how to spell. Kids learn many of the things they see, and poor spelling is one of the things they’re learning all thanks to artists’ “creativity.”
I understand if it’s slang that’s being used in the title, such as: “Ain’t That a Shame,” or “Why Does Love Got to Be So Sad,” because we sometimes speak like that. What I do not accept is purposely misspelling words in the titles of their songs, such as: “Cum on Feel the Noize, Mahgeetah(My guitar), Sk8er Boi, Hot In Herre, I wanna B Ur Lovr, or I would die 4 u.”
This misusage of words is clearly reflecting in our society. Lifestyle News states that “according to a study conducted by the London-based Spelling Society, 62 percent of the people find it hard to spell "embarrassed" correctly…The study also showed that nearly 78 percent of the men surveyed were unable to spell ‘friend’.” Is this not a sad story? I don’t find it hard to believe that 78 percent of the surveyed men weren’t able to spell “friend” because I see it everywhere. It’s on social network Facebook, text messages I receive, and emails. The saddest part is that people are unaware of how ridiculous they look when they misspell words. And if they’re posting text on Facebook, it’s obvious that they have access to the internet, so why not look up the correct spelling of words before they publish it on the web?
My questions to the class are: do you think it’s acceptable for an artist to purposely misspell the words of their song titles and do you think they are negative influencing our society? To what extent is misspelling acceptable? What is your overall opinion on this subject?
Sources:
50% Americans Can't Spell Simple Words...Can You? | MedIndia http://www.medindia.net/news/50-Americans-Cant-Spell-Simple-WordsCan-You-47389-1.htm#ixzz1lXGFh300
More pictures at:
http://www.happyplace.com/3645/the-best-obnoxious-responses-to-misspellings-on-facebook/page/1
To be honest it annoys the shit out of me. I do not know what is so hard about spelling things correctly. Computers nowadays, especially macs, will let you know if you have spelled something wrong and will even auto correct the word for you sometimes. As far as artists go, there is nothing artistic about the title of a song. In classical music, composers would literally label the song as Piano Sonata no. 8 in C Major and it did not make the sonata any less beautiful.
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ReplyDeleteIt does not bother me that artists misspell words on their song titles because quite frankly, I don't listen to the music of those who do. It can negatively influence our younger generations in the development of their spelling and professional skills.
ReplyDeleteHowever I can't stand when people misspell when texting and on Facebook. It really bothers me because it appears that they are dumb and don't have much of an education. I think people are becoming more tolerant of misspelling, but it drives me crazy. I understand that they are lazy or honestly don't know how to spell words, but most of the time it transfers to emails and writing that is looked at by employers. If you can't properly spell and write to an employer or customer, it doesn't appear professional. People who use short-hand spelling or purposefully misspell words in texting and in everyday communication find that it appears in more important work like reports.
Words that are deliberately spelled incorrectly to title a song is ridiculous. Most artists are role models to kids and they should be showing that they are intelligent. It kind of goes hand in hand with the sterotype that if you're an artist you weren't very smart to go far in life.
ReplyDeleteIt definitely bothers me when anything public is misspelled. Whether we realize it or not, it has an influence on how we write today. It is true that there are problems with college students writing in 'text' for their papers. This is because they are exposed to it daily. Making misspelling publicly is basically saying 'ok' to that kind of language. It's disturbing to realize how brainwashed we can be.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately I have to admit that I am horrible at abbreviating when it comes to texting, but not necessarily at misspelling. However, I do think it is sad that we as a people cannot spell well. Whenever I am writing an e-mail or a letter, or even this blog post, I put it on a Word Document so that I can make sure that nothing gets red or green underlined for inaccurate grammar or spelling. My Aunt was telling me that she had to substitute for a fourth grade class and their assignment was to do a mock news cast about the news that was happening in the school. This was an in-class assignment, so they didn’t have access to computers. So, the one girl wrote the script for what was their anchor-man, and as my aunt went over it, she was appalled at how many misspellings there were. She noted that every other word was misspelled, even common words such as calendar, believe, and even misspelled itself! This is sad that the youth of today are getting worse and worse at spelling, and unfortunately I have to admit that I am probably one of the worst offenders. I admit that I rely too heavily on spell-check, and even though I know that I have to ease off of it, and I try to do so, deep down I know that I will rely on the power of spell-check forever.
ReplyDeleteI cannot say how much it annoys me to see people using slang or misspelling words. Artists should know better than to purposefully misspell words. I also think it damages their credibility, because to me it makes them look really dumb. It is just a few extra letters to spell out the word, what does it matter just adding the extra letters. It also bothers me when people text using shorthand and slang. I have also noticed that now people do not know how to write correctly because they are so used to misspelling their words. Also, computers now have spell check, i do not understand how people can turn in papers or send emails with errors when there are so many opportunities to check their spelling.
ReplyDeleteIt does bother me when phrases or words are purposefully misspelled just to bring attention to the title for the artists sake. It is not acceptable for an artist to misspell, it is influencing the younger generations in a negative way. I do not think any misspelling is acceptable, however I do understand why artists do it and why they will continue to do it; simply to grab the attention of the consumer. My overall opinion on this subject matter is that children need to be taught the difference between misspelled words and the correct way of spelling them and understand that the sole purpose for misspelling in artists titles is to get their attention.
ReplyDeleteI think it is the artist's prerogative to misspell words if they want to. I believe that texting and internet chat has lead to more negative affects on today's society than misspelled song titles. Besides that, electronics correct our spelling now and have eliminated the need to learn how to spell a word. We simply just turn to the spelling and grammar check button
ReplyDeleteI think that the incorrect spelling of artist's in their songs is simply their way of making their songs individual. With the number of songs being created these days, it must be hard for each artist and production company to create individual titles. However, I think that the misspelling of almost every word over the internet, texting, and other common forms of communication has had a very negative effect on youth. I think the only solution for this problem, without completely eliminating abbreviations and text-speak from our conversations, is to stress to children the difference between these informal forms of communication and the formal ones.
ReplyDeleteI think it is okay if an artist misspells words in their title. It's their song, so they should have the right to do whatever they want. I honestly don't pay attention to the title of a song anyways, I am more worried about if it has a good beat or not. I also think the misspelling of titles do not have a negative influence on our society, there are so many more sources out there that are more responsible. For instance, lack of reading, lack of studying, etc. My overall opinion of this subject is I think it is okay for the misspelling of words in titles, and if a person is dumb enough to get a tattoo with incorrect grammar, let them look like a fool!
ReplyDeleteI think that artists misspelling words can have a bad influence on their younger fans. However most of the time the artists aren't intentionally trying to do it. I have noticed that bad grammar is becoming more and more popular these days. Most of bad grammar is thanks to social networking, or texting. After someone has been texting all day and using hyphenated,or misspelled words it is very easy for them to continue writing like that when they go to write a paper or do their homework.
ReplyDeleteI have been trying to use good grammar whenever I text or post something on facebook lately to try and have a good habit of spelling words right. In the end though I don't think there is anything that we can do to completely fix the growing problem of misspelled words and bad grammar.
Artists generally can do whatever they please because they have artistic license to do so. You're blaming the effect when you should be blaming the cause. If your parents didn't let you listen to ke$ha then you wouldn't have the problem of the music influencing the youth. Artists shouldn't have to worry about what they're producing in regards to the publics view. That would not only diminish the freedom of expression but also hinder the overall quality of the music. Music, as it stands today, is pretty unregulated, right where it should be. Honestly, I cannot see you approving a bill that limits artists ability to label their songs with incorrect grammer. Maybe if we were in china...
ReplyDeleteI dont think its a huge deal. I believe America is a free country and people have the right to spell things wrong if they want too. As long as its readable i think it should be acceptable. I also dont think it affects children in todays society negatively either. I believe people look to much into it, i think its more about being quick for people who use slang on the internet. I dont believe its a huge deal.
ReplyDeleteI believe that artists are human beings and they choose to express themselves in different ways. Misspelling a word may have a deeper meaning to it for them. I also think that people are going to make mistakes in everyday life because humans are naturally flawed creatures. But misspelling words just to make something shorter like, u instead of you and wat instead of what, is just stupid. People don’t sound educated when they misspell words and sometimes convenience for you isn’t convenient for other people. I have been asked multiple times by my mother what some words mean. She works with younger adults and to them she is just another contemporary cell phone user and they think that she’ll understand them when they shorten a word like tonight and turn it into tnt. I think that misspelling all started in texts. It took a while to type something out so people just shortened it. Now that we have our own mini computers I think that we should drop it all together and type the words how their meant to be typed.
ReplyDeleteIt is perfectly acceptable for artist to misspell words. They aren't called "artists" for nothing. It is also their right to speak how they want or to make up names for their songs that are misspelled. If you are raised "properly" and also attend school to become educated then I don't see how it can negatively influence you. I send text messages with slang everyday. Does it mean i'm not educated or i can't actually spell? Nope it sure doesn't. It's just easier and more efficient to write slang most of the time. And when it doesn't matter like in txt messages or on facebook then it shouldn't negatively influence anyone. If you decide that you don't want to become educated then that's your own problem. The only places i think misspelling is unacceptable would be for school, jobs, some emails, and other places were you need to look educated/professional. And i'd be willing bet that those studies didn't have a control, which if I am correct the people who conducted those studies are just lying with numbers in order to make it look worse than it actually is.
ReplyDeleteI think it is fine for artists to misspell their song titles and album names, it is their "art" and they can name their creations whatever they want. But, it is sad that there are people who can't spell words as simple as "friend". When I was young, I wasn't on the internet all the time, or listening to a lot of music, I read and played outside. Reading books is where I learned most of the words in my vocabulary and learned to spell them correctly. I think the fact that kids these days are spelling so poorly may also be because they spend so much time reading Facebook statuses on the internet instead of reading books that could actually help them learn. In school, these kids should also be learning to spell right, so kids that use number in their sentences on Facebook "l!k3 th!$" or using slang doesn't really bother me, they can do whatever they want on their Facebook. I think it is only sad that people can't spell words like "friend" or "embarrassed".
ReplyDeleteIt doesn't necessarily bother me that artists are spelling their song titles incorrectly because for example, in "You Da One" Rihanna is speaking in that dialect throughout the entire song. That’s actually the way she talks and yes, it shouldn't be written or spoken that way, but if the song were "You Are The One," it wouldn't have the same affect. Such song titles like “Sk8ter Boi” are not necessary, but I guess goes with the concept of the song as a whole. Besides, it is the artists song and they have the right to do whatever they want with it. I guess it doesn't bother me as much because I don’t really pay attention to the song titles and it doesn’t influence me to write that way. I think song titles are the least of our worries when affecting the grammar and misspelling of younger generations. However, I do believe we rely too much on electronics correcting our spelling/grammar mistakes and the way in which we communicate, whether it be through texts or social networking sites, has an effect on the youth.
ReplyDeleteI don't understand why many artists misuse spelling as a means to get the attention of the media and the adolescent group. I only favor an artist's choice of misspelling if it has some kind of deeper meaning to it. I don't recall any good examples from the top of my head but there probably are artists that misspell a word for a useful meaning that is portrayed in the song. I am one of those people though who hate it when people use numbers as letters like the whole internet sensation we call "1337 language" which is an annoyance to me. I also have a pet peeve when it comes to people using the letter "O" when speaking about numbers like "Oh yeah my number is (125)-O44-9O11." (*note how the "O's" look super weird with numbers). I can't stand it, I don't necessarily hate the people who do it, but I hate the use of letters in context with numbers.
ReplyDeleteI don't have a problem with artists mispelling their titles. They are thinking about how they will be able to get more attention and promote thier product. And if kids are taught the right way to spell I don't think that artists mispelling titles will affect them.
ReplyDeleteIn the end, it is their choice for how they decide to spell the title of their song. I would prefer they spelt words in their title correctly and not randomly capitalize letters. In my opinion it looks ignorant and classless. They lose any respect they might have received from me whenever they do. This neglect for spelling and grammar has gone too far in society as well. It is sad to see how poorly some people spell.
ReplyDeleteI don't see a problem if people blatantly spell words wrong for the purpose of show. However, it can get to a point that excessive misspelled words can become ridiculous. In the picture shown above with the tattoo, I think that is unacceptable. If you're going to have something permanent, make sure that you use the correct word and correctly use grammar.
ReplyDeleteIf an artist is going to spell a title wrong on purpose, i think that is fine because they might be doing it to be creative or tricky. I also think it is acceptable in conversations via text or email. However if a student gets so accustomed to it, they might start using it in their writing or even talking which is where i draw the line.
ReplyDeleteSpelling never was and still is not my best subject so spell check has always been a saving grace for me. I have no problem with artists taking creative license and playing around with the spelling of a word. They’re not trying to misguide society, they’re just trying to be different and have their misspelled song or band title stand out. If we as a society have come so far as to blame our stupidity on an artist’s creativity…well then heaven help us. Misspelling in professional and academic settings is obviously not acceptable but I find myself getting annoyed when friends text me just to talk and they substitute words like “’cause” for “cuz”. If you want to have a conversation then please use real words and know the difference between “their” and “there” and also “you’re” and “your”.
ReplyDeletei believe that misspelling has taken off. this is a bad thing, unless you do grow up to become an artist or rapper there is no sense in purposefully spelling words wrong. if youth get into the habit of misspelling words it cannot help them in the long run. even when i text now i try not to use abbreviations and try to always spell the word right (autocorrect).
ReplyDeleteI think that the incorrect spelling used by artists today, whether on purpose or not, makes our generation appear uneducated. Music is largely associated with the differences between time periods and when people in the future look back on these titles and lyrics, will most likely assume that we are illiterate or intellectually inept. I think these artists are not only influencing the young people of America, but also puts a bad mark on our culture and intelligence historically.
ReplyDeleteIt is an artists' choice whether or not they want to spell a word correctly or incorrectly. It is naive to be so quick to blame the artists. Our generation chooses to make everything shorthand and now artists are just following suit. They are conforming to our generations choices, the artists we love are truly not even original, because the abbreviations that they use were present in instant messaging and text messages before they hit mainstream.
ReplyDeleteI think artists should be allowed to title their songs however they want to. Music is art and it shouldn't have guidelines. I do agree with the fact that a big part of the younger generation sucks at spelling. In my opinion, this is mostly due to text and internet lingo being incorporated into every day writing that is meant to be formal. Practically a bad habit.
ReplyDeleteI also think artist should be able to title their songs however they want, but to an extent. Misspelling every word doesn't make you cool ,it just makes you seem illiterate. I cannot stand how on Facebook people won't spell out entire words, drives me crazy. For example, writing 2 instead of two. It isn't that hard to spell words correctly. These shortcuts are making amercia lazy and stupid in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteThe text-speak used for titles in songs in unneeded and out of place. Often times than not, the spelling has nothing to do with the album and was merely put for "creativity." It is inflicting that upon our society in the sense that spelling no longer matters. Of course, simple mistakes are perfectly fine - we are human, after all. But when it comes down to a complete change of the word, problems are apparent.
ReplyDeleteMy questions to the class are: do you think it’s acceptable for an artist to purposely misspell the words of their song titles and do you think they are negative influencing our society? To what extent is misspelling acceptable? What is your overall opinion on this subject?
ReplyDeleteI don't think it really matters if an artist misspells the words of their song titles because they might have their own reason for doing so. There may be a meaning deeper than the audience can see. Plus, its not a big deal, as long as we understand. Does it really matter if someone spells something a little incorrectly? The worst possible influence it can have on society is...nothing. No matter how many song titles are produced with incorrect spelling, school will always be there to teach people what's right and wrong. Oh, and 78% of men not knowing how to spell friend? ...WHAT?! what kind of survey are you looking at?
I think artist can spell words for the title of their songs. I do not believe that misspelled song titles alone are causing out generation to become bad spellers. I believe it is a combination of that, spell check on the internet, texting and chat abbreviations and spellings. Misspelling may be acceptable when people are talking are friends via text or chat but once someone is writing a paper or something formal spelling should be correct and taken into consideration when debating the seriousness and reliability of that paper.
ReplyDeleteIt is perfectly alright for artists to purposely misspell the words of their song titles, or at least I think so. Artists are never the ones who negatively influence us, it is their followers that take what they look at or hear and twist it around which negatively influences our society. I believe that misspelling words is perfectly acceptable in texting, im'ing, and maybe short emails / letters to friends. My overall opinion is that if you are going to misspell a word, make sure it is not in a professional environment.
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