The Race is just beginning

[DanaC]

Get a load of this guy: he wants to be accepted as a thoughtful, knowledgeable man, yet he remains incapable of spelling -- or of detecting a spelling error as he types. It's enough to make a man mutter yet again about thalidomide cases.

So spelling errors indicate someone is not thoughtful, or knowledgeable? Sorry, UG, I find that utterly absurd. Don't get me wrong, I rarely agree with tw, and I find his manner of arguing unpleasant for the most part, but correct spelling is not indicative of anything other than an ability to spell....and incorrect spelling is not indicative of anything wider than an inability to spell. I know some very clever, very well-educated and very thoughtful individuals who find spelling very difficult.

My brother, for example, is a very clever man. He's highly educated and I would describe him as a deep thinker. He also reads a great deal (more than me). Spelling, however, is something he's always had difficulty with: he spells phonetically and always has. There are plenty of people in the world who are not brilliant at spelling, but who are intelligent, educated and thoughtful.

This:

It's enough to make a man mutter yet again about thalidomide cases.

is beneath you Urbane Guerilla. I am appalled. Not only have you decided to level insults at people because of their spelling mistakes, but you have also insulted the many people whose bodies were deformed by thalidomide. Bodies deformed.....not minds. Thalidomide does not equate to stupidity.