Has anyone here observed this phenomenon? Namely, a person will get a word COMPLETELY wrong -- as if they've only "heard it" (TV, friends, co-workers) and never encountered the word in print?

I already knew that Americans read less now than ever before...

Here is an example:

If it was a secret, it isn't any longer. I will turn off ABC News and never watch again.
I consider ABC News Traders to the United States

It's not like the guy just has bad spelling -- he doesn't realize that traitor and trader are two different words/concepts.

I guess you could call it the "spell it like it sounds" syndrome -- which can only be cured by READING A LOT.

Matthew

I guess to illustrate my point even better, consider this:

Understandable misspellings for traitor:

traiter, traitur, trater, etc.

The last vowel (O) in traitor is a "schwa" which can be A, E, I, O, or U.

Here is the definition of the Schwa:
Schwa is the most common vowel sound in English, a reduced vowel in many unstressed syllables,

    * like the 'a' in about /əˈbaʊt/
    * like the 'e' in taken /ˈteɪkən/ and the /ðə/ (if before a consonant)
    * like the 'i' in pencil /ˈpensəl/
    * like the 'o' in eloquent /ˈeləkwənt/
    * like the 'u' in circus /ˈsɜː(ɹ)kəs/
    * like the 'y' in sibyl /ˈsɪbəl/


So any of those vowels could be used, and it could sound the same!

But to use a completely different WORD... (trader)

Matthew