October 30, 2009

“I remember the teacher asking us to spell words phonetically.  Being from Baltimore, it was tough.  No one could even say them phonetically.” 

Looking back on elementary school, some of us can remember the days of phonics.  I even have a vague recollection of a soft-cover grade school work book entitled, Phonics We Know.  The drill as students was to make a correlation between the sounds we spoke and the letter or group of letters that represented the sounds.  We then were expected to blend all of those sounds together to accurately pronounce words we did not know. 

For many, this was a great way to read and to decode words.  Our teacher provided the basic patterns and rules and away we went.  Oftentimes, we coupled phonics with the “look and say” method learned through reading the Dick and Jane series of books.  Together, these systems seemed to instill in many of us a great fascination with reading.  Our fascination turned into a lifelong habit that has enriched our minds and lifted our spirits.

Several weeks ago, my partner and I were remembering the days of grade school.  Spelling and phonics were part of the conversation.  Joe capped our discussion with a humorous and self-deprecating summary of his experience by saying, “I remember the teacher asking us to spell words phonetically.  Being from Baltimore, it was tough.  No one could even say them phonetically.”  We went through many examples of our experience:

A “vyduck” was a bridge composed of several small spans

The “chimley” was what “Sanny Claus” came down

The “Bawlmer Coats” were our hometown football team

We reached agreement that it was our “bleef” that you need to be able to say a word correctly before you can expect to spell it. 

Hear Joe talk in Bawlmerese.  See Craig laugh.   

Craig Halsey

They Said It

October 30, 2009