By Lana Lagomarsini, News Correspondent

Misisipi … Mississipi … Misisippi … Darnit!
According to a recent study conducted by Ipsos MORI on behalf of the London-based Spelling Society, a great deal of Americans ‘- over 50 percent ‘- have difficulty spelling words such as ’embarrassed,’ ‘accidentally’ and ‘millennium.’
The study, released Feb. 9, reported that more than half of Americans cannot spell words like ‘liaison’ correctly, with women usually being the predominant better spellers.
The article suggested that a ‘re-spelling’ of certain difficult words may be in order, making words more phonetic instead of words that harken back to the beginnings of the language.
‘It is the nature of language to change,’ said Kathleen Kelly, an English professor at Northeastern and director of the writing program.
Kelly said she believes part of education on spelling is not only to familiarize, but to know faults and how to fix them.
‘I think those ideas [such as changing the spelling of words] are useful in making us more aware of these issues and why we care about these things,’ Kelly said.
Northeastern students may be no better than the American average. Out of ten randomly questioned students, no one could correctly spell ‘millennium’ ‘- it has two n’s ‘- one even misspelled ‘friend’.
Kelly said she believes the problem has roots in American history, when spelling and grammar were used as a sort of class barrier. Kelly said the real problem is not spell check, but a lack of interest in the written word.
‘People are not reading enough, not familiarizing themselves with what certain words should look like,’ Kelly said.
‘All written things go through some technological device that spells words correctly for us,’ said Robert Lawrence, a freshman behavioral neuroscience and biochemistry major.
Leslie Kolbig, a freshman pharmacy major, said regular reading enforced good spelling habits for her.
‘I think we need to reinforce more [English language rules] at a younger age,’ Kolbig said.
With all the technology at American’s fingertips, however, Americans have become a society dependent on spell check rather than knowing the correct spelling of words, Lawrence said.
‘I think it’s that [Americans] rely a lot on technology to correct our mistakes, when we should have an understanding of our own language,’ said Kaitlin Baranowski, a freshman international business major.
Baranowski, who has studied three languages and is working on her fourth, said she believes personal responsibility for errors has lessened because of the technological advancements that have been made in the past 10 years.
‘I think a more unified system of spelling in our school systems will help correct some of the issues,’ Baranowski said.
Some Northeastern students, however, said it would not be a good idea to change the spelling of the English language.
‘I don’t think we should stray away from what our original language was, because that’s where our history is, and if you stray away from that, then you are losing part of yourself,’ Baranowski said.