Teachers, literary types and Lynne Truss aside, few people in this text-ruled day and age seem to care for spelling skills or proper punctuation. A sorry state of affairs perhaps. But in an hilarious and, we should warn you, at times filthy, performance at tinyurl.com/5scu9w, an American “slam poet” named Taylor Mali advises that it is in our best interest to at least make use of the spell check.

Tellingly entitled, The The Impotence of Proofreading, the poet recalls a tale of woe: “I myself was such a bad spiller, once upon a term, that my English torturer, in my sophomore year, Mrs Myth, said I was never going to get into a good colleague. And that's all I wanted, that's all any kid wants at that age - to get into a good colleague.”

He goes on to detail other “humidifying experiences” and his days of being “challenged menstrually”. While encouraging people to use the spellchecker, he does caution: “There are several mistakes that a spellchecker can't can't catch catch. For instant, if you accidentally leave out word, your spellchecker won't put it in you.” So, his infallible advice? “There is no prostitute for careful editing of your own work.”

At tinyurl.com/6knfs5, you'll find a boy with a staggering capacity for spelling but a weak stomach for the stage. The American school kid is served up the word “alopecoid” during a spelling bee and reacts badly. His eyes become disconcertingly still, before rolling back into his head. Then he faints, falling into the audience. The abnormally calm judge's only reaction is to instruct: “Stop the clock”. When the boy comes to, he is encouraged to take a break but eschews the advice in favour of scrambling straight back on stage where he successfully spells alopecoid as though nothing has happened.

Another American boy with a slightly different spelling bee problem can be seen at tinyurl.com/3z2l8l. He is quite composed until asked to spell the word “sardoodledom”, at which point he dissolves into heart-warming hysterics.

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