I remember working once with a guy who was a great writer –one of the best. He had an amazing way with words, and his books were enjoyed by many. But one day I happened to see an unedited draft of something he’d just written, and I was shocked to see that his spelling was atrocious. Psychological research has suggested that the spelling of people like my colleague only gets worse! A study published in Aging, Neuropsychology, and Cognition, found that poor spellers got worse at spelling as they got older, whereas good spellers did not. Being a good speller seemed to afford people protection from the detrimental effect that getting older can have on spelling ability. Such a study raises interesting questions for future research. “If being a poorspeller compounds age decline in spelling, then the same principle may also apply to other cognitive processes,” wrote the authors of this study. We may or may not be good with words, and we may or may not be good spellers, but we can always endeavour to choose our words carefully and say something good that will bless others today.