"Mic" for microphone has actually, as far as I know/have seen/have remembered, been the standard music/theater/cinema/etc. industry abbreviation for ages, and it's also the logical abbreviation in layout schematics, etc. If you see the term "mike" spelled that way, it usually indicates an "outsider" applying the same logic you apply. I see nothing about the distinction in any of my stylebooks.

The cake is hilarious!

Here are a couple of examples from my students:

"Please feel free to contact me for further disgustion."

"We offer counseling for executives who have been terminative."

I can't remember the context for this word, but I do remember the spelling: "beurocratic"

I thoroughly enjoyed your March 29 column!

That reminds me of a similar cake; while working at a large law firm library in D.C., we decided to have a party for the firm for National Library Week. The cake, from a nearby Safeway as I recall, came back "Happy Libary Week!" We handled it by eating that section first...

I agree that spelling is taking a real hit in the face of texting and internet communications. But, young people have been lazy (or carefree?) in their communications for a long time.

The example of “pedestal” morphing into “pedal stool” from your recent column reminds me of my favorite example of a student messing up a common word or phrase. Back in the 1980s, an English teacher friend of mine shared with me a real gem from a student. The teacher was having the kids keep a journal for a month (which they had to turn in every week). A girl in her class was complaining in her journal about another girl and wrote so-and-so “is such a pre Madonna”. The pop star Madonna was enjoying her first wave of popularity at the time which we decided was the source of this hilarious mistake. Kids have been willing to guess at the correct spelling rather than look it up for a long time!

Whenever I have an incoming comment on my blog I can tell at a glance if the person is under the age of 18. I'm seriously scared because nobody can spell, nobody can write. We are raising an illiterate generation who can't write. It's normal for them with the texting and IM's. They understand each other but I certainly can't understand them. Scary stuff.

Sign in a hair salon window on Eastern Ave.
"Price may various"

Mic has been the standard abreviation for microphone for all of my life (which today, feel like since the beginning of time) and I never saw "Mike" used until I got to Baltimore. My assumption was that Baltimorons were just too dumb to know the right spelling. From time to time, I bring this up with friends who live in other cities. Just for the record, Mic is still used in Cleveland, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, Chicago and a couple of places in Florida, although Florides tend to spell in both directions. Probably depends on where they originated.

My pet peeve is with the apostrophe.
I think that ITS and IT'S are the most misspelled words in America. And many people love to pluralize everything with an apostrophe (such as--Please buy three bagel's.)
The worst sign I have seen was one printed on the window of a dry cleaner/tailor shop.
The sign read: LADIE'S ALTERATIONS

It drives me crazy, too, Dave, and I am glad that you brought this up on your blog.
I've tried to explain to other bloggers, students and email buddies that they sound like idiots when they "forget" how to spell even simple words. I work with my son every night on his spelling words, but even he feels as if he's fighting a losing battle, because many of the books that he reads contain spelling errors, some on purpose, like Dav Pilkey's Captain Underpants series.
While I think it's impossible to never make a spelling error, I do think Americans need to understand the importance of spelling to language and communication.

Re: Iz spelling finely ded?

I think this is one you would like. We recently put an ad in your paper for an office assistant. Here's what we got for a brief job summary: Administrative support, customer service, assassinating AP/AR departments, mail distribution.

Sylvia, was this an ad for the CIA?

Glad you liked it! Got another one for you.
We have walk-ins that fill out our applications. We are then required to send them out for a background check. This is what we got back: DOB:04/10/1966, DOD: 08/24/2001, Age at death: 35, and yet this person's driver's license & Soc. Sec. # were verified. Someone here in the office said "The economy is so bad that even the dead are looking for work!"