You saw the logo. You saw the shirts. (Thank you — some of you have already bought one!) Now, you can finally download our newest parody song “Learn to Spell” from our Songs page. It’s a version of “Gives You Hell” by The All-American Rejects, and it’s dedicated to anybody who posts like English is not a second language, but a distant third or fourth. Seriously — typos are one thing, but simply not caring enough to learn how to communicate with the rest of the world is something else. It’s a pet peeve, and it makes gamers look bad. So next time you see someone doing it, drop a link to this song into that discussion and run.
Full lyrics and special credits after the jump.
To pull off the crowd vocal, we recorded our parts, then secretly invited a bunch of our friends and fans to send in recordings of themselves singing/chanting along. Lots of people said they would do it, and most of them even did! We would like to sincerely thank everyone who loaned their windpipes to our musical PSA. And remember — when we get sued by All-American Rejects, you’re liable too!
Chris Antista, GamesRadar
Katrin Auch, devoted wife and designer…and the person who came up with the refrain joke
Charlie Barratt, GamesRadar
Scott Butterworth, PlayStation: The Official Magazine
Taylor Cocke, Official Xbox Magazine
Mitchell Dyer, Down Write Fierce
Brett Elston, GamesRadar
Ryan Ferguson, Fergy2004
Henry Gilbert, TalkRadar
Joe Iadanza, awesome folk singer/songwriter
Samuel LeDoux, SamueltehG33k/Freezecracker.com
Ryan McCaffrey, Official Xbox Magazine
Patrick McCarron, InfiniteShamrock.com
Rachelle Rabin, voice-over artist
Mikel Reparaz, GamesRadar
Gina Smith, Rock Band drummer
Will Smith, Maximum PC
and very special disembodied guest star Microsoft Sam
LYRICS
I wake up every morning
And I head to my PC
To read about PS3
But when I check the gaming forum
Your mistakes are all I see
A grammatical catastrophe
I would like to chat but can’t you just can’t spell, you should learn to spell
It’s not spelled like that, you should learn to spell you should learn to spell
I’d like to make suggestions…but I can’t read what you write, and I’m trying with all my might
When I posted some corrections, I didn’t mean to start a fight, but the thread flamed on all night
Well maybe you’re dyslexic
Or maybe you’re a moron
When you’re talking games you know who to blame if you just can’t spell
At your favorite site you should spell it right you should learn to spell
This goes for Wii and 360 and PC as well
It’s all hard to read so you simply need to learn how to spell
Gotta learn to spell
I know you’re probably thinking to yourself, that it’s just words on a screen
Everybody knows what I mean
But numbers aren’t letters
And U and R are words
Well your NeoGAF message made them laugh cause you could not spell
Over at GameSpot reputation’s shot cause you just can’t spell
And they agree at Quarter to Three and GamersHell
You might try again at IGN once you learn to spell
So it’s I before E except after C
And sometimes “its†does not need an apostrophe
But you don’t even care about “they’re,” “there,” and “their”
It’s like you learned to speak from texting on your cell
When you’re talking games we know who to blame if you just can’t spell
At your favorite site you should spell it right you should learn to spell
If a dictionary’s kinda scary, what the hell?
Then you’re a fool, go back to school and learn to spell
On the internet, this is what you get, people who can’t spell [you should learn to spell]
On the gaming boards, you will be ignored if you just can’t spell [you should learn to spell]
Do only fools use grammar rules where the gamers dwell?
The written word seems so absurd when you can’t spell [you should learn to spell]
I wrote this song cause you typed it wrong and you couldn’t tell [you should learn to spell]
It’s not much fun as the only one here who can spell