Spelling was phonetic around Shakespeare's time, and, thus, the most common words had many different acceptable spellings. Nowadays, if you don't conform to di

Spelling was phonetic around Shakespeare's time, and, thus, the most common words had many different acceptable spellings. Nowadays, if you don't conform to dictionary spelling, you'll look like an idiot, and your sentences may require a few extra deciseconds of mental head-scratching to read. As for the rules of proper English, while it is completely arbitrary whether split infinitives are proper English, if you constantly comma-splice, have improper capitalization, or even omit punctuation, then many will have trouble understanding you, and you'll really look like an idiot. The moral of the story is that those who speak "the English language" have difficulty understanding those who speak "teh inglish langwidge."