Poll: Spelling/Grammar Police (online)

[platinum87]

Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteers be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.

I read to derive meaning, my brain automatically filters, corrects or whatever. The main problem is not one of spelling or grammar but the fact that it is very difficult to convey complex opinions without writing an entire book.

 

[Derek W]

In my job I have to write a lot of technical documentation at times. Do my forum posts have worse spelling and grammar than what I produce there? Of course they do as there is no need for the same level of proof reading ... It's a forum, its supposed to be entertaining.

I don't understand this train of thought. Surely if you require a high standard of quality during your job you would want to continue that throughout anything you do so that your own standards don't slip?

As the latter part of your statement says though, it's a forum, its supposed to be entertaining. Part of the entertainment for some is picking up these spelling / grammar mistakes

 

[memyselfandi]

I don't understand this train of thought. Surely if you require a high standard of quality during your job you would want to continue that throughout anything you do so that your own standards don't slip?

As the latter part of your statement says though, it's a forum, its supposed to be entertaining. Part of the entertainment for some is picking up these spelling / grammar mistakes

No, because, like I said, there is no need to have the same level of proof reading in a forum environment. A technical document which needs to be (internally) published and used needs to be as correct as possible needs to be as free as possible of mistakes and ambiguities whereas a forum post is likely to be something which is written on the spur of the moment and is more about the feelings and opinions of the author rather than the conveying of exact facts which need to be followed. It's more in the nature of a conversation rather than a document and hence it is possible for the poster to clarify their position in further posts if it is unclear.

Regarding your second point though ... there have been some in this thread who have tried to maintain that the Grammar Nazis are doing the poster a favour by picking up every little thing ... this is not the case though. Their entertainment comes from them being able to show that they are more "intelligent" than the poster (despite the fact that the error in some cases could just be down to a typo, or auto-correct error, rather than a lack of knowledge). It usually just derails whatever thread it is in and does not contribute anything to the subject in hand. It's the equivalent of telling someone you are traveling somewhere by train and someone else, probably in an anorak, butting in (in a stereo-typical weaselly little voice) and going on about different classes of locomotives.

 

[godinman]

I don't mind the odd spelling mistake from people, but some posts are near un-readable and the mistakes ruin any meaning the poster was trying to convey - (looking at you, Glaucius! )

 

[Angilion]

Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteers be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.
[..]

That statement is untrue. The research you refer to never happened and the statement at the core of it ("the only important thing is that the first and last letters be at the right place") is not true (and, amusingly, obviously grammatically incorrect). So your argument is just rubbish - an untrue statement wrapped up in a false appeal to authority.

 

[arknor]

And yet that's still not a valid reason to not at least try to use language correctly...

As far as the OP goes, there are only 3 real choices.

Ignore the grammar/spelling Nazis and continue to make the same mistakes.
Continue to get butthurt about being corrected all the time, and continue to make the same mistakes.
Take on board the corrections given and use it as an opportunity to improve yourself.

Hell, even labrats are able to learn from their mistakes when given appropriate feedback...

Proper English please.

As always the biggest whiner is far from the perfection he claims others should strive for.

As the latter part of your statement says though, it's a forum, its supposed to be entertaining. Part of the entertainment for some is picking up these spelling / grammar mistakes

It's self ego inflating nonsense and nothing to do with raising the standards, just a petty attack on others to make one feel superior or they wouldn't be so blunt and mean when making corrections

 

[Angilion]

That's exactly the point though isn't it?? We are just posting on a forum..why does it matter so much?? Why do people get so annoyed about it. People come here to relax and enjoy the discussion, not an English test lol. If you can't understand a post fair enough, but if you can then what does it matter?? [..]

One of the most important advances in civilisation was a consistent language. Without that, communication rapidly breaks down. Mutual understanding will remain for a while but will degrade rapidly as the language splits into increasingly different dialects and then into different languages.

English is full of good examples - within living memory regional dialects were incomprehensible to people from only dozens of miles away even when spoken or written in a way consistent with standard English. If you remove the standard English in writing too, you have different languages. Kost kik a bow agen a wo? That's a simple and relatively well known example, relatively close to standard English. It gets much worse. Without the pressure towards consistency that you dismiss, English would have completely fragmented and the country wouldn't have been able to function.

One of the most important (and extremely under-rated) advances in modern civilisation was Carolingian minuscule. Charlemagne wasn't even literate, but he still understood the importance of consistency in writing.

 

[Redz]

Terrible Americanism.

All Americanisms are terrible.

 

[dacads]

i h8 dis thred

 

[~>Dg<~]

im all for proper grandma myself. online short tect who cares . im not writing to cambridge or oxfort

 

[Burnsy2023]

Having a good standard of grammar isn't difficult; it doesn't need to be perfect, but good grammar helps convery the intent of the writer, which let's be honest is pretty important.

 

[Kenai]

It saddens me that so many people make comments like 'it's not an English test', as if writing at a decent standard is something that requires a considerable effort. It's your native bloody language, you've been learning it almost since you were born, it shouldn't be so difficult to get the basics correct. What's worse is you see it everywhere, not just casual online discussions, I get plenty of work correspondence from people who can't even grasp basic things like the fact 'been' is not the same as 'being'.

I don't know how much of it may be a product of poor education systems but it does continue to surprise me each time I encounter a new low of misuse of language.

I await someone to pick out the mistakes I've no doubt made in this post

 

[v0n]

Terrible Americanism. Stop watching programmes aimed for the American teenage market and you'll learn better descriptions for shower bag people.

Lack of identity in their own cultural / sub cultural surroundings if you ask me.

All Americanisms are terrible.

Many are irreplaceable though. Douchebag is a perfect example of that. No equivalent term for vaginal irrigation paraphernalia is provided by British linguistics at all?

 

[V F]

It saddens me that so many people make comments like 'it's not an English test', as if writing at a decent standard is something that requires a considerable effort. It's your native bloody language, you've been learning it almost since you were born, it shouldn't be so difficult to get the basics correct.

It's always the same feeble responses.

 

[Participant]

We should have a poll.

Are you bothered about seeing decent spelling and grammar on a forum? Yes or no.

I'd be interested to see the responses, I reckon they'd be close to 50 / 50. This subject polarises opinion so much.

Personally I see a badly written forum post and just think, 'retard'. Not that mine are perfect, but it does tend to impact my perception of a poster's intelligence.

 

[Burnsy2023]

Lets find out.

 

[Haircut]

It bothers me.
For most of the people on here the only thing I have to form an opinion of them is what they've posted on the forums. If that consists largely of spelling and grammar mistakes then that influences how they appear to me.
Obviously everyone makes the odd typo from time to time, but some posters appear to barely know English.

 

[V F]

We should have a poll.

Are you bothered about seeing decent spelling and grammar on a forum? Yes or no.

I'd be interested to see the responses, I reckon they'd be close to 50 / 50. This subject polarises opinion so much.

Personally I see a badly written forum post and just think, 'retard'. Not that mine are perfect, but it does tend to impact my perception of a poster's intelligence.

Have you noticed a lot of forum rules when signing up, we will not tolerate text speak and some are even listing no bad english.

 

[dirtybeatfreak]

It saddens me that so many people make comments like 'it's not an English test', as if writing at a decent standard is something that requires a considerable effort.

I wrote that in one of my posts I believe. I would like to think that nearly all of my posts have at least a semi decent level of grammar and spelling but I still feel that people take it far too serious in this environment, hence that comment. Some people just don't care about it on forums, it is part of the internet and they come here to relax, chat with people about the things they like. Moaning and pointing it out in every post just ruins the topic (I am not implying any of the participants in this thread do that mind).

Personally I see a badly written forum post and just think, 'retard'. Not that mine are perfect, but it does tend to impact my perception of a poster's intelligence.

This is what I am against and my reasoning for referring to the famous writers, Einstein etc. The assumption that someone is a retard or scum etc etc purely because of their posts. I'm sorry, but I find it to be extremely arrogant and feel that is far more annoying and anti-social than someone being lazy with their forum posting.

 

[Hyburnate]

I like things to be readable, saying their instead of there isn't a problem as long as it's only a mistake and not a constant thing because personally if someone points that problem out their helping them. Nothing wrong with helping others with their grammar. Being an idiot about it is another matter.