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Does spelling still count?
- Thread starter novella
- Start date
MonkeyCatcher
New Member
Oh, I was just going to post that one! I used that all the time when I was littleKristoCat said:I learned a fun one from reading Matilda. It's a cute little song for "difficulty":
Mrs. D, Mrs. I, Mrs. F, F, I
Mrs. C, Mrs. U, Mrs. L, T, Y!
The Trunchbull objected to the fact that all the women were married
Kookamoor
New Member
Weird. I just watched Matilda on tele today. That's the second weird TBF coincidence. A friend of mine just told me she'd found the hack for her DVD player to play all-region, and I just heard about the website for getting DVD player hacks on the forum today.MonkeyCatcher said:Oh, I was just going to post that one! I used that all the time when I was little
Jemima Aslana
New Member
Bad spelling does annoy me, sadly.
I don't lose any sleep over it, but every time I read a word that's mangled I stop, sometimes even for so long that I have to read that sentence over again to get it. Same goes for grammar errors, it slows down my reading speed considerably.
On another forum in a post consisting of no more than four lines I found this:
1. The previous poster's name was spelled incorrectly, it was right there available for checking.
2. 'I' was not capitalised.
3. "rackettering" - this one I will accept as it's the sort of error I can make as well, doubling the wrong letter - it happens.
4. "their was a problem" - indeed THERE is.
5. "councilors" and a lack of repeating the relevant consonant.
6. "scimming" wrong consonant.
7. "progect" and again - this one hurt my eyes. It was there twice even.
8. "budjet" but perhaps it was a 'switcharound'?
9. poster forgot the indefinite article a couple of times.
10. "yours trully" - what's a trully?
11. "ellection" - apparently it's a problem to remember when a consonant it double or single, judging from these errors that must be my conclusion.
A simple typo doesn't bother me, and I can ignore it just fine, but 11 errors some of which were repeated in one post with 4 lines - that's just too much. I must admit I completely disregarded this posters contribution, simply because all these errors distract me a lot when reading the post.
I try not to be a grammar nazi, and having debated with people from pretty much everywhere in the world I understand how difficult it is for some to use the English language. Those who have the hardest time are those from South-East Asia and from Turkey in my experience, so messed-up sentence structure is more or less expected from those nationalities, and I myself have English as a second/third language, thus I am far from perfect. But sometimes an abundance of errors simply cause me to stop reading.
I go into English student mode and spot errors - it's all I can do to not use my red marker on my monitor
I don't lose any sleep over it, but every time I read a word that's mangled I stop, sometimes even for so long that I have to read that sentence over again to get it. Same goes for grammar errors, it slows down my reading speed considerably.
On another forum in a post consisting of no more than four lines I found this:
1. The previous poster's name was spelled incorrectly, it was right there available for checking.
2. 'I' was not capitalised.
3. "rackettering" - this one I will accept as it's the sort of error I can make as well, doubling the wrong letter - it happens.
4. "their was a problem" - indeed THERE is.
5. "councilors" and a lack of repeating the relevant consonant.
6. "scimming" wrong consonant.
7. "progect" and again - this one hurt my eyes. It was there twice even.
8. "budjet" but perhaps it was a 'switcharound'?
9. poster forgot the indefinite article a couple of times.
10. "yours trully" - what's a trully?
11. "ellection" - apparently it's a problem to remember when a consonant it double or single, judging from these errors that must be my conclusion.
A simple typo doesn't bother me, and I can ignore it just fine, but 11 errors some of which were repeated in one post with 4 lines - that's just too much. I must admit I completely disregarded this posters contribution, simply because all these errors distract me a lot when reading the post.
I try not to be a grammar nazi, and having debated with people from pretty much everywhere in the world I understand how difficult it is for some to use the English language. Those who have the hardest time are those from South-East Asia and from Turkey in my experience, so messed-up sentence structure is more or less expected from those nationalities, and I myself have English as a second/third language, thus I am far from perfect. But sometimes an abundance of errors simply cause me to stop reading.
I go into English student mode and spot errors - it's all I can do to not use my red marker on my monitor
Stewart
Active Member
abecedarian
Well-Known Member
I don't like instant messaging or chats because my typing is so wonky. It isn't as if I haven't tried to improve; I even used the Mavis Beacon program we bought for the kids, and noticed an improvement. But I can't type fast enough without errors for chatrooms and messaging to be so much fun. The only people I IM are relatives or very close friends. I CAN spell most of the time but I tend to transpose letters a lot, specially when I'm in a hurry. When posting in forums like this, If the word doesn't look right, I'll pull up Word and type the questionable word to see if it gets challenged, or I'll go to dictionary.com. I hate trying to decipher messages like: "i thot u ment dis"...
MonkeyCatcher
New Member
I don't really mind when other people spell incorrectly - sometimes I make it into a game to see how many mistakes I can pick up - although sometimes it does annoy me when people don't use correct grammar and punctuation.
One thing that I really can't stand, however, is when I misspell a word. If I'm typing or writing something out and I don't know how to spell a word, I have to find out how you spell it before I can continue. It just really bugs me when I know that I have gotten something wrong.
One thing that I really can't stand, however, is when I misspell a word. If I'm typing or writing something out and I don't know how to spell a word, I have to find out how you spell it before I can continue. It just really bugs me when I know that I have gotten something wrong.
Ah, good ol' dictionary.com . It's so nice to haveabecedarian said:
Jemima Aslana
New Member
@ Stewart
Dear gods, that's just... wow. I have a brainache after reading that.
@ abecedarian
I know what you mean. Goodness knows I make loads of spelling errors when in chat. Because of the speed, as you say. That's why my chats usually look like this:
me: I ddi see it.
Me: did*
other: Really now? So you liked the movie?
me: Yeah, I raelly enjoyed teh action, y'know?
me: really even
me: gah and there goes the 'teh' again
Hehe, that is me in chat. On forums I have much more time to think and correct myself. Big advantage there My biggest annoyance is that my fingers read what they type so to speak, so if I mistype something I can feel that it was wrong, and then I look more closely at the screen and notice that there was indeed an error there. In chat, however, I've already hit enter once my brain registers that my fingers are telling it that there was a typo in the sentence
If there's a word I can't remember the spelling of it goes into one of two categories. One category for those where I'm in doubt about so many details that I absolutely have to look it up, and one for those where it's just one little detail and I'm too lazy to look it up so I write: haemorhage(sp?) <--- true to life example here, I simply can't remember whether there are one or two r's, but since it won't mangle the word entirely to get it wrong I won't feel terrible about it. This is why I'm usually rather forgiving when it comes to just a few errors in an otherwise well thought out post, but if every other word is either conjugated or spelled incorrectly I really have better things to do than trying to decipher it.
Dear gods, that's just... wow. I have a brainache after reading that.
@ abecedarian
I know what you mean. Goodness knows I make loads of spelling errors when in chat. Because of the speed, as you say. That's why my chats usually look like this:
me: I ddi see it.
Me: did*
other: Really now? So you liked the movie?
me: Yeah, I raelly enjoyed teh action, y'know?
me: really even
me: gah and there goes the 'teh' again
Hehe, that is me in chat. On forums I have much more time to think and correct myself. Big advantage there
My biggest annoyance is that my fingers read what they type so to speak, so if I mistype something I can feel that it was wrong, and then I look more closely at the screen and notice that there was indeed an error there. In chat, however, I've already hit enter once my brain registers that my fingers are telling it that there was a typo in the sentence If there's a word I can't remember the spelling of it goes into one of two categories. One category for those where I'm in doubt about so many details that I absolutely have to look it up, and one for those where it's just one little detail and I'm too lazy to look it up so I write: haemorhage(sp?) <--- true to life example here, I simply can't remember whether there are one or two r's, but since it won't mangle the word entirely to get it wrong I won't feel terrible about it. This is why I'm usually rather forgiving when it comes to just a few errors in an otherwise well thought out post, but if every other word is either conjugated or spelled incorrectly I really have better things to do than trying to decipher it.
abecedarian
Well-Known Member
For some reason I can't type "jsut" or "vciki"..and I often have trouble with "tpye" too My #2 daughter always knows when I'm on messenger or if it is her dad because he types faster and with fewer mistakes. Oh, and he kids her about stuff I leave alone
My #2 daughter always knows when I'm on messenger or if it is her dad because he types faster and with fewer mistakes. Oh, and he kids her about stuff I leave alone
cajunmama
Active Member
Egad, "teh" drives me nuts!!! (in my own typing, that is). I am far from a proficient typist, I have to look at the keyboard most of the time, and I type with six fingers (not quite the two finger hunt and peck- that's hubby), but I aim for good spelling, grammar and punctuation. There are some errors I habitually make, like switching e's and i's or doubling the wrong letter in a word. Too many errors in a post will require me to slow down my reading pace and that annoys me. I actually find myself pronouncing stuff like "i thot u ment dis" out loud.
Doug Johnson
kickbox
Posting under your real name, and understanding Google, encourages you to double check every post.
I'd hate it if 200 years from now some 14 year old kid researching Catcher in the Rye stumbled across an archived Book Forum thread and thought "Doug Johnson was a terrible speller."
("Doug Johnson wasted a lot of time on Internet Forums," is a much better legacy.
)
I'd hate it if 200 years from now some 14 year old kid researching Catcher in the Rye stumbled across an archived Book Forum thread and thought "Doug Johnson was a terrible speller."
("Doug Johnson wasted a lot of time on Internet Forums," is a much better legacy.
)
abecedarian
Well-Known Member
Doug Johnson said:Posting under your real name, and understanding Google, encourages you to double check every post.
I'd hate it if 200 years from now some 14 year old kid researching Catcher in the Rye stumbled across an archived Book Forum thread and thought "Doug Johnson was a terrible speller."
("Doug Johnson wasted a lot of time on Internet Forums," is a much better legacy.
And now WE can all say, "But that Doug Johnson spelled it that way, so we thought it was rite
(I meant to spell that word wrong!)
Jemima Aslana
New Member
Heheh aye, we can hide behind the real names of others that way - how glorious
I seldom use my real full name on the internet, but it doesn't make me beat myself up less when I find errors.
On most other forums I can always go back and edit my posts for spelling errors, and I do that even though a post is days old. On TBF though I can only edit posts as long as ther are none after them, so that means I have to find my errors while I'm still blind to them. That's impractical 'cause it never works for me Unless they're really glaring.
I seldom use my real full name on the internet, but it doesn't make me beat myself up less when I find errors.
On most other forums I can always go back and edit my posts for spelling errors, and I do that even though a post is days old. On TBF though I can only edit posts as long as ther are none after them, so that means I have to find my errors while I'm still blind to them. That's impractical 'cause it never works for me
Unless they're really glaring.
Shade
New Member
Ooh, just found this thread. Manna from heaven.
First, in case there are any British TBF newbies who are about to slit their throats through failure to match up to novella's exacting standards, let me assure them that 'judgement' is OK in UK English, and indeed is preferable except when talking about a legal/court judgment, when the first e should go.
Sorry Miss Shelf, but in this pedantically-minded thread, I simply must point out that
a. ATM isn't an acronym as an acronym has to be a pronounceable word (eg NATO)
b. 'the hoi polloi' is technically incorrect as 'hoi polloi' itself means 'the masses' or 'the common herd' so the additional 'the' at the start is redundant. I accept though that this is the most pointlessly nitpicky comment ever made even in this thread.
Overall, messageboardwise, I would distinguish between spelling errors and typing errors - the latter may be caused by quick typing or responding to someone's post in haste, the former should not be. I find that people can either spell well or they can't, and there's very little learning that can make much difference - my mother is a naturally good speller whereas my father can't spell to save his life - and I luckily got my spelling genes from my mother. I think it's to do with my habit of automatically visualising words when I hear them.
Now, since the thread has also moved into misuse of words, let us have a moment's silence for the proper use of the word screensaver, which most people I know use to mean wallpaper, ie the background picture for their PC or mobile phone. Oh, I've got a picture of him as my screensaver so I always see it when I start up. Grrr.
Oh and as far as apostrophes go, comedian Stewart Lee proposed that anyone found guilty of committing the greengrocer's apostrophe ("Carrot's 30p? What does that mean? The carrot owns 30p? This carrot has developed sufficient socio-economic skills to acquire its own wealth? Or could you possibly mean that carrots cost 30p, in which case why didn't you say that??") should be made to hang a sign around their neck reading I DIDN'T PAY ATTENTION IN SCHOOL AND THAT'S WHY I HAVE TO WORK ON A MARKET STALL.
First, in case there are any British TBF newbies who are about to slit their throats through failure to match up to novella's exacting standards, let me assure them that 'judgement' is OK in UK English, and indeed is preferable except when talking about a legal/court judgment, when the first e should go.
Sorry Miss Shelf, but in this pedantically-minded thread, I simply must point out that
a. ATM isn't an acronym as an acronym has to be a pronounceable word (eg NATO)
b. 'the hoi polloi' is technically incorrect as 'hoi polloi' itself means 'the masses' or 'the common herd' so the additional 'the' at the start is redundant. I accept though that this is the most pointlessly nitpicky comment ever made even in this thread.
Overall, messageboardwise, I would distinguish between spelling errors and typing errors - the latter may be caused by quick typing or responding to someone's post in haste, the former should not be. I find that people can either spell well or they can't, and there's very little learning that can make much difference - my mother is a naturally good speller whereas my father can't spell to save his life - and I luckily got my spelling genes from my mother. I think it's to do with my habit of automatically visualising words when I hear them.
Now, since the thread has also moved into misuse of words, let us have a moment's silence for the proper use of the word screensaver, which most people I know use to mean wallpaper, ie the background picture for their PC or mobile phone. Oh, I've got a picture of him as my screensaver so I always see it when I start up. Grrr.
Oh and as far as apostrophes go, comedian Stewart Lee proposed that anyone found guilty of committing the greengrocer's apostrophe ("Carrot's 30p? What does that mean? The carrot owns 30p? This carrot has developed sufficient socio-economic skills to acquire its own wealth? Or could you possibly mean that carrots cost 30p, in which case why didn't you say that??") should be made to hang a sign around their neck reading I DIDN'T PAY ATTENTION IN SCHOOL AND THAT'S WHY I HAVE TO WORK ON A MARKET STALL.
NotTheDoctor
Member
Bad spelling bothers me, particularly when it's common words like "definately" instead of "definitely" or "grammer" instead of "grammar". Or when people use words they don't normally use and get the spelling wrong. I recently read something that didn't make any sense to me until I realized that the person had written "all be it" instead of "albeit".
English isn't my first language but that doesn't mean I can get away with not paying attention to spelling.
English isn't my first language but that doesn't mean I can get away with not paying attention to spelling.
Kookamoor
New Member
Shouldn't there be a colon or comma after "simply must point out that"? Isn't there a comma or two missing from that last sentence?Shade said:
Just being nitpicky! Don't look at my posts for errors and expect me to be horrified. I try my best, but accept that I am only human and have some bad habits.
Jemima Aslana
New Member
Hehe, commas are one of my great fears - okay, that's a lie, but they do annoy me
I sometimes have a tendency to scatter commas randomly throughout a sentence, and when I read said sentence, I can only wonder what the devil I was thinking - my conclusion usually is that most likely I wasn't thinking and that that was the problem lol
Not that it has anything to do with spelling, but it's one of my own most normal errors aside from typos.
I sometimes have a tendency to scatter commas randomly throughout a sentence, and when I read said sentence, I can only wonder what the devil I was thinking - my conclusion usually is that most likely I wasn't thinking and that that was the problem lol
Not that it has anything to do with spelling, but it's one of my own most normal errors aside from typos.