I'm going to LOOSE my mind! (dorky spelling rant)

[belladonna]

Ahem---for the enlightenment of some of our posters, a bit of a clarification seems to be in order.

Lose = v., misplace, fail, be beaten

Loose = adj, wobbly, untightened, a little slutty

Please take note. Future offenders will be mercilessly ridiculed. Thank you.

bella

[Road Rash]

Here's another:

Flavor - what your tongue tastes.
Flavour- Hell if I know. Some British crap.

[Lobsang]

Originally posted by belladonna
Ahem---for the enlightenment of some of our posters, a bit of a clarification seems to be in order.

Lose = v., misplace, fail, be beaten

Loose = adj, wobbly, untightened, a little slutty

Please take note. Future offenders will be mercilessly ridiculed. Thank you.

bella

You are aiming this at the wrong crowd. Try the newsgroups and chatrooms of the world. the SDMB , by comparison, is a haven for correct spelling.

And bear in mind that a lot of what appear to be spelling mistakes are in fact typing mistakes (a key not going down all the way, an oversize or badly aimed finger pressing the key next to the one intended etc...)

And it's flavour. Mate! flavor, color etc are uncultured, simplified words. flavout, colour roll off the tongue better. :)

[Lobsang]

damn! oh well, at least I (unintentionally) demonstrated a typing mistake.

(flavout)

[Honey]

Not to sound petty but, here's a pet peeve of mine...

There - Describes a place, like over there.
Their - Is possessive, like their box of hammers is over there, feel free to jump in.
They're - Is a contraction meaning they are.

I feel so cleansed. And also a wee bit nit-picky.

[Buck The Diver]

And please stop screwing up the use of to, too and two. If you have any questions about the proper usage, please e-mail a moderator. They will be happy to help. :)

What? Like I got time for this? OW! Hey! What the heck? OW! Stop hitting me, dammit!

[YWalker]

Discrete means that you expect your potential sweetheart to be a distinct and separate entity.

Discreet means that they won't tell your spouse, your boss, your parents, etc. that you're screwing around with them.

Please avoid disappointment by correctly spelling the attributes you desire in a lover.

*(Not to imply that everyone who writes a personals ad is a loser. Just the ones who don't know the difference between "discrete" and "discreet.")

[Larry Mudd]

Flavour -- "Some British thing?"

Actually, "flavour" flies everywhere people read and write English-- Except for the United Police States of Americults, where some crackpot by the name of Hearst was able to corrupt the printed form of the language nearly beyond recognition. Luckily, "thru" gained only limited acceptance, and nearly everyone agrees that trying to convince us to spell "school" "skool" was the act of either a contemptable moron or a fairly gifted prankster.

Don't get me started about "simplified spelling." I can forgive poor spellers, albeit in a pitying, condescending sort of way. They can't help it. On the other hand, people who would willfully mutilate our poor language should be beaten and sodomized with a cedar stick. And then sterilized. Twice.

[Larry Mudd]

Flavour -- "Some British thing?"

Actually, "flavour" flies everywhere people read and write English-- Except for the United Police States of Americults, where some crackpot by the name of Hearst was able to corrupt the printed form of the language nearly beyond recognition. Luckily, "thru" gained only limited acceptance, and nearly everyone agrees that trying to convince us to spell "school" "skool" was the act of either a contemptable moron or a fairly gifted prankster.

Don't get me started about "simplified spelling." I can forgive poor spellers, albeit in a pitying, condescending sort of way. They can't help it. On the other hand, people who would willfully mutilate our poor language should be beaten and sodomized with a cedar stick. And then sterilized. Twice.

[Larry Mudd]

Like I said. Twice.

Once with an SDMB hamster.

[Buck The Diver]

At least you only said it two times.

[Billy Rubin]

But to whom did you say it?

Billy (who can spell but not type well) Rubin

[Brutus]

American English is a fast and lose flavor of the mother language, which is used over they're in England. To often, American's are incorrect in the use of there own language!!!

Did I miss any?

[dinahmoe]

"I could hardly breath!"

That's because I was choking you for not realizing that the correct word is BREATHE!

Dammit!

[Entwife]

"Definitely." The word is "definitely." Two "e"s, two "i"s, no "a"s. How hard is that, damn it?????

[Profane]

If you put them on, they're clothes, not cloths.

Thank you.

[Wildcatz]

My personal favorite:
Hamster...not Hampster!

[Lobsang]

Queue, pronounced : q

That is an example of what can happen when you get high on the job. specifically - dictionary writer.

[Wikkit]

<good a time as any>
Lobsang, what'd your nick used to be?
</gataa>

I was going to post this to my thread, but this one popped up first (and may even be the reason for this thread).

Originally posted by hammerbach (http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=122931)
The tied pot roast I am most familiar with is a "cross-rib" roast. It is rolled into a cylinder, because if it was not, it would be flat like a brisket... this would cause it to cook more quickly, but also to loose juices.Lose, you ignorant scum! Sorry, bit of a peeve there.

[Lobsang]

<good a time as any>
Lobsang, what'd your nick used to be?
</gataa>

I never intend to hide it - it used to be lobley

[tetsusaru]

To flout is to wilfully and egregiously disobey. To flaunt is to display ostentatiously. Unless you`re planning on wearing it on your head, a rule cannot be flaunted.

[blowero]

Originally posted by Road Rash
Here's another:

Flavor - what your tongue tastes.
Flavour- Hell if I know. Some British crap.
That was quite humourous.

[Fern Forest]

Nah, color, vapor, humor, savor and flavor are much better. All those French Us make it funny looking. We got that Roman thing going on. Well except for savor and flavor but we're still closer to sapor and flator then you.

[Burnt Sugar]

Originally posted by Osiris
Nah, color, vapor, humor, savor and flavor are much better. All those French Us make it funny looking. We got that Roman thing going on. Well except for savor and flavor but we're still closer to sapor and flator then you.

No point arguing over it, IMHO, who is going to change their mind?

NB: Another vote for the inclusion of the U. :D

[betenoir]

Originally posted by YWalker
Discrete means that you expect your potential sweetheart to be a distinct and separate entity.

Discreet means that they won't tell your spouse, your boss, your parents, etc. that you're screwing around with them.



I consider the confrontation of two subjectivities, the recognition of the "other" by the "self" if you will, to be an essential componant of erotic interplay.

Well, what did you think my personal ad meant? :)

[Fern Forest]

Originally posted by Blue Curls
No point arguing over it, IMHO, who is going to change their mind?

NB: Another vote for the inclusion of the U. :D I had to bring it up though. I figure at the very least it should be mentioned once every 100 times you make fun of us for our spelling of color.

Anyway now that I got you let me ask this quickly. When you go to Cambridge Dictionary on-line (http://dictionary.cambridge.org/) and enter humour you get
humour British and Australian, American and Australian humor which seems to imply that Australians are on the fence on this.




Man, I'm useless in the pit.

[Caught@Work]

Oh, get over it. Did you understand my meaning? Then get on with your life.
I couldn't give two fuck stumps whether my typing is good or evil. Sometimes shit just happens and having some anal retentive stump sucker whinge and whine about it solves nothing.

[Billy Rubin]

"The English have no respect for their language, and will not teach their children to speak it. They spell it so abominably that no man can teach himself what it sounds like. "
--Bernard Shaw
"(Remember) that your native language is the language of Shakespeare and Milton and The Bible; and don't sit there crooning like a bilious pigeon."
--Henry Higgins.

I'm not sure how "english is the language of the Bible", but certainly, apalling grammer and spelling do make one seem less intelligent, or at least less well-educated. Obviously, I fall victim to it myself with stunning regularity.

b.

[belladonna]

Originally posted by Caught@Work
Oh, get over it. Did you understand my meaning? Then get on with your life. I couldn't give two fuck stumps whether my typing is good or evil. Sometimes shit just happens and having some anal retentive stump sucker whinge and whine about it solves nothing.
Claiming that having an appreciation for the depth and nuance of our language is petty or anal-retentive (note the hyphen) is pretty fucking pathetic. The only basis we have around here for evaluating another poster is by their written word—both content and style. And while I might get the meaning, don’t bitch at me when your misuse of the language creates a less-than-ideal impression. There's a BIG difference between a typo or a spelling error and a common word being completely and consistently misused. The first makes you look human; the second makes you look idiotic. Now---that might be the look you're going for, but I think most of us would prefer to appear more intelligent than you.
Thanks for sharing, though.

bella

[voguevixen]

Ok, if it has to be from this board:

JIVE: Jazz or swing music
JIBE:To be in accord: agree

If one more of you guys says "That doesn't jive with what I've heard" or "Your numbers don't jive" I'm gonna start cracking skulls.

[Juniper200]

Originally posted by Billy Rubin
I'm not sure how "english is the language of the Bible", but certainly, apalling grammer and spelling do make one seem less intelligent
I'm going to be nice and give you a do-over on this one, Billy. :D

[JeffB]

Originally posted by voguevixen
"Your numbers don't jive"
See, I think Enron's and some other corporation's number have been jiving, which is what has caused some many problems.

[Billy Rubin]

Originally posted by Juniper200

I'm going to be nice and give you a do-over on this one, Billy. :D

Hey, I already SAID I couldn't type. :D

Thanks for the do-over anyway.

b.

[Mangetout]

Somebody please close this rediculous rant.

[ouisey]

Why is it that now everyone's so up in arms about spelling properly? It wasn't always this way.

And is it really such a great improvement? Personally, I love to see a little creativity in spelling.

As Lady Hobart wrote, describing the fire of London...
"sure soe sad a sight was nevor seen be foare as that sitty is now lying in ashes besides the unimmajanable loos the hole kingdom receives buy it so trobled at the sad nuse of the distroction of Londone that i could not rit"

Now I think that that's a delight to read. Sew they're.

[ouisey]

Why is it that now everyone's so up in arms about spelling properly? It wasn't always this way.

And is it really such a great improvement? Personally, I love to see a little creativity in spelling.

As Lady Hobart wrote, describing the fire of London...
"sure soe sad a sight was nevor seen be foare as that sitty is now lying in ashes besides the unimmajanable loos the hole kingdom receives buy it so trobled at the sad nuse of the distroction of Londone that i could not rit"

Now I think that that's a delight to read. Sew they're.

[Caught@Work]

Originally posted by belladonna

Claiming that having an appreciation for the depth and nuance of our language is petty or anal-retentive (note the hyphen) is pretty fucking pathetic. The only basis we have around here for evaluating another poster is by their written word—both content and style. And while I might get the meaning, don’t bitch at me when your misuse of the language creates a less-than-ideal impression. There's a BIG difference between a typo or a spelling error and a common word being completely and consistently misused. The first makes you look human; the second makes you look idiotic. Now---that might be the look you're going for, but I think most of us would prefer to appear more intelligent than you.
Thanks for sharing, though.

bella

I still presume that you understood my meaning despite the fact that I didn't use the hyphen in anal-retentive. That's my point. What good is it ranting about the loose use of spelling when you still get the meaning.
If the meaning changes based on the inappropriate spelling of a key word then I can see your point.
Yes, there are lots of its and it's problems and loose and lose and to and too and two and all of the others, but is it really necessary to get riled at those? (Where there too many ands in that sentence?)
Do you monitor individual posters to see how many times they incorrectly user the terms that cause you to lose your mind or do you see an occassional mis-type and then lose your mind?
And if the way that I present a point is not to your liking and therefore I appear less than intelligent, then, guest what, I'll get over it and maybe, for your own sanity, you might want to too.
I definately have a problem with the aportophes. I cannot remember where they go. I seem to have a block that despite many attempts at trying to remember a mnemonic I simply cannot get it. Is it possible that others are not actually idiotic, but do not posses the ability to get everything right, every time?

[belladonna]

Re-read the OP, Caught, it's actually pretty mild. I was just pointing out something that drives me nuts, and I acknowledged in the title that it was dorky. The first one to get worked up was you--who so kindly called me an "anal retentive stump sucker".
I don't start gibbering uncontrollably when I see these things, but I do notice poor English, yes. Based on the responses here, I'm obviously not the only one. I make errors in my writing. We all do--but I think if I made the same stupid mistake more than a couple times I'd be grateful to be called on it. The reason I think it's such a bugger to me--and again, I'm talking about consistently using the wrong word, not simple misspells or typos--is that every time someone uses a word incorrectly, it risks one more person being mislead to believe it is the correct usage. I LOVE the relatively high smarts-factor around here--it's why I spend my time on the SD and not on yahoo boards (Where our Morons are Free Range!) or "KewliePeepsWtPics" crapfests that drag our entire language into a festering pit of confusing banality. Language--and especially writing--is about clarity. If you want to play fast and loose with words, become a poet. If you're trying to compose an intelligent and easy-to-read post that conveys your point clearly, you have to play by the rules. And those rules include knowing when to use “lose” and when to use “loose”, when to capitalize and where to put the quotation marks.

[Caught@Work]

belladonna. Yes, I did refer to you in that way, it was unintentional and I apologise. I did get a little worked up and I apologise for that as well.

I still stick by my point that there are some things that I (and possibly others) just can't grasp. Like the apostrophe. I am not an idiot but I do have failings. There are some things I can't grasp (why, I don't know, if I did I would address them).

In general I check for errors prior to posting, but for some reason, I skip straight past the of and if and on and the others small words. My SO has a fit when she reads my typing. For some reason I just can't see them when I'm reading back my own work (sometimes it's just because I know what is supposed to be there and I suppose because I know what is supposed to be there I assume it is).

I would never take a job as a proofreader, because I am no good at it.

Let's part amicably and I'll take your advice and avoid getting worked up so easily and maybe you could offer some advice to me as to what mnemonic I can use to place those blasted '''s.

[belladonna]

I would never take a job as a proofreader, because I am no good at it.
Ah, see--the problem has been revealed, I am a proofreader. ;)
As for the apostrophes--the way I always remember it is that the apostrophe is like a letter in disguise. When you're contracting something, you just stick the apostrophe in wherever you removed the letter or letters. That's why "you are" becomes "you're" ---the apostrophe is the 'a' in disguise! This comes in handy when adding the "-s" to a word as well. Apostrophe or no? Well, if your intent is to say "Sally is a bitch" it would be "Sally's a bitch" with the 'i' becoming the '. See?
I do so love it when things turn out friendly-like......maybe we should sing Kumbaya or something now, d'you think? :)

bella

[fallom]

I think this has been said before, but...

Language evolves. Get over it.

[Wikkit]

Originally posted by fallom
I think this has been said before, but...

Language evolves. Get over it. |=A110/\/\ U R0XX0RZ!!! 7HA/\/|<Z 4 R3(0G/\/1Z1/\/G /\/\Y /\/\A|) 1337/\/3ZZ!!!


:wally

[Nutty Bunny]

Originally posted by fallom
Language evolves. Get over it.

Unfortunately, the language is doing the exact opposite (devolve?). Look at most message boards these days. The language is being butchered! If you take belladonna's example of "loose" and "lose", that's not language evolving, my friend, that's a mass-murduring of the language.

I hate to say it, but I sometimes judge the content of the posts I read if it looks like it was written by a 12-year-old on mtv.com.

And like belladonna said here:
...every time someone uses a word incorrectly, it risks one more person being mislead to believe it is the correct usage.

Again, this is NOT the evolution of the language.

[Mangetout]

it all sounds like nonsence too me

[Steve Wright]

I'm sure this has come up before, but...

Yes, language evolves over time. However, at any given point in time, a language has a set of rules. Those rules can be determined (by observation) and then applied to any given utterance to determine whether or not it is well-formed - or, in more conventional terms, grammatically correct. So, "language evolves" is not some magic phrase which, once uttered, absolves you from any crimes against syntax which you may commit.

Besides, although "language evolves", it doesn't necessarily evolve in a direction which will retrospectively validate your errors. If you make common mistakes in spelling or grammar, you may, to be sure, be speaking the English of the Future. On the other hand, it is at least as likely that you're just making mistakes.

[Ferrous]

Originally posted by Wikkit
|=A110/\/\ U R0XX0RZ!!! 7HA/\/|<Z 4 R3(0G/\/1Z1/\/G /\/\Y /\/\A|) 1337/\/3ZZ!!!

You know what really bugs me about this sentence? I understood it! Gah!

And, bella, I've got your back!

[Dijon Warlock]

It's PUS, dammit!! (http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=91693)

[Shade]

Originally posted by tetsusaru
To flout is to wilfully and egregiously disobey. To flaunt is to display ostentatiously. Unless you`re planning on wearing it on your head, a rule cannot be flaunted.

Then what would you call what Americans do with the constitution, and the British with their right to not be thrown in jail/goal for safely and sensibly crossing the road at 89 degrees to the curb, or not lying about belief ion God every morning?

(Yes, I agree with all the rants above)

[BalmainBoy]

http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=disocunt , "satandard

[BalmainBoy]

Fun with Google (http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=disocunt)

[Mangetout]

more fun with google (http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=yopu&btnG=Google+Search&meta=)

[Mangetout]

38,000 hits for 'everone' (http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=everone&meta=)

[Mangetout]

I've opened a competition thread in IMHO - find the most prolific misspelling - here (http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=123696) if anyone is interested...