I’ve gotta back this up. Having taught undergrads while in grad school I was always dismayed at how bad some of them (not a small percentage) were at basic spelling and grammar.
Heck, one of the smartest persons I know is getting a PhD in Organic Chemistry in 2004 and her spelling is beyond bad…almost at the ‘I’m sorry but I have to mock you for it’ level.
You still don’t get it, gerikel. It’s the stupidities you posted as though they were fact that I critiqued in the linked thread.
VarlosZ: Try reading what I actually wrote in that thread, but this time do it for comprehension. What you say I did and what I actually did do are two widely different things.
jjimm: You are incorrect, IMHO, about my manner. I don’t coddle bigoted comments and that’s what gerikel was posting. Delly’s posting above really does hit the mark.
spooje: Yes, you missed it. Read the linked thread again and notice the assertions gerikel posted.
gerikel
Left something off, obviously, from the previous posting:
gerikel has now miraculously shown that she can post a coherent posting in this thread. She has also essentially admitted to presenting herself as an idiot (her words, not mine) and apparently doing so intentionally. Take that for what it’s worth.
Was it bigotry or overgeneralisation, though? Or a lack of thinking statements through before posting them to a new message board? Anyway, my comment was just my impression of how you come across sometimes. Nowt more.
Gerikel, you did come across as a dullard in that thread. If you want to claim to be educated, write like you have been educated.
Done and done; I suggest you do the same. Nowhere does gerikel imply a dislike for southern people, but only for the accent (which she shares). In her experience, a southern accent comes with certain disagreeable consequences. She didn’t phrase it that delicately (which is, admittedly, regrettable), and she posted opinions in GQ, but whatever happened to cutting the new person a little slack?
As for her spelling and grammar, I should point out that, among the college-aged, the use of even vaguely correct punctuation, capitalization, and grammar simply isn’t a big deal (at all) when it comes to instant messaging, email, and message boards. Being new, I’d bet she just didn’t realize that it would be frowned upon here. Saying that she intentionally presented herself as an idiot is pretty far off the mark.
(Now, if she had posted that she hated her generation-Y writing style, would that be a bigoted statement against young people? If not, what’s the difference between that and saying she hates her southern accent?)
Not going to be around for a few days.
Too bad the grammar check isn’t perfect. 
Assure is a transitive verb and requires an object.
Nit-picking grammar is fun!
Definition 4 here seems to support Mama Tiger’s usage. I would say that she probably should have used “will go” instead of “went”, though.
Alternatively, I have no problem with the pronoun “me” being understood after the verb “assure”. This is a common, if informal, conversational device.
I believe Mama Tiger simply left off the “me” which would have been the object of the transitive verb “assure”. I don’t know that you can have an understood “me” in this case. Since it is used in past tense, I think the usage would be inconsistent with the Def. 4 you refer to.
See, I told you this was fun.
Having reviewed the thread that inspired this… Yes, gerikel was being ignorant and quite insulting. But I don’t believe gerikel was intending to be malicious.
Good folks like bordelond were patiently chipping away at the ignorance. You know, deeply-held beliefs don’t change overnight. But the seeds were being planted, and along the way, I was learning quite a bit about the new British trend toward their own Midwest-speak, which is something I’ve often wondered about.
Then Monty comes along, rips gerikel a new one AND pits. What the fuck? Are you just roaming the threads, looking for someone to mess up so you can jump them? You’re being a complete ass.
gerikel, I hope you give the boards another chance.
And as a Southerner myself, my first reaction was, “Who’s makin’ fun of us? Let me get get out my tire iron…” Reading the posts changed my mind.
Really?
I would suggest that every day most of us make any number of assumptions, and, depending on the person, they may or may not be ‘generally valid’ (assuming, of course, that by ‘valid’ you mean accurate).
obligabory link to dictionary.com’s definition of assumption
only the 4th definition of the word includes the words ‘without proof’, however, that alone does not make the actual data/fact/reality of the assumption invalid.
For example - I assume, as I drive down the highway at 70 mph, that there won’t be a horse and buggy clopping along. Doesn’t mean it’ll never happen, but I do not drive as though there will be one. and so far, in 30 years of driving, that assumption has held true.
and I agree that pitting a newbie over this is shitty.
I am so very glad to see that there are people out there that can be sympathetic to the fact that I am new and did not know that punctuation and misspelled words would get me into so much trouble.
Also, that making generalizations (not meaning to pass them off as fact) was so wrong.
Thanks for the support. I realize now that there are people here who want to discuss possible answers to our questions without ripping apart the technicalities of the post; people who focus on the questions at hand.