# Grammar/Spelling Errors **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 12, 2005, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-spelling-errors/325873 "2005-10-12T11:29:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![wring](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/838e76/32.png) [@wring](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wring)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2005, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-spelling-errors/325873/21 "2005-10-12T17:52:12Z")
> [@tomndebb](#): > > So, where is the link to the Original Sin? > > For all we know, **RSSChen** might have overreacted to a perfectly clear post written in an unfamilir style. hell, I asked for that in post #2. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2005, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-spelling-errors/325873/22 "2005-10-12T18:28:51Z")
> [@wring](#): > > hell, I asked for that in post #2. Please capitalize the first word of a sentence. ---
**Author:** ![Salem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8c91f0/32.png) [@Salem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Salem)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2005, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-spelling-errors/325873/23 "2005-10-12T18:58:42Z")
> [@Salem](#): > > I’ll just be standing over here under my Gaudere Umbrella waiting for my own Gauderean fallout. . > [@Left Hand of Dorkness](#): > > Please use one period or none at all. > > Daniel Damn. I can’t possibly go wrong with _that_, can I? ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_Wright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@Steve\_Wright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_Wright)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2005, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-spelling-errors/325873/24 "2005-10-12T19:28:04Z")
> [@Salem](#): > > Damn. > I can’t possibly go wrong with _that_, can I? In the immortal words of MS Word: “Sentence fragment (consider revising)”. ---
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2005, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-spelling-errors/325873/25 "2005-10-12T20:26:30Z")
> [@Siege](#): > > Actually, **Case Sensitive** , you should have left well enough alone. I’m pretty sure in English grammer, “Let _he_ who is without sin cast the first stone” is correct. Certainly “he” and “who” should agree which means it should either be “he who” or “him whom” and since “he” and “who” are the subjects of the phrase which ends “is without sin”, I’d use those two. Sorry, but I’m not buying it: if you take the relative clause “who is without sin” out, you’re left with “Let he…cast the first stone.”, which just doesn’t work. My **King James** is giving me “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.” {John 8.7}: the paraphrase conflates the two but omits the subject “He” and its attendant clause. If we remove the clause and substitute the subject pronoun for clarity, we get “Case, let _him_ {italics for emphasis since “Case” is “him”} do it”: in other words, “Let him {Case} do it”. So if we return to the paraphrase and expand it a little, we get “Let Case, who is is of course without sin, cast the first stone. Let _him_ do it”. “Let he do it” doesn’t work. {I am previewing like a motherfucker} ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2005, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-spelling-errors/325873/26 "2005-10-12T20:28:07Z")
> [@featherlou](#): > > Okay, since everyone’s agreed, we’ll resume pointing out the more egregious errors again. Ain’t nobody gonna learn if nobody tells 'em. My rules: 1. Don’t correct other folks’ grammar and spelling, asshole! 2. Okay, if their post is _truly_ incomprehensible, you get a waiver to rule #1. 3. If their post is correcting someone else’s grammar or spelling, you get a waiver to rule #1. 4. If you take advantage of a waiver to rule #1, you’d better be GODDAMN sure that whatever you’re correcting indeed needs correcting. If it’s a stylistic difference, or if it’s an idiom, or if it’s something that’s accepted as standard by a distinct minority of language mavens, you need to shut your piehole. Daniel ---
**Author:** ![wring](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/838e76/32.png) [@wring](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wring)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2005, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-spelling-errors/325873/27 "2005-10-12T21:30:02Z")
**LHOD** my rule is (generally) 1. Don’t correct other people’s spelling/grammar 2. Unless they’ve created an unintentional funny in the process. 3. When asked, do admit that you (often) will skip over posts by posters who refuse to use capital letters at all, or paragraph breaks. ---
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2005, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-spelling-errors/325873/28 "2005-10-12T21:44:10Z")
Most grammar errors don’t bother except when it’s persistent or inane, such as in a name or title. ---
**Author:** ![Ponder\_Stibbons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponder_stibbons/32/343_2.png) [@Ponder\_Stibbons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponder_Stibbons)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2005, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-spelling-errors/325873/29 "2005-10-12T21:48:32Z")
I don’t have grammer errors, cause both of mine died quite some time ago. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2005, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-spelling-errors/325873/30 "2005-10-12T21:57:38Z")
> [@wring](#): > > **LHOD** my rule is (generally) > > 1. Don’t correct other people’s spelling/grammar > 2. Unless they’ve created an unintentional funny in the process. > 3. When asked, do admit that you (often) will skip over posts by posters who refuse to use capital letters at all, or paragraph breaks. I like these rules better than mine, actually. Can mine be a corollary to yours? Daniel ---
**Author:** ![wring](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/838e76/32.png) [@wring](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wring)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2005, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-spelling-errors/325873/31 "2005-10-12T22:00:29Z")
Sure. Be sure to give me credit, of course. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Eurograff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/df705f/32.png) [@Eurograff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eurograff)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2005, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-spelling-errors/325873/32 "2005-10-12T22:35:04Z")
> [@Case Sensitive](#): > > Sorry, but I’m not buying it: if you take the relative clause “who is without sin” out, you’re left with “Let he…cast the first stone.”, which just doesn’t work. My **King James** is giving me “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.” {John 8.7}: the paraphrase conflates the two but omits the subject “He” and its attendant clause. > > If we remove the clause and substitute the subject pronoun for clarity, we get “Case, let _him_ {italics for emphasis since “Case” is “him”} do it”: in other words, “Let him {Case} do it”. So if we return to the paraphrase and expand it a little, we get “Let Case, who is is of course without sin, cast the first stone. Let _him_ do it”. “Let he do it” doesn’t work. Couldn’t that be said even simpler by just stating that in the phrase “Let somebody do something”, that somebody, were it “he” or “I” or “Case”, is actually an object, and thus must be in accusative case. Since the accusative of “he” is “him”, the only correct way of phrasing must therefore be “Let him cast…”. Let’s not forget that Jesse “Jessie” Christos probably wasn’t dumb and certainly spoke perfect grammatically spot-on English, like every Texas governor knows. > [@Salem](#): > > waiting for my own Gauderean fallout Gauderian? Gauderese? Is “Gauderean” really the generally accepted form? Are there possible alternative spellings? Do I use too many quote marks? ---
**Author:** ![Salem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8c91f0/32.png) [@Salem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Salem)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2005, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-spelling-errors/325873/33 "2005-10-13T05:11:55Z")
> [@Eurograff](#): > > Gauderian? Gauderese? Is “Gauderean” really the generally accepted form? Are there possible alternative spellings? Do I use too many quote marks? I was waffling between Gauderian and Gauderean. I liked the looks of the latter. It looked so wrong that it felt so right. That could explain a lot of my relationship issues, I suppose. As to correcting others’ grammar, I generally don’t see the point of nitpicking if the intent is clear or if it’s an obvious typo. And I really dislike it when someone uses a grammar nitpick as fuel in an unrelated argument. But there _are_ cases of consistent grammar and spelling abuse that are really hard to ignore. ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2005, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-spelling-errors/325873/34 "2005-10-13T05:26:44Z")
“I ain’t never made but one grammatical mistake, but I seen it when I done it and I taken it back.” – Zoe’s dad ---
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2005, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-spelling-errors/325873/35 "2005-10-13T05:32:18Z")
> [@Salem](#): > > But there _are_ cases of consistent grammar and spelling abuse that are really hard to ignore. Name and shame! Name and shame! We need a McCarthyite “Enemies” list: it wouldn’t be fair to him and I won’t do it, but there is one recent offender I am _so_ tempted to “out”. Are you now or have you at any time ever been a quasi-literate baboon? ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2005, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-spelling-errors/325873/36 "2005-10-13T05:37:16Z")
> [@](#): > > **featherlou** : Actually, “judgment” and “judgement” are both accepted spellings. I know that they are _now_ in the U.S. When I was in college in the '60’s, our professors in the American South were sticklers for _judgment_. I _think_ that it was that way across the U.S. in general until about a decade ago. I am also aware that the British have used _judgement_. Did they also sometimes leave off the _e_? That would surprise me. ---
**Author:** ![Seven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Seven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seven)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2005, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-spelling-errors/325873/37 "2005-10-13T06:54:31Z")
say. whats this thread all about? i hate when ppl cant speel or puncuate senteneses its just so rude my god are they all stoopid or somthing they dont know when they make a speeling mistace and dont bothur to fix it at all? fuk um all ---
**Author:** ![Habanero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/d9b06d/32.png) [@Habanero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Habanero)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2005, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-spelling-errors/325873/38 "2005-10-13T06:54:34Z")
Nit-picking someone’s spelling and grammar is a pompous and annoying way to start a fight over nothing. There’s bigger things in this world to fight about than the correct use of “then” and “than”; however annoying they may be. ---
**Author:** ![Salem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8c91f0/32.png) [@Salem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Salem)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2005, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-spelling-errors/325873/39 "2005-10-13T12:23:39Z")
> [@Habanero](#): > > Nit-picking someone’s spelling and grammar is a pompous and annoying way to start a fight over nothing. There’s bigger things in this world to fight about than the correct use of “then” and “than”; however annoying they may be. There **are** bigger things. And I’m not even going to attempt to correct the last clause of that sentence. It should just die a slow and painful death. 😃 Sorry, **Habanero** , I couldn’t resist. I do, however, agree with you. > [@Case Sensitive](#): > > Name and shame! Name and shame! We need a McCarthyite “Enemies” list: Hmmm … I’m thinking Government Grammar Police Grant. And an ABC Special Report: _The Misspelling of Amerika_. It would be the perfect comeback vehicle for Geraldo. ---
**Author:** ![Oy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bc8723/32.png) [@Oy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oy)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2005, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-spelling-errors/325873/40 "2005-10-13T12:30:08Z")
> [@Habanero](#): > > Nit-picking someone’s spelling and grammar is a pompous and annoying way to start a fight over nothing. There’s bigger things in this world to fight about than the correct use of “then” and “than”; however annoying they may be. Welcome to the Straight Dope, **Habanero**. No one thinks this is life or death stuff, but many of us recognize that poor grammar and spelling interfere with the effect one is trying to make in a written argument or explanation. People judge others on many comparatively meaningless bases; in writing, this is the biggie. So suck it up; it’s one of the things we do here. If you don’t like it, don’t join. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-spelling-errors/325873.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-spelling-errors/325873.md?page=3)