In my recent thread “O.K. then, what about man and gorrillas” I misspelled ‘gorillas’. Jab 1 gave a snotty reply, not to the OP but to my post in general - specifically my misspelling of gorillas.
We all know these boards are full of misspellings and I said so. He responded with a rant - which Manny allowed.
So, Manny, if you please…
[rant answer] Just because Abe claimed he had only one year of formal training doesn’t mean it’s so. (Would a presidential hopeful REALLY lie?) Further I have not read any proof that IN-formal training is any less effective. You, nor anyone else alive today has any idea how he spoke casually. Some of my WAG’s why he wrote better than most people on this board are:
He was or wanted to be the President.
He had speach writers.
In those days bad spelling meant LACK of education, today it doesn’t.
It seperated him from the hoi polloi.
He wrote on (very hard to come by) paper with a quill pen in ink. No eraser, no delete/back button or spellcheck so using drafts was quite common.
The pace was slower back then.
Writing was considered an art form then, these boards are for fast exchanges of ideas.
Spelling ability has no direct influence on intellect.
And so on… [rant]
Given some peoples need to constantly point out spelling errors, I think a standard should be set here, so:
In GQ is spelling important?
Steve, former MENSA member
P.S. I did not proof this. God help me if I misspelled anything.
I just went and read the thread. While I do believe that formal education and intelligence have little to do with spelling skills, I don’t think jab1’s reply was particularly snotty.
I think spelling is important. A forum like GQ demands a certain decorum, which includes making your point and making your point look intelligent.
That having been said, I do hate people who ignore a 3-page, very factual and relevant post, only to point out in a one-liner afterwards “it’s the, not teh, dingus!”
I have very bad carpel tunnel syndrome, and my fingers just don’t work properly. I make an enormous number of typing mistakes now, which truly upsets me because I know how to spell these things. A particular finger will go towards a key, and then “pause”, so the keys will be pressed out of order. I know I should type in MS Word, and copy and paste over, but I get hurried sometimes.
I sometimes call spelling flames, over an otherwise informative and useful post, the “Last Refuge of the Scoundrel” who just wants to flame or poke about something.
Now, how many mistakes did I make typing this? I counted 33. That’s right, I mis-typed 33 things making this post. It frustrates me so much I just want to cry sometimes.
I’m still very much a newbie, so I’ll keep my comments as brief and as polite as possible.
I believe that spelling, punctuation, and capitalization always count. I do not necessarily believe that “sloppy handwriting means sloppy thinking” as it was once put to me, but how one presents oneself is an indicator of how one views oneself and expects others to view oneself. In this type of forum, how you spell is a big factor in how your message gets across; if you don’t care enough about your message to care whether you spelled your words correctly, why should anyone else care about your message at all?
I believe that there is plenty of room for intentional misspellings. “Yer pal, Satan” springs to mind. Simple typos are less of a problem than serious misspellings, also. I think most people can certainly forgive a “teh” and a “tha tgirl” every now and then; casting of first stones, and all.
Most importantly, I believe that politeness is more important than all of the above. Consequently, while I may think less of somebody for misspelling words in their postings, I would be less of a person myself if I castigated them for it.
Sorry, that was supposed to be brief. And for the record, none of this is related to the fact that Trion misspelled my username in his sig.
KTK, I agree with you wholeheartedly. IMO, it’s not the ability to spell, but the intelligence to realize that correct spelling is important, that is most important. Of course, spell checkers are not necessarily useful in this regard…
MY SPELL CHEQUER
Eye halve a spelling chequer
It came with my pea sea
It plainly marques four my revue
Miss steaks eye kin knot sea
Eye strike a key and type a work
And weight four it two say
Weather eye am wrong oar write
It shows me strait a weigh
As soon as a mist ache is maid
It nose bee fore two long
And eye can put the error rite
Its rare lea ever wrong
Eye have run this poem threw it
I am shore your pleased two no
Its letter perfect awl the weigh
My chequer tolled me sew.
-Sauce unknown
Thanks TomH, I knew somebody would come through for me .
Hey look, I don’t feel bad. My mind is usually 3 sentences ahead of what I’m typing. I try to keep things straight, but if something slips through the cracks, I’m not gonna sweat it. Between E. B. White and the E.O.D. I could probably correct 80% of the posts on this board.
I tend to agree with Gatsby. To me it’s the INFORMATION that gets across that’s important in this particular venue IMHO (which, by the way, is not in the copy of The Random House Dictionary of the English Language I have on my desk).
I misspelled gorilla. No excuses. But between posting late (2AMish), hurrying, sticky keyboard, posting drunk (oops!) and having no formal typing training (yes, I’m older) it’s going to happen.
And Gatsby, I was refering to his (jab’s) first post in that column. I simply asked about a story I had read, Lord knows there have been crazier questions asked, and answered -BY CECIL himself, and he (jab) mockingly asked if I got the story from the WWN or some such source. Trust me, NOT a BFD, but I do feel falls under the category of ‘snotty’. But don’t worry, I’m
I cast my vote with KTK, let’s try hard to be cultured, but lets stay civilized.
I’d like to say spelling maters, but here is my problem:
At work all my business reports are dictated. My secretary types everything out from that. I even have here type out my personal stuff like letters. The only time I use a key board is when I’m on the SDMB. Therefore my spelling (and typing skills) suck. At least 75% of my mispelled words are actually typing errors. Either way, let’s not get too pissy about this. If someone mispells a word let it slide.
Peace:)
I believe there is indeed a correlation between spelling and intelligence / formal education, both from an empirical and a rational standpoint.
The fact is that 3 very significant factors that interact to develop good spelling–perceptiveness, memory and curiosity-- are common traits of intelligent people.
Explaining that:
Smartie has sufficient intellectual powers to question his/herself about the universe, thus existential doubts and CURIOSITY arise. When curious, smartie reads, being then visually exposed to correctly spelled words–hopefully.
Curiosity favors PERCEPTIVENESS, since the brain is on a more active state of mind (more awake so to speak) and relevant questions are constantly buzzing around. Higher perception and concentration favor the development of a sense of awareness towards detecting the way words are and should be spelled.
MEMORY, which relies on the association making creativity provided by intelligence, helps remember the correct way to write the various words that comprise a written language.
Plus, good brains help to recognize the general patterns that govern the rules of spelling, hence smart people will intuitively now how to correctly write words they might have never seen spelled before.
That being said, I do believe that the strength of ones arguments must rest on their relevance and factual validity and not on esthetical considerations. As long as the spelling doesn’t make a message ambiguous, it shouldn’t matter.
I believe there is indeed a correlation between spelling and intelligence / formal education, both from an empirical and a rational standpoint.
MEMORY, which relies on the association making creativity provided by intelligence, helps remember the correct way to write the various words that comprise a written language.
Plus, good brains help to recognize the general patterns that govern the rules of spelling, hence smart people will intuitively now how to correctly write words they might have never seen spelled before.
That being said, I do believe that the strength of ones arguments must rest on their relevance and factual validity and not on esthetical considerations. As long as the spelling doesn’t make a message ambiguous, it shouldn’t matter.
**
[/QUOTE]
Some people (re:Rainman) remember everything said and read, but cannot make their own macaroni and cheese. While your logic is good, and your choice of big words excellent, some people, such as idiot savants, can remember how to spell, and not be able to make a tuna sandwich for themselves. Intellegence is not remembering facts, it is applying them to everyday life in an effective manner, in order to live a better life.
The best word to use is the one most understood, not the one that sounds best or impresses the most (except for poetry and top 40 music). Speech and the written word were developed for communication, not for self-agrandizement.
Yes, of course it’s important to communicate in a way that indicates that one has thought about what one wants to say and that one has considered the sensibilities of one’s fellow members.
It is not nearly as important, however, as posting a thread in the proper forum. That is not easy in this case, because I’m still a little unsure where you’re going here.
If this was really the GQ question “Is spelling important in GQ?” the GQ answer, is “Yes, but it is not crucial – you should just be prepared to take a shot or two when you misspell. That settled, I can close this thread.”
If you want to rant or encourage others to rant, this thread belongs in the BBQ Pit.
What a nasty comeback. Nobody deserves the pit, do they?
The poor guy just got insulted because someone knocked his spelling. That’s no reason to submit him to ridicule.
BTW, your slow-paced edit window on this board probably causes more typos than bad spelling skills.
There’s a big difference between typos and misspellings. It’s pretty obvious what you mean when you say “teh” instead of “the” and that’s an acceptable and understandable mistake. Even tricky words like “weird” or “their” (while annoying) are not terribly jarring when misspelled, and I’m sure most people would let those slide.
HOWEVER, the minute I see someone use “jester” when they mean “gesture,” or “pursay” when they mean “per se,” I am left with no option other than to assume the poster is a blathering idiot and will treat their posts as the rantings of a crazy person.
There is a major MAJOR difference between the occasional brain fart and not knowing what the hell you’re talking about to begin with.
.
