It’s nice to know that if I spell something wrong around here someone just might ignore my post because of it.
I’ve been posting on BBS and message boards a long time and run across many grammer nazi’s. They always seem to say the same thing. If you can’t spell or if your grammer is bad you must be an idiot therefore your point is moot. Of course I always like to point out Einstein was a poor speller.
Many people find spelling quite easy, while others (myself included) spelling never really clicked in the brain. Many dyslexic people are VERY intelligent, but they can’t spell worth a crap.
To me, discounting someone on the internet for their spelling and grammer is like discounting someone in real life because they have slurred speech or an accent. It might be hard to understand them sometimes but if you automaticly discount what they say because of it, I’m sorry, you are an asshole.
“Thas gust my oinon - I cood bee rong” - Denus Millar.
My brother is somewhat dyslexic, and, as a result, is a terrible speller. He also has very bad handwriting. I have bad handwriting myself. I know that he is a very smart and articulate person.
However, someone reading a manuscript of his, would have a hard time getting through it to the meat of his argument. The handwriting is less important than the spelling, but both convey the impression that he is either not very smart, or hasn’t put a lot of work into his paper/letter/whatever.
The fact of the matter is that first impressions are important. If someone makes a post that is concise, well written and uses proper grammar, it makes it easier to believe that person is intelligent and worked on his argument. If his or her post is full of errors in spelling and grammar (not just one or two typos) it will take more to show me that he or she has written a post of substance.
I make typos myself. I tend not to write long posts, so I typically don’t hit preview unless I have some funky coding that I am unsure of.
One or two typos or grammar errors don’t prove anything. However, a post that is actually difficult to read because of poor spelling or writing quality is going to have to try harder to be taken seriously.
I didn’t mean to imply that poor spellers were ignorant, stupid or careless. I understand that sometimes a certain discipline doesn’t “click” in the brain. For me, it’s math. I’m severely math-impaired. But since I don’t use equations to communicate, not very many people know this.
Nor am I a “grammar nazi.” If someone posts in all caps, or not using any caps, or with poor punctuation or spelling, I don’t post a reply with snide comments or pedantic corrections.
I tried to make it clear that I am forgiving of typos or missed coding. I’ve done enough of that myself. Mistakes happen.
But, as Abe said:
Is this unfair? Well, yeah, it is. Sorry. It’s also unfair to assume that an overweight person is a greedy slob, even if it’s the result of glandular disfunction, or that someone who hollers at her kids is a mean mom, even though she might just be overtired and stressed, and her kids, whom she loves dearly and would kill with her teeth for, happened to push the absolute wrong button and caused her to momentarily lose her cool. We live in a world of snap judgments and first impressions.
I actually do read the posts that are rife with misspellings. I do not automatically discount them, or write off their authors as idiots with nothing of value to say. But I reserve the right to feel annoyed that people who are here to communicate, through writing, their feelings and opinions don’t care if it’s difficult to read or understand what they’re trying to say.
I often find that typos aren’t my biggest problem, but rather I cannot type as fast as I think and I often neglect to, er, type sentences that are meaningful. Sometimes the strangest words get put in my posts.
The other day in GD I was transcribing a bit rom a book to demonstrate a point, and the author had cited a NYT article from 1998 or something. Somehow I typed in “1000”. I have absolutely no idea how that happened. I also manage to make strange vowel substitutions that couldn’t be conceived of as sloppy fingers.
But I think that spelling isn’t a big deal so long as I can understand what one means. I’m more concerned with content than syntax.
I tend to be annoyed by misspellings and poor grammar, but I’m nonetheless fairly understanding of such errors.
What really gets my goat are people who post messages with shoddy spelling, grammar and punctuation, and follow them up with signature files that say “Don’t complain about my grammar. What, do you think I have time to proofread my posts?” (or words to that effect).
If you don’t have time to proofread your messages, then please keep silent. If you insist that other people should waste THEIR valuable time making sense of what you said, then you are being incredibly arrogant and terribly self-important.
I suspect that’s one reason why I am annoyed by postings which mangle the English language. A few errors are acceptable, but an abundance of errors suggests a lack of care and consideration for one’s reader. (Note that I say “suggests.” I fully understand that some people have dyslexia and other learnign disabilities, and that some people don’t speak English as their native tongue.)