Should I get uptight about other people's bad grammar and spelling ?

In My Humble Opinion
1

This is not a criticism of this board ( where the standards a very high ) but I cannot help getting angry about the poor educational standards shown by some people on other bulletin boards. I regularly visit a board in the UK dealing with broadcasting matters. Some of the contributions are absolutely dire . This includes bad spelling and grammar and the use of " text speak" which is very common among the youngsters in the UK. I have tried to point out this to some people and all I get is abuse. Should we just accept the lowest common dominator or should we strive for higher things ?

Here is an example from one of the contributers after I had complained that I could not understand what he was on about ( By the way I am not a teacher ) :-

*"Why would i need to improve my grammer? im in a good job earning a rather good crust, drive a 360 ferrari - this is ONLY a internet forum m8 no need to get so up tight about peoples spellings etc etc, i left school quite a while ago to start a business… Im glad i did cos people like u annoy me (teachers)

thank u please "*

2

For all you know, he could be driving a Ferrari, a Lotus, three Porsches, and an Escalade.

As a valet parker.

3

Best not.
There used to be a “Gaudere’s Law” around here (not sure if that user is still active) which quite rightly asserted that if you post complaining about or pointing out others’ grammatical infractions, you will invariably make one of your own.
Unless you’re very sure you don’t live in a glass house, it’s best to keep quiet and mock them secretly.
:slight_smile:

4

Really? Do tell…

If this is a serious board you’re talking about (and it sounds like it is), there’s no excuse for using such poor spelling and grammar that people can’t understand you. I could go the “Goofus and Gallant” route and advise you to tell them, calmly and rationally, how what they’re doing reflects poorly on them and on the bulletin board as a whole…

…But you and I know that no one cares about “Goofus and Gallant.” If they insist on butchering the language, ignore them. I don’t think you’ll get them to change their ways.

5

I tend to just not go to message boards where there is a lot of that, because I find that reading three or four posts in a row with that kind of spelling makes my head ache. Normally I just go elsewhere. But I participate in a number of writers’ forums (I suppose that would be “fora” if one were being really picky) and there are a few people, some of whom write for a living whose spelling and grammar are atrocious. I see a lot of “alot” and “definately” in particular, and I find myself wondering if these people have ever READ anything. I’ve mentioned it on a few occasions and the reception was not friendly - I’ve been labeled a nitpicker and a drone. So now I just grind my teeth and ignore it most of the time.

6

There’s a difference between chat-speak and just poor grammar/spelling. The former you may have a chance of fighting, but you have no hope against the latter. If someone can’t spell, it’s a bigger problem than laziness and complaining about it on a message board isn’t going to have any effect whatsoever. It will just make them feel bad.

7

Posted by Sidle :

Posted by Rayne Man :

…I think he just did…forgot the ‘re’ in ‘are’…(?) :smiley:

8

I was waiting for that . :smack: Thanks for pointing that out ( honestly ! ) but there is a vast difference between the odd typo and the rubbish that some people generate on that other board.

9

Poor spelling and grammar can be quite infuriating, but i nearly always let it slide. If you constantly correct other people’s poor usage, you are likely to be perceived as condescending and self-important.

I am happy to participate in threads that are specifically about grammar and spelling, and in those threads i am happy to argue with other people over very small and arcane issues. It’s fun to talk about these things, especially with other people who are interested in the subject. I prefer, however, not to make a point of correcting every little error that i see, as this would undoubtedly lead in a very short time to me becoming rather unpopular around here.

Some people who choose to correct others also seem to have a problem differentiating between poor spelling and grammar, on the one hand, and simple typographical errors on the other. I usually preview my posts, but even then errors will sometimes slip through. For the most part, these errors are simply the result of haste on my part, and are not indicative of an inability to spell.

10

Online, I think you should take grammar and spelling lightly, except in emails and professional correspondence. The short-hand “733t” or chat-speak is easily decoded and soon you won’t notice that “ur” isn’t really a word unless you’re speaking of ancient cities.
Offline, complain away. Recently I was skimming some cover letters, as the assistant manager’s position in my department is open. Many of them had picky spelling and grammar errors (i.e., having gone to the Cordonblue school in Paris; being adept at wine and food parings). I know selling liquor doesn’t take the precision that heart surgery requires, but if you can’t spell your own name correctly, what makes us want to hire you to schlep wine bottles around?

11

Kinda, instant karma isn’t it :slight_smile:

12

Chat speak is an abomination, let’s not speak of it again.

Typos do happen, pointing them out is just being anal.

A repeated misspelling is like having a booger hanging out of your nose, you hope that someone politely tells you about it before you look like an ass.

I usually let grammar issue slide by. I’m guilty of several infractions that I commit without regret, like starting a sentence with a preposition. I think it’s an archaic rule.

If someone is clearly trying to follow every rule and they make a repeated mistake, they might want to be politely informed. Most people, unfortunately, prefer to be left in the dark lest some “teacher” reprimand them. :rolleyes:

13

I usually won’t go to a board dominated by kids or other 733t speakers make up the majority of the content. It’s too irritating, and I’m not going to waste my time trying to decipher whatever cutesy spelling every1 is using. It just makes my eyes hurt. It looks even worse when it’s coming from people that I know are adults. At what point should (will) it be unacceptable to write like that? I have a tough time remembering where the number keys are; is it really that much easier to hit one of the number keys rather than type out the word? Is typing “gr8” that much easier than “great”? There’s an extra two key strikes there! Come on!

I also have a hard time taking people seriously if they have poor communication skills. For example, I was at a meeting where an email was passed around, and I couldn’t help but notice that the author still didn’t have “their” and “there” straight. I know it was being nitpicky, and I don’t make any claims that my writing is the most stellar in the world, but it does come off as sloppy.

I’ve encouraged my sister to write more … properly when writing emails. She routinely goes without capitalizing or using correct punctuation. It isn’t so much that it’s incorrect, but she doesn’t even make an attempt. I told her not to get into a bad habit of doing things like that, and she says she only does it informally, but I think it could possibly cross-over into other writing. It looks sloppy and careless. It takes maybe a fraction of a second to hit the “shift” key, so there really isn’t an excuse other than the most extreme form of laziness.

14

I’ll bite. What the hell is 733t?

15

Ehmmm…Yes, good grammar is courteous to the reader. But I’d like to point out that not all posters on this board have English as their first language. And passive use of a language is usually more developed then active use, at least that’s the case with me. Being Dutch, I just don’t recognize (so I don’t correct on preview) *all * the mistakes I undoubtedly make.

16

As I said in my introduction , I am not criticising this board because the standards are very high regardless of the nationality of the poster . The board I have the gripe about is one based in the UK where I suppose 99% of the contributers are from that country . They have no excuse at all , it is just laziness .

17

Actually, not-so-subtle mockery seems to work pretty well :wink: Just respond in kind until they either get tired of deciphering your messages and/or realize how irritating it is to have to try to figure out what others are saying.

After the following exchange, this poster (Monia3000) is actually making an effort to be more coherent…which has lead to other “interventions” for other posters, usually with at least some success. It works better than “it’s not nice to make people have to work at reading your posts” for some reason…
board url and thread name withheld to protect the guilty

Author: Monia3000
it iis zo asome i cnt blieve i gt it iis zo asome I wsh u gys would heve it.

Author: SimMasterKatikins
I’m guessing you haven’t got the game because it isn’t finished yet. Unless, of course the game you have is called sms tu and not Sims 2

Author: tigerlily179
sure!!

Author: theevilwriter (me)
me 2. I luv it sew much. but sims 2 will b better than sms tu. U no wot i mean, rite?

Author: ASimFan11733 (a question for Monia)
Do you know how to spell?

Author: Cara_gurl411
LOL

Author: Charmonkey
That’s complete and absolute bull. You’re funny.

Author: theevilwriter
Eye cann sepll jut fin, thanx

Author: talya711
hehehe…i heart you evilwriter

Author: Monia3000_
I can spell too i’m just messing around. lol I’m the best speller in my class.

Author: bagofskittles
sms tu iss a grate gam, theevilwrite ad maria. I luv ite to. weel i jusst camt wate intil teh sim 2 com oot! i ggot too go nowe so bie!

Author: theevilwriter
Eye no! Babys, twinz, kids finelly groanin up, its gonna roc. Eye like da DNA 2, cuz u cann haf triats like i color n skin tone b inheirited from 1 generation 2 da nex. Way kewl! Its neet 2 da old sims dye know, u no? Noo mor sims da life 4eva.

Author: being_flagrant_sucks
yer totaly n like the babbies r sooooooooooo kewl!!!11 I want 1 soooo bad now cuz i seen them in da game LOLOLOOLLOLOLOLOLLLOOOLL!!!111

Author: bagofskittles
Date: Feb-24-04 06:46 PM PDT
Subject: Re: i gut sms tu

toadaly!!!111one lyke, i sooooooo agre wit u!!1 omg i so cann nt wate intilll i cane mack me anf meh famlie on da sims 2!! lyke i an so exsited abot thias! i meen lyk we can doo all dis neww ans kwe==ewel stuf!!Q i eben dreem abot dis!

Author: being_flagrant_sucks
omg luc is soooo hot lyk i mean hes sooooooo hot!!!11

Author: being_flagrant_sucks
Since being the best speller in your class is important to you, I’m guessing you are very young.

Author: caramelcutie411
lol
this entire post is funny

Author: littlebooga
LOL
eye am sew hapy dat da sims tu is gon tu be owt. do u tink dat dey will tal us wen we wil git it son?

tee hee hee

Author: being_flagrant_sucks
yer totaly

Author: littlebooga
LMAO
I"m starting to see the appeal of mispelling every word

NOT! LOL

Author: being_flagrant_sucks
oh wateva!!! lets c u mak a kewl game lyk Masis n then u cn say wateva u want but u dont so u dont say nethin g cos no1 aske u!!!11
yer

Author: simcatfan25 (you can’t tell by the how the threading looks when you copy and paste, but this was directed at Monia)

I’m not trying to be mean, but can you not purposely misspell words? There are fans on here who do not speak english as a first language and they probably did not understand your post one bit. Have some respect for non-english speaking players and those of us who don’t want to read hyrogliphics!

author:moneeba_200
exactly

author:raye1
LOL simcat! !

18

Sure, why not? Nothing more fun than letting others live in your head rent-free!

(Really, I’d advise against it)

19

Has anyone ever started a thread where Dopers whose first language isn’t English could make that fact known? I (and I’m sure others) tend to judge people whose spelling and grammar is poor rather more harshly than those with good language skills. The problem is, I might not know if a particular person’s grammar is poor because he/she is foreign, which might cause me to short-change them and undervalue their opinions.

20

Normaly, on the internet and board like this, where English isn’t always a first language, I don’t get mad about grammer and spelling. Only if they are always making the same mistake, or use that ANNOYING chat lingo over and over again, that is disrupting the “flow of the the sentance” will I speak up. When someone is speaking, I am known for correcting grammer so say, "Taylor and I, doesn’t become “Me and Taylor” There are some others, but I forget them. Anyway, if it is just a misplaced comma or a minor spelling error, I don’t mind. People can’t type 100% correct all the time, and I have accepted that. And I don’t want to turn into my english teachers. (Before you hound me on starting a sentance with “and” you are allowed to do it, but it is frowned upon. My rule is that if it is shown in a best seller, I can put it in my papers.)
We need a stuck up, snooty smiley.