# Should I get uptight about other people's bad grammar and spelling ? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 2, 2004, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-get-uptight-about-other-peoples-bad-grammar-and-spelling/243144 "2004-05-02T13:52:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2004, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-get-uptight-about-other-peoples-bad-grammar-and-spelling/243144/21 "2004-05-03T05:16:15Z")
> [@dnooman](#): > > I’ll bite. What the hell is 733t? AKA Leet-speek, the supposed language of the hacker elite (thus “leet”), deliberately misspelt and with numbers and symbols substituted for letters as often as possible. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2004, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-get-uptight-about-other-peoples-bad-grammar-and-spelling/243144/22 "2004-05-03T12:40:36Z")
I have always gotten my panties in a wad about incorrect spelling and grammar, and I don’t have any plans to unwad them. Can we get away with saying “Two plus two is five. Well, not really, but you know what I mean.”? There is a right and a wrong way to do things! Besides, I suck at just about everything _except_ spelling, so if everyone stops caring about it, I’ll be up the creek. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2004, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-get-uptight-about-other-peoples-bad-grammar-and-spelling/243144/23 "2004-05-03T15:33:53Z")
The _NY Times_ today had an op-ed piece decrying the book _Eats, Shoots and Leaves_, and saying that we are being too picky about grammar and punctuation. I submitted this letter: I’m not surprised that the _Times_ would come out in favor of fuzzy and misused punctuation—this is, after all, a paper whose Style Book permits such sentences as “DVD’s became popular in the 1990’s.” You may be The Newspaper of Record, but you don’t know an apostrophe from Shinola. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2004, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-get-uptight-about-other-peoples-bad-grammar-and-spelling/243144/24 "2004-05-03T16:33:02Z")
The question is do you want to be know as the Spelling/Grammar Nazi? You should never try to teach a pig to sing. It wastes your time and annoys the pig. ---
**Author:** ![LilyoftheValley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/54ee81/32.png) [@LilyoftheValley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LilyoftheValley)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2004, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-get-uptight-about-other-peoples-bad-grammar-and-spelling/243144/25 "2004-05-03T22:35:51Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > The _NY Times_ today had an op-ed piece decrying the book _Eats, Shoots and Leaves_, and saying that we are being too picky about grammar and punctuation. I submitted this letter: > > I’m not surprised that the _Times_ would come out in favor of fuzzy and misused punctuation—this is, after all, a paper whose Style Book permits such sentences as “DVD’s became popular in the 1990’s.” You may be The Newspaper of Record, but you don’t know an apostrophe from Shinola. **Eve** , please tell us if they print this! k?thx! ---
**Author:** ![kniz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@kniz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kniz)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2004, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-get-uptight-about-other-peoples-bad-grammar-and-spelling/243144/26 "2004-05-03T23:20:11Z")
Of coarse, knot! 😛 ---
**Author:** ![akennett](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ee59a6/32.png) [@akennett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/akennett)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2004, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-get-uptight-about-other-peoples-bad-grammar-and-spelling/243144/27 "2004-05-04T00:34:11Z")
I blame this board. I visit several other boards, and one in particular has devotees of the attrocious chat speak as well as constant grammar and spelling mistakes (not typos, mistakes). I have all but stopped visiting that board, because I can no longer stand it. I am far from perfect, but those posters are only one step away from mouth-breather status. Do I make this known at that board? No, it would do no good. So, instead, I spend more time here! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-get-uptight-about-other-peoples-bad-grammar-and-spelling/243144.md?page=1)