# Spelling on the web **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 17, 2015, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-on-the-web/734871 "2015-10-17T02:42:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2015, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-on-the-web/734871/41 "2015-10-18T02:37:51Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > I enjoyed a recent reply to someone commenting about “a heard of horses” by the poster who said he’d herd all about that. 🙂 > [@wolfpup](#): > > And it matters. It matters because when it’s systematic, it’s some combination of lack of knowledge and laziness. It matters because if a person lacks sufficient knowledge to even be able to write properly, then you’re legitimately entitled to wonder what other knowledge they lack, such as what the hell they’re talking about. Indeed, I often judge their intelligence by their spelling. ---
**Author:** ![Mikeisskeptical](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@Mikeisskeptical](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mikeisskeptical)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2015, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-on-the-web/734871/42 "2015-10-18T02:39:08Z")
Words are our tools, not our masters. The development of Modern English has been a process of people bending, ignoring or deliberately breaking the formal rules. Those who fetishise words, try to fossilise language and prevent its evolving usage, may as well be campaigning for the abolition of gravity. It is neither possible nor desirable. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2015, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-on-the-web/734871/43 "2015-10-18T02:48:05Z")
> [@Mikeisskeptical](#): > > Words are our tools, not our masters. The development of Modern English has been a process of people bending, ignoring or deliberately breaking the formal rules. Those who fetishise words, try to fossilise language and prevent its evolving usage, may as well be campaigning for the abolition of gravity. It is neither possible nor desirable. “As Chaucer is, so shall Dryden be.” -Alexander Pope. ---
**Author:** ![Mikeisskeptical](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@Mikeisskeptical](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mikeisskeptical)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2015, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-on-the-web/734871/44 "2015-10-18T02:53:07Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > And it matters. It matters because when it’s systematic, it’s some combination of lack of knowledge and laziness. It matters because if a person lacks sufficient knowledge to even be able to write properly, then you’re legitimately entitled to wonder what other knowledge they lack, such as what the hell they’re talking about. I strongly disagree. It only matters insofar as it’s a barrier to clear comprehension. Other than that, it’s about as relevant as whether they know the correct positioning of cutlery at a formal banquet. In order to assess whether someone knows ‘what the hell they are talking about’, it is only necessary to know the evidence for their claims and the logic of their argument. Using their grasp of spelling and/or grammar is a hugely indirect and almost always inaccurate method. ---
**Author:** ![purplehearingaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@purplehearingaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehearingaid)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2015, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-on-the-web/734871/45 "2015-10-18T02:53:59Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > It is very difficult to translate some things written by folks who have ASL as a first language. > I made 60 WPM in junior high, but I’ve lost it. I use a deaf forum and I have trouble translating some things , I have poor grammar b/c I got a poor education. Pubic schools didn’t like spending a lot of time or money helping hoh or deaf students when I was going to school so students that had learning disability were dumped into one class room with a burnt out teacher and given work below their grade so they could say they ‘passed’ their grade! We were called ‘rejects’ by the teachers and other students. Kids that were hoh or deaf in the 40’s and 50’s were thought to be crazy , lazy or retarded and locked up. I don’t get I when hoh and deaf people say they’re happy to be this way ! WTF! I think it FUCK! ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2015, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-on-the-web/734871/46 "2015-10-18T03:27:45Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > 🙂 > Indeed, I often judge their intelligence by their spelling. That’s silly. ---
**Author:** ![Mikeisskeptical](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@Mikeisskeptical](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mikeisskeptical)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2015, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-on-the-web/734871/47 "2015-10-18T03:34:25Z")
```php ``` > [@purplehearingaid](#): > > I use a deaf forum and I have trouble translating some things , I have poor grammar b/c I got a poor education. Pubic schools didn’t like spending a lot of time or money helping hoh or deaf students when I was going to school so students that had learning disability were dumped into one class room with a burnt out teacher and given work below their grade so they could say they ‘passed’ their grade! We were called ‘rejects’ by the teachers and other students. Kids that were hoh or deaf in the 40’s and 50’s were thought to be > crazy , lazy or retarded and locked up. I don’t get I when hoh and deaf people say they’re happy to be this way ! WTF! I think it FUCK! Wow, that must have been incredibly upsetting and frustrating. I just hope things for deaf and hoh kids have improved since then. It’s terrible to think of young people being held back and abused in this way. ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2015, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-on-the-web/734871/48 "2015-10-18T04:43:47Z")
> [@Marion\_Wormer](#): > > Formal letters, school papers, that’s different. Man, posts in comments, life’s too short. This sums up my feelings. I still have to bite my tongue, though, when I see people type “loose” in place of “lose.” It gets to me because I see it all the time. I always wonder, “If you think ‘lose’ is spelled ‘loose’ then how do you think ‘loose’ is spelled?” ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2015, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-on-the-web/734871/49 "2015-10-18T11:41:04Z")
> [@Mikeisskeptical](#): > > Words are our tools, not our masters. The development of Modern English has been a process of people bending, ignoring or deliberately breaking the formal rules. Those who fetishise words, try to fossilise language and prevent its evolving usage, may as well be campaigning for the abolition of gravity. It is neither possible nor desirable. I see it from the standpoint of three basic levels of written language skill: the incompetent, the competent, and the masterful. The latter transcends mere competence and creatively expands the frontiers of language to wonderful and evocative effect, sometimes by intentionally breaking rules and tradition. These are the writers who have helped to make English a rich and expressive language. The incompetents are mostly responsible for making a lot of it a morass of inconsistency. Don’t confuse ignorance with genius. > [@Mikeisskeptical](#): > > I strongly disagree. It only matters insofar as it’s a barrier to clear comprehension. Other than that, it’s about as relevant as whether they know the correct positioning of cutlery at a formal banquet. In order to assess whether someone knows ‘what the hell they are talking about’, it is only necessary to know the evidence for their claims and the logic of their argument. Using their grasp of spelling and/or grammar is a hugely indirect and almost always inaccurate method. Mistakes are _always_ a barrier to comprehension, however small and innocent that barrier may be. Mistakes always make us – in whatever small and perhaps even unconscious way – slow down, maybe do a double take, and essentially engage in a deciphering exercise. If I write “Its to important to me too risk loosing it”, it takes longer and entails more frustration to comprehend than if it had been written correctly. And the reader may never be entirely sure if I meant “losing” or “loosening”; throw in a few misplaced commas, and the thing might be entirely incomprehensible! This is not to attack every typo and linguistic oversight as an unacceptable transgression against comprehension. It’s to say that dismissing spelling and grammar as merely decorative affectations is wrong, because they are fundamental to written communication. It’s not about insisting on academic perfection on a message board, it’s about common courtesy to the reader, striving to make the message comprehensible rather than just excreting some verbiage and letting the reader (hopefully) figure out what you mean. As to what pervasive language mistakes say about the writer’s credibility, as pointed out by **LSLGuy** in #15, as we advance through the echelons of the educational system we are increasingly exposed to the written language, both in having to do a lot of reading and in the necessity for competent writing. So a pattern of pervasive mistakes – and particularly the _kinds_ of mistakes and the general style of writing – does say something about the writer’s probable educational level. Whether this affects the writer’s credibility I suppose depends to some extent on the subject matter, but a display of literary incompetence is never going to be helpful. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2015, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-on-the-web/734871/50 "2015-10-18T14:54:28Z")
This has given me an idea for a childrens’ book about misspelling words, with humorous illustrations. For example, you want to take pain reliever, not pain reliver; and something sugary instead of something surgery. Maybe something along the lines of an evil genie who makes you type out your requests and gives you what you spelled, not what you wanted. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2015, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-on-the-web/734871/51 "2015-10-18T14:57:23Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > This has given me an idea for a childrens’ book about misspelling words, with humorous illustrations. For example, you want to take pain reliever, not pain reliver; and something sugary instead of something surgery. Maybe something along the lines of an evil genie who makes you type out your requests and gives you what you spelled, not what you wanted. You mean like a 12-inch pianist? ---
**Author:** ![Honey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honey/32/5074_2.png) [@Honey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Honey)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2015, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-on-the-web/734871/52 "2015-10-18T21:57:05Z")
My friends joke that I’m the only one who ever “edits” Facebook posts. I just can’t stand it if I spell something wrong. The misspelling I see the most is on a Facebook garage sale site. Most people list articles as “barley” used. It is so prevalent that when I see it correctly spelled as “barely”, I’m a bit surprised. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2015, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-on-the-web/734871/53 "2015-10-18T22:21:38Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > You mean like a 12-inch pianist? The ducks in the alley behind the bar isn’t nearly as funny. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2015, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-on-the-web/734871/54 "2015-10-18T22:58:37Z")
Yah, but it goes a \*bit \*better in a kid’s book. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![purplehearingaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@purplehearingaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehearingaid)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2015, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-on-the-web/734871/55 "2015-10-18T23:59:40Z")
> [@Mikeisskeptical](#): > > ```php > > ``` > > Wow, that must have been incredibly upsetting and frustrating. I just hope things for deaf and hoh kids have improved since then. It’s terrible to think of young people being held back and abused in this way. Sadly funding for students with learning disabilities is the first thing to get cut when there are budget cuts . Parents really have to fights for their kids rights if they have learning disabilities . Yes it was incredibly upsetting and frustrating being called a ‘reject’ student . I was the only student in my ‘reject’ class in JR. High to finish high school. ---
**Author:** ![Sangahyando](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f14d63/32.png) [@Sangahyando](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sangahyando)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2015, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-on-the-web/734871/56 "2015-10-19T04:12:57Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > Are you certain he was not referring to a fair commemorating the Battle of the Coral Sea in WWII? > [@carnivorousplant](#): > > By G-d, I may have misjudged him! Not being an aquarist, I’ve been wondering what “coral warfare”, even correctly spelt, means 😕 . ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2015, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-on-the-web/734871/57 "2015-10-19T11:31:41Z")
> [@Sangahyando](#): > > Not being an aquarist, I’ve been wondering what “coral warfare”, even correctly spelt, means 😕 . Coral have various ways of stinging each other. You must be careful about putting some types next to each other. ---
**Author:** ![OffByOne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/45deac/32.png) [@OffByOne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OffByOne)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2015, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-on-the-web/734871/58 "2015-10-19T14:55:08Z")
A common response to someone being told that they misspelled a word, or used the wrong word, or run-on sentences or fragments: YKWIM – You know what I meant. Well, maybe. I know what I think you said, but that does not always equal confidence that YOU knew what you meant. Anyone here ever get into Walter Miller’s Home Page, back in the 90s? The stories of a young man who had made many mistakes in his young life that left him reliant on his abusive grandfather. His tales were very funny, but his spelling and grammar were atrocious – perhaps that was part of the attraction, and I realized that it was intentional and added for effect. I had to put up with a lot of the type of errors that always got graded off for “mechanics” in high school, just to get to the meat of the story. I do that here, too, though, in the case of Walter Miller, I realized that the English errors were part of the story, rather than inadvertant. ---
**Author:** ![Sangahyando](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f14d63/32.png) [@Sangahyando](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sangahyando)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2015, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-on-the-web/734871/59 "2015-10-19T14:58:14Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Coral have various ways of stinging each other. You must be careful about putting some types next to each other. Thanks ! ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2015, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-on-the-web/734871/60 "2015-10-19T15:09:52Z")
> [@Sangahyando](#): > > Thanks ! You are very welcome. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-on-the-web/734871.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-on-the-web/734871.md?page=4)