# Where has all the spelling gone? Long time passing.... **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [May 19, 2005, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-has-all-the-spelling-gone-long-time-passing/304614 "2005-05-19T18:46:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![Feydeau](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/df788c/32.png) [@Feydeau](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Feydeau)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2005, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-has-all-the-spelling-gone-long-time-passing/304614/141 "2005-05-24T16:58:36Z")
> [@askeptic](#): > > Personally, I have a dream that someday posters will be judged by the content of their posts rather than the correctness of their spelling (Sorry MLK) The delivery (or “medium”) of a message and the message itself are tightly intertwined; therefore the spelling is part of the message, and if you want your message taken seriously, you’ll learn to “bother” with inconsequential things such as spelling. Why, yes, I am elitist. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2005, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-has-all-the-spelling-gone-long-time-passing/304614/142 "2005-05-24T17:20:04Z")
> [@Feydeau](#): > > The delivery (or “medium”) of a message and the message itself are tightly intertwined; therefore the spelling is part of the message, and if you want your message taken seriously, you’ll learn to “bother” with inconsequential things such as spelling. > > Why, yes, I am elitist. I somewhat agree with you, I suppose, but I find your rant on this message board perplexing to say the least. The SDMB contains arguably the most coherent and grammatically and orthographically correct posts of any message board I’ve seen. It’s not like spelling and punctuation errors run rampant on this board. I daresay the language proficiency on this board is better than that of 95% of the professors I’ve had in college. This is a fairly casual message board. Posters are writing without copy editors here. Have you ever read a writer’s copy before it gets published? Some of the best reporters and writers I know are almost clueless when it comes to the subtleties of punctuation, spelling, and style. It makes me cringe when I see colons and semi-colons swapped. Or “lose” spelled as “loose.” The best writers and thinkers aren’t necessarily good technicians. And good technicians don’t make great writers and thinkers. How many published copy editors do you know? (Yes, I know they do exist, but I’ve never come across a writer who didn’t need the help of a copy editor or proofreader.) ---
**Author:** ![askeptic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eb9ed0/32.png) [@askeptic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/askeptic)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2005, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-has-all-the-spelling-gone-long-time-passing/304614/143 "2005-05-24T20:03:04Z")
> [@Feydeau](#): > > Why, yes, I am elitist. No, just boorish. Sigh… 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Scott\_Plaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Scott\_Plaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scott_Plaid)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2005, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-has-all-the-spelling-gone-long-time-passing/304614/144 "2005-05-24T21:35:57Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > I daresay the language proficiency on this board is better than that of 95% of the professors I’ve had in college. This is a fairly casual message board. Posters are writing without copy editors here. Have you ever read a writer’s copy before it gets published? Some of the best reporters and writers I know are almost clueless when it comes to the subtleties of punctuation, spelling, and style. I used the above quote in[a pitting](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=6192054#post6192054) (In my defense, fyi) and was able to (mostly) make my point. Thank you. ---
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2005, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-has-all-the-spelling-gone-long-time-passing/304614/145 "2005-05-24T22:01:19Z")
Current peeve of all peeves: “I would of and I guess I should of…” GAK! ACK! ---
**Author:** ![Stillwell\_Angel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/96bed5/32.png) [@Stillwell\_Angel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stillwell_Angel)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2005, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-has-all-the-spelling-gone-long-time-passing/304614/146 "2005-05-24T23:55:01Z")
> [@Feydeau](#): > > I am truly saddened by the tendency I’ve seen lately to not care about “trivial” matters such as spelling, grammar, &etc. > > Proper spelling is as important as personal hygiene. > > Make a fucking effort, people. This laziness and shoddiness I’ve seen of late will surely contribute to the ultimate downfall of civilization. Oh for the love of Pete…Chill Out Dude. I work all damned day and have to mind my p’s and q’s and pay attention to every detail, do what the company’s bidding and all that jazz. I come here in the evenings to kick back and relax, maybe have a few laughs and learn something new. It’s a **message board** for cripes sake. We are not here to be graded, judged or chastised. I guess I just don’t understand your irritation. I for one don’t give a flip if my participles are dangling. In fact, I’ll just push you comepletely over the edge right now and admit I don’t have a clue what that means. As for spelling being as important as basic hygeine, well, I can’t begin to tell you how much I disagree with that statement. I’d much rather mis-spell a word than walk around smelling like un-washed ass. If you’re really bored feel free to correct all the spelling and grammer in my post, just don’t expect me to care. ---
**Author:** ![Stillwell\_Angel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/96bed5/32.png) [@Stillwell\_Angel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stillwell_Angel)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2005, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-has-all-the-spelling-gone-long-time-passing/304614/147 "2005-05-24T23:57:06Z")
> [@Stillwell Angel](#): > > pay attention to every detail, do what the company’s bidding And that should read “do the company’s bidding” Do typo’s piss you off too? ---
**Author:** ![askeptic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eb9ed0/32.png) [@askeptic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/askeptic)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2005, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-has-all-the-spelling-gone-long-time-passing/304614/148 "2005-05-25T00:01:45Z")
> [@Stillwell Angel](#): > > Oh for the love of Pete…Chill Out Dude. > > I work all damned day and have to mind my p’s and q’s and pay attention to every detail, do what the company’s bidding and all that jazz. I come here in the evenings to kick back and relax, maybe have a few laughs and learn something new. > > It’s a **message board** for cripes sake. We are not here to be graded, judged or chastised. I guess I just don’t understand your irritation. I for one don’t give a flip if my participles are dangling. In fact, I’ll just push you **comepletely** over the edge right now and admit I don’t have a clue what that means. > > As for spelling being as important as basic **hygeine** , well, I can’t begin to tell you how much I disagree with that statement. I’d much rather mis-spell a word than walk around smelling like un-washed ass. > > If you’re really bored feel free to correct all the spelling and **grammer** in my post, just don’t expect me to care. completely hygiene grammar 🙂😛 Before you get all pissed off, I am just kidding. If you review the thread, you will find that I was pretty much the first (and by no means last) Doper to call the OP a hyper sensitive tool. ---
**Author:** ![Stillwell\_Angel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/96bed5/32.png) [@Stillwell\_Angel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stillwell_Angel)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2005, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-has-all-the-spelling-gone-long-time-passing/304614/149 "2005-05-25T00:04:58Z")
> [@askeptic](#): > > completely > > hygiene > > grammar > > 🙂😛 > > Before you get all pissed off, I am just kidding. If you review the thread, you will find that I was pretty much the first (and by no means last) Doper to call the OP a hyper sensitive tool. No offense taken. I actually saw the ‘completely’ error before I hit submit, but left it there on principle 😉 ---
**Author:** ![askeptic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eb9ed0/32.png) [@askeptic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/askeptic)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2005, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-has-all-the-spelling-gone-long-time-passing/304614/150 "2005-05-25T00:06:50Z")
> [@Stillwell Angel](#): > > No offense taken. I actually saw the ‘completely’ error before I hit submit, but left it there on principle 😉 Good on you, mate. (I am not Australian, I just felt like **sayin** that) ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2005, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-has-all-the-spelling-gone-long-time-passing/304614/151 "2005-05-25T00:22:14Z")
> [@Celyn](#): > > “Doomed! Doomed” We’re all doomed" This would make an excellent bumper sticker. That’s all. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2005, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-has-all-the-spelling-gone-long-time-passing/304614/152 "2005-06-04T15:06:53Z")
> [@askeptic](#): > > Take Mhendo, the guy for some reason refuses to capitalise I. Yea, it gets kind of annoying but what he has to say overrides that little idiosyncracy. Well, i’m very late to this thread. Shows that a vanity search every now and then is a useful exercise. I never realized that my failure to capitalize the “i” when speaking in the first person was cause for any annoyance (although it is nice to know that what i have to say “overrides that little idiosyncracy”). Just for the record, i don’t “refuse” to capitalize the letter out of some desire to make a statement. I do it because i’m lazy, and because it seems to me that this is something that can be done without making the sentence any more difficult to read. If vBulletin and the SDMB had an automatic capitalization feature, like MS Word, then i’d probably turn it on. ---
**Author:** ![Large\_Marge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/50afbb/32.png) [@Large\_Marge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Large_Marge)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2005, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-has-all-the-spelling-gone-long-time-passing/304614/153 "2005-06-16T04:13:53Z")
I am _so_ sorry I missed this thread. It’s an editor’s dream come true. _sigh_ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-has-all-the-spelling-gone-long-time-passing/304614.md?page=7)