So far, the most amusement I’ve gotten in the last few days is reading the (implied) assertion that it takes a specialist to spell correctly and use comprehensible grammar.
I also should clarify that I feel there is nothing wrong with pointing out minor errors in spelling, but to go after someone to the extent of the initial post is unjustified IMHO.
-its taking longer than we thought
Apples and oranges. Every one of us received an education that covered the basics of spelling and grammar in our language as a child. Not every one of us had the opportunity to be educated in using computers (although future generations will not have the same excuse). Asking people to use correct spelling and grammar does not require them to seek out specialised training and knowledge, it’s asking them to use tools that were put at their disposal from childhood. Not everyone knows how to use a computer but everyone should know how to use their own language. Do these people speak the way they type? Is smartguysmile wandering around his neighbourhood now muttering “That board turd. Those people most interest in spelling. Bye to them”? Why can he (presumably) speak English but fail utterly when he needs to convert his thoughts to text?
Occasionally spelling mistakes and typos are easily excused and almost unavoidable. What I can’t comprehend is why some people fail to observe others using the correct forms and fail to learn from them. I have to refer once again (as I have in previous discussions of this subject) to a person on another message board that I frequent: Let’s call him Mr Oblivious. In a thread where every other poster is saying “Congratulations!”, Mr Oblivious will always post “Congradulations!”. Time and time again, even when dozens of other posters have typed word “Congratulations” right there in front of him, Mr Oblivious will still continue to write “Congradulations”. I can’t decide if he’s blind to the difference, if he knows better but it’s some kind of persistant typo or if he’s suffering from a smug superiority complex and thinks he’s the only person getting it right… but each time I see him posting “Congradulations”, my estimation of his intelligence falls a little more. In a word where you don’t even need to buy a dictionary as long as you have an internet connection, why do people fail to look up words they’re unsure of?
Hehe, “Occasionally” = “Occasional”. Hi Gaudere! How’s life treating you.
Excuse me while I ignore the rest of the typos/spelling errors in my previous post.
Hardly. Check out the access to education and education standards statistics not only in North America, but throughout the world. This message board is accessible by the entire planet.
Its possible Mr Oblivious isnt oblivious at all, and If I was to see that, rather than come at him with both my grammar guns blazing I might begin with a question…“Dear mr. oblivious, I believe the spelling of Congradulations is actually incorrect…is there a reason you spell it as you do?” Who knows, perhaps mr. oblivious is actually mr. deliberate and has a very interesting reason for his spelling, and you may learn something.
There are some false corrections here.
This is the standard spelling outside the US, it is only a “mistake” in American English, not in the UK or Australia.
Just because it shows up as being unrecognized in a spell-check doesn’t mean it’s necessarily incorrect. I often have to add plural and other marked forms to my spell-checker. When I checked the spelling, it came up with a correction of “misspelled,” which is simply the wrong form for the meaning I wanted. I could be wrong but I think I’m within the bounds of correct grammatical usage here.
Someone else already commented on this one.
We’re not really talking about minor spelling errors or occasional slips in word choices though, we’re talking about people who don’t bother to make their posts even slightly intelligible to others. You have a point that normally it’s better to actually address the question at hand rather than pick a post apart, but we are dealing with examples that are far outside the boundaries of what most people will find acceptable.
If Einstein had submitted his Theory of Relativity on coffee-ringed, scuffed, dirty, slightly torn paper with lots of misspellings and colloquial contractions, no one would have paid attention even though the ideas within the paper were some of the most brilliant insights of his time. That’s what people like Smartguysmile do every time they spew something like, “K zo ive got ths prblm htat i nd and nswer 2 its they’re prob butt im doin smthing 2 hlep theym out.” It’s so distasteful that if the physical analogue of that showed up on our desks, most of us would throw the thing in the trash and disinfect our desk tops to make sure the grunge didn’t get all over the other stuff.
I check almost everything I submit to the board. As a matter of fact, “grunge,” came up as unrecognized in my checker when I ran it just now. Is “grunge” not a word? Oxford.com thinks it is, but my system dictionary didn’t have it. It does now.
No I was not aware of that. I thought the internet was only available here in Australia. Why didn’t someone tell me? :rolleyes: As for the people of the world who do not have access to basic education, I was working under the assumption they they probably also lack the finances, resources or know-how to access the internet and engage in chit-chat on the SDMB. Am I wrong? I don’t know. Could any people from countries that don’t educate their children who happen to be reading this now please stand up and be counted? It’s just a guess, mrrealtime, but I think it’s unlikely that there will be a significant number of them replying. I’m prepared to be wrong if that’s the case, but I stand by my opinion that the increasing number of people who are apparently unable to spell everyday words have not found themselves in this situation due to a lack of opportunity to be educated.
Oh yeah, that’s way more likely than my theory that he’s just wrong. The reason he misspells every second word in each of his other posts no doubt has a rich and fascinating backstory too.
You didn’t get the memo from the people at The Internet?
As for the example of Mr. Oblivious vs. Mr. Deliberate, Occam’s Razor indicates that Mr. Oblivious is probably the correct answer. If you have to tie yourself up in knots trying to come up with a reason why someone does something other than the obvious, you’re probably wasting your time.
I may learn something? Are you honestly suggesting that spelling is an a la carte sort of thing, where if, for example, I feel angered by the letter Y, I may choose to spell “rhythm” as “rithm”, or “fly” as “flii”? Because I can’t really conceive of any legitimate reason someone could have other than “oh, I know it’s wrong, but I’m dumb/lazy/careless/apathetic.”
Seriously, I’d like to get an example out of you. What sort of “very interesting” reason could a person have for misspelling a word? And how “interesting” does the reason have to be to be a valid excuse for misspelling things? Please, enlighten me.
That’s the nature of the Pit.
Because language is vitally important in communicating concepts and ideas; it is simply too important to let fall by the wayside under the aegis of tolerance. (I’m sure that in another forum grammar and spelling corrections would be given in a reasonable manner.)
His username says “BANNED” underneath. I didn’t know that threads were closed for being pointless.
I can tell when someone is writing English as a Second language and when they are just immature, lazy, or a net rat. There are certain grammatical points which can be very difficult to learn because of interference from one’s native lagnuage. For example, article use is really “arbitrary,” from language to language. Also many languages drop the copula, and even a relatively simple language like Spanish (which isn’t that different from English) doesn’t use the progressive aspect as much as English does, and so native language interferrence is fairly pronounced. Smartguysmile’s main grammatical errors were things like articles and and auxiliaries in the progressive aspect. These are things that many non-native English speakers struggle with. But he also used “leet-type” things, which as I’ve said before, is just stupid, unless you’re posting from a cell phone, in which case, I might be able to understand why you’d do that, because pushing number keys until they get the right letter is annoying. The original cell phones were never meant to be devices to communicate text. (That’s why I have a Nokia 8620, which unfolds to a full keyboard.) When you type “u” instead of “you,” you’re not indentifying with any particular group which deserves separate recognition. You’re not identifying yourself as a person who is particually savy, or in anyway smarter than anyone else. You’re just identifying yourself as the human version of a lemming. How much time do you save at a computer keyboard buy not typing two additional letters? If you’re a net rat, there’s nothing inherently wrong in being young. But if you’re just stupid–at any age–you don’t garner any respect.
That’s true, and it would clarify things, and probably reduce the jokes. I get the impression that non-native English speakers shy away from the SDMB, and those that don’t seem to have been raised in some way that allowed them to learn English in an admirably idiomatic way. But I don’t think someone who doesn’t speak English as a native language (LEP, English language learners, whatever you want to call them) should automatically apologize.
I think his point was clear: an experienced magician posted, but didn’t try to answer the OP’s question, specifically, how a particular trick was done. It didn’t offend me particually, but if there is in fact a “code of secrecy” amongst magicians, then why bother to post? A more pertient question is one I’ve already posted: “If no magician ever expains his/her tricks, then how can the trade ever be learned by new-comers?” Maybe Boblaw was trying to say: “I only tell you if you can figure out a way to get in the back door of the Magic Castle.” But if that’s the case, he could have been a lot more explicit.
Because it’s fun.
Because the president of the company who sent a company-wide “Congradulations” email last week regarding an accountant who was promoted, probably wouldn’t appreciate me correcting him in this (or any) manner.
As much as I would like to be helpful, I feel uncomfortable correcting people on grammar. My husband says he feels stupid when I correct him, so I’ve stopped doing it. He knows about my grammar hangups and puts up with them, but I don’t want to make people feel stupid. That’s why I lead by example instead.
When I was the administration office manager for a Navy unit some years ago, part of my job was to proofread (which can also be spelled as proof-read) my boss’s unit-wide e-mail. She appreciated my corrections.
I like being corrected about my grammar, if I’ve made the same mistake a few times in a row. I think of it as someone pointing out that my fly is open or there is toilet paper on my shoe- yeah it’s embarassing right there, but I’ll look much less stupid to everyone else I meet.
I like it too, but then again, I think we are in the minority. Honestly I am amazed at how many people are anxious not only to rush to correct grammar and spelling, but be so passionate at defending their right to do so…at any cost (socially).
“mmm nothing burns like an effigy…doh!” - homer
As an administrative professional, it was indeed my job to proofread. It was even a large part of my training, as it should be.
If people would correct me whenever I misspell irrellev… irreliven… ireliv… that word that means “beside the point”, I might someday learn to spell it.